What our society suffers from most today is the absence of consensus about what it anti .life in it oughtto be; such consensus cannot be gained from society's present stage, or from fantasies about what it ought tobe. For that the present is too close and too diversified, and the future too uncertain, to make believableclaims about it. A consensus in the present hence can be achieved only through a shared understanding of thepast, as Homer's epics informed those who lived centuries later what it meant to be Greek, and by what ima-ges and ideals they were to live theirlives and organize their societies.<br> Most societies derix, e consensus from a long history, a language all their own, a common religion,common ancestry. The myths by which they live are based on all of these, But the United States is a countryof immigrants, coming from a great variety of nations.Lately, it has been, emphasized that an asocial i nar-cissistic personality has become characteristic of Americans, and that it is this type of personality that makesfor the lack of well.being, because it prevents us from achieving consensus that would counteract a tendencyto withdraw into private worlds. In this study of narcissism, Christopher lash says that modem man, ',tor-tured by self-consciousness, turns to new therapies not to free himself of his personal worries but to findmeaning and purpose in life, to find something to live for". There is widespread distress because nationalmorale has declined, and we have lost an earlier sense of.national vision and purpose.<br> ……
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