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Comparing Thurman's Advice To The Baby Boomers, Generation Me

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In a world full of people seemingly enslaved by the search for tangible material possessions and discovery of their idea of the self, Buddhists seem to get by through not letting material possession run their lives, and have abandoned a search for the self, as to them it does not exist. That is not to say that Buddhists would not appreciate a new computer, but the point is that that computer or new item will not run their lives. On the other hand, non-Buddhist members of the Baby Boomer generation have dedicated their lives to a search for the self, while members of Generation Me, the Baby Boomers’ offspring, have not experienced the concept of search for self because they believe they were basically born at the “destination” of self. In his …show more content…

The main difference between members of GenMe and the Baby Boomers and Buddhists is their idea of search for the self. GenMe members and Baby Boomers’ contemporaries’ idea of self is that it is a solid entity. They think that material possessions are the key to happiness, or becoming a certain kind of person and possessing certain admirable traits. Thurman would denounce this idea as ludicrous and unnecessary. In Thurman’s words, “’Realizing your selflessness’ does not mean that you become a nobody, it means that you become the type of somebody who is a viable, useful somebody, not a rigid fixated, I’m-the-center-of-the-universe, isolated-from-others somebody” (443). The aforementioned center-of-the-universe somebody is basically the average GenMe member. In Buddhism, the main idea is to give up their sense of “I,” for the idea of self is not a rock-solid object, but rather a malleable entity. While Boomers seek fulfillment of themselves through garnering quantifiable possessions, the Buddhists seek void of a tangible self. A similar idea to this is that Boomers seek to find themselves, whether it is going to a certain school, or achieving a specific goal, or getting a particular job. On the other hand, the Buddhist religion preaches the idea of “losing” any framework for a

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In the Piece “Self-reliance” written by Ralph Waldo Emerson, one of the most influential writers in America, speaking to the individual about being true to who people are, and not who society expects people to be. He explores the concept that greatness is achieved by rising above the average person; making one’s thoughts extraordinary, instead of just ordinary. He uses strategies such as metaphors, personification, syntax, and more, to shine a light on his purposeful perspective. Emerson applies divine figurative language to express the importance of being who people are when he remarks, “Always the soul hears an admonition in such lines […]” (1) Here he is depicting the image that people are supposed to listen to their hearts and souls, because that is their direction. Warning and counsel comes from within, and listening to that voice is what distinguishes an ordinary person, from an extraordinary one, taking that leap from society, and into the life of the individual, where people listen to

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