Occasionally, it’s a good exercise to step back and ask yourself what the prevailing values of the world around us are. How do people think about things? Make judgments? Set priorities? How does the prevailing culture pressure me or sway me to think about things? About myself? About others?
This kind of reflection is not trivial. It is a part of the examined life that philosophers throughout the centuries have encouraged us to pursue. That old Socratic adage of the unexamined life not being worth living still stands. But that exhortation is not merely an exhortation to self-criticism, or some psycho-analytic endeavor. Rather, it is an encouragement to live with your eyes open; with your judgment acute; and with an awareness of how your thoughts, feelings, and orientation toward life are tending. In addition, this kind of examined life requires you to think about the things that influence the way you think and feel, where they come from, and how you want them to impact you—or not impact you.
As a social theorist, it is hard not to spend time thinking about the prevailing attitudes, sensibilities, and basic human disposition evident in the broader culture around us. It is also hard not to notice that we are completely inundated with “ideal” images of life and love, relationships and careers. The ideas and values which those ideal images carry into our minds, as well as the ideas and values from which those ideal images spring, are worth considering. Taking some time to think about these things will benefit us not only individually, but collectively.
As an observer of culture, I’ve noticed that some of the most prevailing attitudes, values, and ideas that bombard us every day tempt us to conclude that our individual happiness, especially regarding the circumstances and conditions of everyday life, is of utmost importance. Never mind that the definition of happiness behind such values is probably shallow and underdeveloped. Our culture tells us that being truly happy is no more than being personally gratified in the moment—emotionally, financially, relationally, and in every other way imaginable.
The culture speaks to us: Do we like what we are experiencing right now? If not, change it. Are we in total control of how we spend our time, what we do, and what is required of us? If not, change it. Are we put upon by others, by our parents, by society, by some trending sense of right and wrong? If so, make some changes. Only do what you want to do—when you want to do it, how you want to do it, for the purposes you want to do it, and for the price you want to do it. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
That is the prevailing mentality against which we are fighting, virtually every day. Pursue your passions; forget your responsibilities. Follow your heart, regardless of what your mind tells you is best. Live for your own purposes because life is short. But this way of living is no kind of life, and not just in the end. It is no kind of life now. The kind of self-absorption, self-indulgence, and self-orientation that pervades our current cultural context is robbing us of real meaning, real joy, and real human community. It is shaping our judgments, shaping what or whom we deem to be important and worth sacrificing for. It informs our decision-making about life, work, marriage, and family. It shapes sensibilities and understanding of things like duty, obligations, personal responsibility, and morality.
The values underlying the current thinking about the self are corrosive to the self, if not outright dangerous to society. Consider the long-term impact upon all of us, individually and collectively, if we as human beings determine that we will not do anything that is difficult, requires personal risk or sacrifice, or necessitates even temporary personal discomfort or hardship? What would parenting look like in that world? What would marriage look like in that world? What would citizenship look like in that world? Those are scary thoughts.
As I have often written in this column, things don’t just look different from a faith perspective, they are different. And for the followers of Jesus Christ, to allow these prevailing values and sensibilities to shape our thinking and living is not just problematic for life in this world; it is contrary to why we were created in the first place and contrary to the words of the One we follow.
In Matthew 16:24, we read: “Then Jesus told his disciples, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?’”
There are times when I truly don’t know if there is any commentary to add to these statements. They are incisively and profoundly penetrating. They speak to the precise issues I am raising in this essay. Jesus teaches that the most meaningful life to be lived is one in which the self is not the center of the universe. It’s not the center of the actual universe, the social universe, or a personal universe created in our own minds. Meaning is found in self-denial. The real gain in life is not self-indulgence or self-gratification but rather in living life for Christ. In that pursuit, true gain, happiness, and purpose are found. It is hard to imagine contemporary influencers proclaiming the key to happiness is found on this path. But life is to be lived with purpose and for a purpose—a purpose of a higher nature, rooted in a higher calling. A little self-reflection, a little self-examination might help us change our focus from shallow values to those in which there is real value.
This article was first published in-print in the Bucks County Courier Times on August 16, 2026.
