We have a sense that we should be like the mythical cowboy... able to take on and conquer anything and live in the world without the need for other people.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Most of us really aren't horribly unique. There are 6 billion of us. Put 'em all in one room and very few would stand out as individuals. So maybe we ought to think of worth in terms of our ability to get along as a part of nature, rather than being the lords over nature.
We have the ability to be able, if we have the right resources around us, to really do chop and change and have fun in our time and not just be stuck in one world or the other.
There's a destiny for everybody. The world is set up - as foreign as that can be to some people who are very materialistic - but there is a force in this world, once we step into it, that opens doors for us, that gives us a sense of purpose and the greatest life there is, in my view.
I think that we need mythology. We need a bedrock of story and legend in order to live our lives coherently.
The idea that we're somehow centrally important to the planet's existence is pretty comical - although I'd like us to be.
No man is great enough or wise enough for any of us to surrender our destiny to. The only way in which anyone can lead us is to restore to us the belief in our own guidance.
We fail to see that we can control our destiny; make ourselves do whatever is possible; make ourselves become whatever we long to be.
There's a certain je ne sais quoi that Americans have in spades - a we-can-do-anything spirit that makes so many things possible for all of us. We're rugged individualists, aspirational in nature, and we like to think for ourselves.
We must not, however, be like the leaders of the great romantic revolt who, in their eagerness to get rid of the husk of convention, disregarded also the humane aspiration.
We must take the world as it is and not as we would like it to be.