We live in terrible times when tiny horizons dominate the attention of so many. We do not think in grand terms anymore. People are not motivated by magnificent desires or passions. Few appreciate splendor and overwhelming beauty.
Instead, many seek the tiny impulse, the momentary high or the insignificant trifle, as a means to provide that next tiny fix to get them through the day. These tiny things do not satisfy but engage us in a contradiction of intense emotion and exhausting frustration.
The Spirit of Mediocrity
This obsession with the tiny is a logical outcome of mediocrity.
Indeed, a spirit of mediocrity has long dominated our society. It has prepared the way for these tiny souls that are now undermining mediocrity.
A mediocre man, for example, does not want to understand the “why” of things. He is given to living on the surface of things. He has (or wants) no vision of history, no appreciation of metaphysics or aspirations of heroism. He is content to pursue mere fun, appetites and bad habits.
However, even the mediocre man can be motivated to seek after his petty pleasures with feeble passion. He can be counted upon to make some effort to achieve the means to satisfy his appetites. Politically, he can at least align his fickle values to look after his self-interest.
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Beyond Mediocrity
Today’s tiny souls do not share the mediocre man’s superficial goals and surface passions. Their insipidity goes beyond mediocrity.
Indeed, we can say that the bland era of the mediocre man is now disappearing. We are entering what might be called the tyranny of tiny souls beyond mediocrity.
These tiny souls aspire to Facebook “like” tiny impulses provoked by tiny screens. They do not seek works of art but amusing memes. No flights of ecstasy enthrall them, but only those tiny dopamine highs that clamor for more scrolling or clicking. Finally, when the sting of reality overwhelms them, such souls embrace fentanyl’s cold morphine-like embrace that takes tens of thousands of lives every year.
The Destruction of Culture
When this attitude prevails, culture implodes. The entertainment industry, for example, is in crisis today because tiny souls find it much easier to seek their tiny stimuli online, where each interaction lasts only seconds, and no intellectual or physical effort is required. Cheap delights replace the work of enjoying fine cuisine. Our political discourse, which should reflect pondered choice, is reduced to insults, discourtesy and brutal hyperbole without regard for the facts.
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The emphasis of everything is to provoke tiny bursts of stimulation that call for yet more bursts. These things stimulate yet never satisfy; they beckon but remain elusive. They contribute to the massive frustration of postmodern society that refuses to seek the “why” of things by proclaiming there is no “why” to anything.
The Tragedy of the Tiny Souls
The tragedy of the tiny souls beyond mediocrity is that they are willing to give up so much for so little. The tinier the object of their desires, the greater the intensity of their obsessions. There is always one more click, one social media feed or one more drug high. There is always one more duty or effort that can be abandoned in the quest for a tiny fix.
When everything is tiny, nothing can have serious consequences. Life can be lived by whims and randomness. Men can be women, and women can be men. Nothing can be certain because everything is possible. The ordered will is destroyed as fantasy takes hold.
A True Tyranny
The rule of the tiny souls is truly a tyranny since it accepts no opposition. Once embraced, all around must be reduced to littleness lest greatness reappear and challenge its absurdities.
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The tiny souls are capable of the worst tyranny when others dispute the course of their lives or pronoun choices. They are capable of the greatest and most irrational hatred toward those who dare oppose their fantasies.
Indeed, we once thought that our downfall as a nation would be caused by the might of great powers. Little did we suspect we might fall due to tiny souls who, like termites, undermine our metanarratives and corrupt our moral universe.
The Return of the Why
It is time for the “why” to return to our discourse. It is the only way to overcome the tyranny of the tiny souls.
This return is not as difficult as it sounds. We are not made for tininess but have an eternal destiny. Pettiness and irrelevance tire us with their insipidity. We are naturally attracted by grand ideas and noble causes. Above all, our yearnings direct us to the Eternal Why of Everything found in God.
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It takes courage, but such a world is possible when extraordinary individuals dare to rise above beyond mediocrity and break its spell upon postmodern man. Then, with God’s grace (and only with it), we might be forced to make efforts, accept suffering and reevaluate our priorities. When the “why” returns (and it will), we will find the rest and meaning that we so crave.
However, now is the time of tiny souls beyond mediocrity, so these are terrible times indeed.
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