Made of what?

Indi posted a thinker in her blog today.

I followed the link to Momus' Click Opera and this quoted text from Ronald Inglehart' Culture Shift in Advanced Industrial Society struck me:

"Inglehart's thesis, restated repeatedly throughout the book, is that a gradual but steady and profound shift has been occurring in the basic values of the mass publics of the more advanced industrial societies. The shift is away from the long predominant preoccupation with material well-being and physical security and toward greater concern for the quality of life, more self-expression, greater sexual freedom, and interpersonal relations that are less formal."

Indi and I have had numerous conversations about the merits and advantages of favoring quality of life over material aspirations (within our/my context mas mananatiling aspirational ito than actual possesions, hahaha). Just three weeks ago, we had this YM conversation:

cocobeans12000: alam mo theory ako, (naks, i read tom wolfe's i am charlotte simmons and there's this group of student intellectuals who are forever forming theories in the hope that one of these will be the one that catapults them to fame)
yinyoung: ah ooo. student careeristas
yinyoung: they wanna be the next chomsky or chuva
cocobeans12000: i have this theory about the expectations of this age. parang since we have all these technology and time-saving devices coupled with the fact that we're forever bombarded by consumerism and we're somehow obliged to display everything we own including the kitchen sink, parang unti-unting namamatay tayo inside
cocobeans12000: para na tayong automated na habol ng habol sa next big thing, i mean even the travels which are supposed to revive us have become hobbesian, pagalingan sa pictures, patalbugan sa kung sino ang nauna, pataasan ng ihi sa kung ano ang authentic
yinyoung: competitive chorva
cocobeans12000: ewan ba, tapos parang kailangan lagi kang nasa uso pagdating sa mga tech advancements
cocobeans12000: correct
yinyoung: its da kano
yinyoung: eyyy try wiki-pedia-ing "affluenza"
cocobeans12000: mismo. i've read about that before

I have this childhood friend who seems pre-occupied with ‘making’ it, not that i judge her or anything. Iba lang talaga ang perspectives namin. we seldom see each other due to our busy lives but I remember this one gimmick a few years ago and I found out that our other dear friend is already at the top echelon of her company – one of the biggest in the country. Turning towards me, she remarked “I’m happy for her. She’s already made.”

That got me thinking about what that means, especially in these times. Momus writes a lot about Slow Life (a Japanese-led lifestyle movement which aims to “pursue satisfaction and quality of life, with comfort rather than economic and material prosperity”) and it is inspiring. It fits in so neatly with this passage quoted by Momus from Yu Dan's book, a modern adaptation of Confucian philosophy which has become a surprise hit within the economic-miracle nation that is China.

"Just because you have a successful career does not necessarily mean you have made your dreams come true," writes Yu Dan. She tells the story of three field mice preparing for winter. "One gathered food, one built shelter and the third did nothing but play. Winter came and there was plenty to eat but nothing to do inside the hideaway. That was when the third mouse made himself valuable by telling stories from his days of fun and games."

Thanks, Inds for that lovely blog entry. I initially started this out as a comment in your page, but look at that hahaha.