Ralph Waldo Emerson, one of the great voices in all of American literature and culture, both captured and shaped a culture where the self is the center of the universe. As Americans, we will pay a great price to keep from losing our individual freedom. Of course, Emerson emerged at a moment in time when the Judeo-Christian tradition began to lose its grip as the center of culture. As self-reliance became more deeply rooted, any notion of common authority that could define the common good became more and more remote. We live now in a radically pluralistic world, and deep-seated relativism is often the way we look at our life together.
All authority is under question.
The price we pay for such determined individualism is very high indeed. Loneliness is surely the dis-ease of our time. Downright meanness is too often the way we deal with one another. We have become obsessively litigious. Road rage is frighteningly common.