Aspiration

There is a constant drumbeat of aspiration in American education and media. We are always being encouraged to push ahead, move up or reach further. This is considered part of the religion of the American Dream.

What is lost to all this aspiring? Well, for one thing, those who are always looking ahead seldom look down at the ground under their feet. It is hard to get attention for the polluted environment. It is hard to get attention for economic disparity. It is hard to see that the American Dream is not working for the vast majority of Americans. 

The aspirational nature of American propaganda is a mixture of aggressive capitalism and social Darwinism. Sharks must continually move in search of prey or die of suffocation. Predators on land are never satisfied. Given excess prey, they slaughter beyond their capacity to eat it all. It is hard-wired into their survivalist DNA.

There is little talk of global human aspiration. In fact, statements regarding world peace are often scoffed at cynically among the educated and powerful. Global aspirations against racism are undermined by racial assertion into every issue by those who are most limited by racism. Global aspirations for clean air and a healthy environment are swiftly sabotaged by capitalists who rabidly defend the American Dream religion.

My humanist practice is motivated by aspiration. That is the development of more compassion, more mindfulness and more personal joy. But my practice is also firmly based in a rational and realistic understanding of where and who I am at any moment. Unlike the American Dream, my humanism is not a myth, a faith, a religion. It is a personal commitment to humanist values right here and right now.