While the year is slowly approaching its end, and we live through another turn of the annual cycle, it is worth taking some time to reflect. Why do we do what we do? What motivates us to have the dreams that we have? Can we imagine, perhaps even allow ourselves to imagine, a different way?
This time, I keep my post short and share with you a much longer and thought-provoking article from aeon: “The herd in the head” by Costica Bradatan, a professor of humanities and philosophy.
“Herding, then, engenders a paradoxical form of identity: you are somebody not despite the fact that you’ve melted into the crowd, but because of it. You may be nobody on your own, and your life an empty shell, yet once you’ve managed to establish a meaningful connection with the herd, its volcanic, boundless life overflows into yours and more than fulfils it. You will not be able to find yourself in the crowd, but that’s the least of your worries: you are now part of something that feels so much grander and nobler than your poor self. Your connection with the life of the herd not only fills an inner vacuum but adds a sense of purpose to your disoriented existence. And the more individuals bring their disorientatedness to the party, the livelier it gets. And all the more dangerous.”
Costica Bradatan in “The herd in the head”
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