Before, the priests spoke from the throne. His voice was heard by the people. Now only the most faithful listen, a minority. The political leaders also spoke from a high platform, who are now no longer listened to by the masses, but by the stone-faced militants. Leaders and militants applaud to encourage each other in a general context of indifference.
It might seem that, now, those who are successful speaking from the pulpit are the influencers. In the infinite hypermarket of the internet, they can be found side by side, like cleaning products, boxes of cookies or bottles of wine on a large surface. Every current, tendency or tribe finds its prescriber on the networks, which helps it to reinforce ideological prejudices, to dress and make up, to follow a certain diet, to enter one or another identity fraternity: racial , national or sexual. Influencers do not have the ability to frame societies as school, religion and politics did in the past. On the contrary: influencers contribute to fragmenting society, divided into thousands of bubbles or closed circles, isolated from each other.
The great characteristic of our time is the disappearance of the common word. The temple and the agora are empty: there is no one in the pulpit. There are endless sects, fads or bubbles. Nothing binds us. No word, no meaning, no goal brings us together. Young people are the most affected by the lack of meaning and collective bond.
Psychoanalyst Massimo Recalcati has found a common denominator in his young patients. They experience various problems (eating disorders, self-harm, suicide attempts, gender changes, abulia, refusal to leave the house). But they have one thing in common: the lack of desire. Recalcati points out that in our time we have reduced desire to the choice of pleasures in front of us. Like the child who hesitates in the ice cream shop before the many possible flavors.
We are certainly consumers. An immense range of products awaits us. We can choose from a thousand flavors. In fact, we spend our days looking for sensual satisfactions (what is called hedonism: food, travel, series, pornography, festivals, games, adventures, etc.). But we have confused the satisfaction of specific pleasures with the delight of existence, the goal of life, the meaning. Nothing makes sense today in Western societies. There are many theories, ideologies and discourses. But what creates meaning is the example, not the discourse.
It is not necessary to point to the easy case of politicians to verify that the examples of coherence between what is said and what is done have disappeared from the social showcase. On the other hand, examples of cynicism abound. Brazen selfishness, narcissism, betrayal for self-interest, cunning are in fashion. There are certainly examples of sporting or professional sacrifice. But always with a view to success. The vital effort is dependent on the triumph. Without triumph (minority by definition), sacrifice does not work.
Psychiatrist Ludwig Binswanger, pioneer of existential psychology, described depression as a station without trains. No future There is a lot of emphasis on the lack of an economic future, when talking about the depressive epidemic among young people. This absence is never spoken of: that of the trains of meaning. The grandparents and parents of the current generations decided that the meaning of existence was an ideological fantasy that needed to be deconstructed. Work done. The trains of the sense no longer pass.
