as a middle-aged man, I do not mind admitting that I do not know what welfare East. Again, I do not know how to use leverage as a verb and I'm not happy gadgets named after the fruit. So when the editor told wellness was the theme of this issue, I had visions of writers block. What I know of burning incense, walking on sharp stones, aromatic candles or stick cucumber slices on the eyes with angels in the background singing Kumbaya?
To remedy my ignorance I did what all members of the Internet generation did: I turned to Wikipedia and was ly unsurprised to learn that the Halbert Dunn MD, talks to welfare defined Unitarian Universalist Church as "an integrated method of operation that is geared toward maximizing the potential of which the individual is capable of. It requires that the individual maintain a continuum of balance and intentional direction in the environment where it operates. "
So at the time
All a bit hippyish sounds. Smelly teenagers with long hair abandonment" of the university to get lost on the hippy trail is via Istanbul , Kabul and Kathmandu in search of enlightenment. Wellness for them meant sitting under the stars beside their failure Combie, strumming guitars, speak in awe of Janis, Jim and Mick while stoned in pursuing their own targeted direction.
Today, wellness has become as commercialized as everything else, looking for someone to enlightenment is another benefit, but there is no denying when humanity has reached a certain level of safety they seek something deeper. once upon a time, he was in religion. in the 18th century, Britain began to feel the monetary benefits of the empire, the middle class looked beyond four walls, a full plate and a roof. They went out of Europe in search of their own greater meaning, a journey that became immortalized as the Grand Tour, taking in the sights of ancient Greece and Italy, and marvel at the beauty natural majestic Alps.
Without immediate Lonely Planet or internet, they would flit between Florence, Rome, Naples and Athens in the classical drinking glory of these ancient civilizations. They returned home refreshed and excited with the ideas of the mixture of humanity with a taste for classical architecture that influenced a generation of architects.
The late 1960s were a different time. The older generation had experienced two world wars, but the younger generation have grown up in a more stable and peaceful time, Cold War notwithstanding.
officialdom, used to getting their own way, was questioned by adolescents irritated by the blind napalm bombing in Vietnam and inspired by a culture more and more young people spoke their language.
They could not get satisfaction, it was their generation and protest rock of the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and The Who spoke a language they could understand. When the Beatles found India, thousands have set their tie dye, bought glasses John Lennon and learned how not to inhale. Tired of inequality and injustice in their own other companies have followed in their footsteps.
Punk fizzled when everything became a clone of Sid Vicious. Personal identity went latecomers, desperate to belong, copied the dress, but forgot the attitude or individuality that triggered the "movement" in the first place. We never noticed at the time, but we reached the end of the "youth culture" as a movement. Teenagers flirted with makeup and disguise in the new romantic era, but the company was becoming homogenized and rock n 'roll was having its edge blunted by the major labels who sought the reliability of Kylie Minogue; music mother and daughter could buy and share.
We are now in the 21st century and for me the idea of an individual in search of inner peace seems strange. The son and daughters of hippies who were sitting on Freak Street getting high part of the rat race their parents thought they were rebelling against. Youth culture as we knew in the 60s, 70s and 80s has disappeared, replaced by packaged pop produced by bumps as Simon Cowell.
Our escape to an alternate reality has been replaced by the reality that allows us to guffaw fumbled attempts of others to enhance our entertainment. Companies want us Pigeonholed and seem happy to let them. We buy more products, we purchase pre-packed lifestyles. A car gets us from A to B and a phone is used to communicate with someone. Now they have to say something about us. Go to a meeting with the cheapest Chinese-made hand phone, you can find and watch the reaction of others as they place their smartphones and tablets on the table in front of them. Consumption is nothing if it can not be seen by others.
The Rolling Stones and Janis Joplin we ended up with One Direction and Lady Gaga in just 45 years. Little wonder then that welfare should have become another product for us to consume; Another thing that we buy to let other people know how we see ourselves. The individual Dunn called all but disappeared. There are no more people. We have all become mere cogs in a larger whole.