Ignorance And No Self Success Stories

Individualism is the idea that a person’s life belongs to them and that they have an absolute right to live it as they sees fit. The people of modern society have the right to pursue the values of their choosing. As an individual we have our own opinions, this gives us the freedom to expand our life in ways we couldn’t

“At the heart of individualism lies the belief that each individual person constitutes the center of one’s universe.” (Wilkens, & Sanford, 2009) Most would say this type of thinking has become ingrained into American culture and the American and even Christian worldview. This is broken down into utilitarian individualism, the pursuit of one’s personal gain; and expressive individualism, artistic and personal expression of uniqueness. Individualism could be simply put as being self-centered and believing that the world revolves around oneself. This belief says that the outcome determines the journey, that the individual is the moral authority, that absolute freedom is priority, and that one’s performance determines their worth. Individualism is a hidden worldview that has the power to affect us all.

When an entire people only care about himself or herself, what becomes of the whole?

Like I stated earlier, I believe that to create what we want or to do what benefits us is our purpose in life. If everyone carried themselves with this motivation you would see a world full of happy and different minds. Since everyone thinks differently I think it’s safe to say that everyone has something that they love to do or something that makes them feel fantastic and with everyone living for themselves you’re going to have a happier society. Even though, this statement is true, I also believe that with everyone living for themselves we slowly dehumanize ourselves. Yes, I believe that humans should live for themselves, but i also believe that our sense of obligation to help and please others is what makes us human. As humans we care about each other naturally and as great and fun living for yourself sounds, not caring about someone else’s welfare slowly dehumanizes and takes some of the good character traits we humans have

We don’t value community since we don’t make decisions for the whole group we make them for ourselves only. In our jobs we only do what will lead us to a higher paying position, and if our position is in jeopardy we will do what ever it takes to keep it even if it means going against co-workers. This leads many people to ask the question “do I act selfishly or do I cooperate?” (Innes 2) The ways in which we raise our children has a significant affect on how they will act. If they put themselves before others constantly and think only of their own benefits, it can make them become a selfish person which will lead them to be seen as an outcast by our society. In “Behind Grandma’s House” Gary Soto shows us this when he tells us:

Individualism is the idea that the individual's life belongs to him and that he has an inalienable

Community is built of two main elements. First, community requires communal caring. Members need to put themselves in positions where they are able to relate to other members and does everything “within reasonable limits of self-sacrifice” (65). The second is communal reciprocity. Individuals will serve other members of the community, not for exchange of goods, but to provide generosity and support. These elements of community appear in the lives of all individuals, even the most capitalist ones. Humans are entirely capable of these.

The mature Christian response to individualism is to be able to fully embrace individuality while still being able to support the value of collectivism. Individualism is often seen to be contradictory to collectivism, but if applied towards altruism it can stand as a crucial role in collectivism. According to Wilkens and Sanford, individualism is the belief that the individual is the primary reality and our understanding of the universe and lifestyle should be centered on the self. However, individualism could be helpful to a community through one’s self-improvement and an individual can be a great asset to their community by displaying a certain diversity. “Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot were to

The one thing that is said that makes us an individual is our emotions that control our minds. Individuality is essential to the

al., P.177). We must lessen our pursuit for self-gratification with our obligation to community. Bellah et, al writes "The self-interest demanded by the individualistic pursuit of success needs to be balanced by voluntary concern for others" (Bellah et. al., P.199).

There are four stages in developing an authentic community. The first stage, Pseudocommunity, tries to avoid conflict. They believe everything is fine yet, in reality, has many issues. Next is Chaos. In this stage, group members display their differences in opinions. It is better to work through these issue than to pretend they don’t exist, like in stage one. Stage three is assumptions and realizations. It is about recognizing that our speculations about each other are getting in the way of truly listening and understand each other. Finally, the last stage is an authentic community. In this stage, there is still conflict, but everyone truly listens and works through the problems. In this stage everyone works together to create and inclusive environment. No one feels left out. Everyone helps each other to accomplish their goals. Communities are a continual process. Changes will always occur and groups will have to work together to push through it. Members will come and go, and new issues will always arise. Teaming up to resolve these issues may seem challenging, but a true authentic community can work through it. I feel Gudykunst’s seven community building principals are essential to creating an authentic community. Communities may form for many reasons, but a truly functioning community, will be purposeful, caring, Mindful, understanding, ethical, inclusive, empowering and

The key is to make responsibility to community feel like a form of individualism, so people express themselves by benefitting the majority. The best example of this is the Choosing Ceremony. To the people being chosen this feels like a way to finally stand out and be recognized as an individual, whereas on a higher level they are essentially being given a task that can help the entire community. This is best expressed on pages 48 and 49 with the quote “He was certain that his Assignment, whatever it was to be, and Asher's too, would be the right one for them.” He shows the perfect mixture of blind faith towards the choices of the community and positivity towards his soon to be individual

There is a point in human life when we reach a strong level of selfishness, which influence our decision making. Even if we are raised to be helpful, respectful, and compassionate to others, that view can change once we get older. Human beings encounter many social organizations, which leave a mark on our views, manners, and approaches.

1) An individualist is considered to be someone with personality and character, someone who is not easily intimidated by social pressure or customs, someone with a personal opinion and a singular view of the world. Because modern society finds it important that people think independently, decide autonomously and take personal initiatives, the concept of individualism has acquired a positive connotation. However, individualism is also linked with the tendency to withdraw from social life and turn in towards oneself.

wouldn’t have known the balance and equilibrium a society needs through individualism. Although the individual action is important as well the actions of an individual don't have the same effects as the actions of a collective of individuals. For example, in team sports, there could be a team that has a superstar player one that outshines and plays better than all but if that individual is not surrounded by a team that plays together collectively as a team that superstar’s skills won’t be sufficient for the team to be efficient and win games. The same can be said about the society we must work together to function as a society and maintain that order that functionalism provided. Social integration is another important process that has an important