Cultural Creatives

Are you a cultural creative? The other day my longtime Austin friend Connie, and I, got together for lunch. It had been awhile. Like always, we launched into important things first--gossip, relationships, our kids, our work. Eventually we got around to kaveching about the state of the world. Connie and I agreed that world conditions, no matter how awful, do not mean Armageddon is knocking at the door.

To the point: I don’t believe in the Rapture. I don’t believe whole hosts of people will be swept up in the clouds, with their unmanned vehicles populating expressways, on that one fateful day at the End of the World. I don’t believe in the existence of a swift and easy escape from our worldly predicaments. Lots of people do. I don’t fault them for their belief, even though I can’t share it.

 Rather, I believe that we who live and walk on the earth must deal with circumstances created by mankind. In fact, not only do I doubt I’ll be translated into a better life should the End Times come near, I believe I signed on for this tour of duty. By the time Connie and I said goodbye, we had agreed on many things. In parting she said, “Have you read The Cultural Creatives?” I had not. “You should. It’s so US. We’re not alone.”

I wear my hard-won right to independent thought like a Purple Heart, and dislike labeling of any kind. Still I felt drawn by her words. Out of curiosity, I checked Barnes and Noble bookshelves for the title—The Cultural Creatives written by Paul H. Ray, PhD., and Sherry Ruth Anderson, Ph.D. Not surprisingly I didn’t find it on the shelves. New thought can take awhile to hit mainstream.

When the book order arrived, I claimed the well-indexed and thoroughly referenced volume, settled into an armchair, sipped a mocha, and started turning pages. Transfixed by the Cultural Creative concept, it was an hour before I raised my head.

In research focused on American values since the 1980’s, the husband and wife team—scientist and psychologist--report thirteen years of survey research on more than 100,000 Americans, hundreds of focus groups, and sixty in-depth interviews. Their documented study reveals the emergence of an entire subculture of Americans whom they call the Cultural Creatives.

In their work, Creatives are contrasted with Traditionals and Moderns. Traditionals are bent on fending off what they consider to be an intrusive modern world. Culturally conservatives in every sense, they long for the remembered simplicity of childhood. Do you resonate with the good-old-days and wish to return?

Moderns on the other hand, accept the commercialized urban-industrial world of today as the obvious right way to live. They assume, rather than question, what’s important, especially values which uphold contemporary economic and public life. Are you a Donald Trump dream?

Cutting across cultural, religious and political lines, a uniquely divergent group has arisen from within the matrix of traditional and modern values. Like an audience in a theater, Cultural Creatives are a coherent subculture. Although unaware of each other, they look in the same direction.

Where are Creatives looking and what do they care about? Who are they, this group, apparently 50 million strong, yet unconscious of each other as a whole people? Cultural Creatives are defined by their ceaseless search for alternatives to national and international dilemmas. The world is their stage. They don’t long for return to traditional American families or religion as a panacea for ills, even though they may attend traditional churches and live in traditional families. They don’t climb the corporate ladder even though they may succeed in business. They don’t strive for material wealth and the stuff money can buy, even though they are consumers. Their focus is what sets them apart. Their values define them. Creatives express concern for:
~ecological and planetary perspectives
~emphasis on relationships and women’s point of view
~commitment to spirituality and psychological development
~dissatisfaction with large institutions of modern life
~rejection of materialism and status display
~social activism which seeks solutions

In their lifetimes, Creatives have undergone a process of discovering and trusting their own truth. Through trial and error, they piece together a life they passionately care about. Stepping away from the mainstream and conceiving their own truth, obvious personality characteristics stand out:
~Perseverance toward worthy goals
~Impatience with hype
~Capacity for self-reflection
~Open-mindedness that seems natural when you trust yourself enough to listen to others without fear of losing a uniquely personal sense of direction

Do you identify with the hallmarks of a Cultural Creative? I do. All this time I perceived my journey as unique, yet there you were, addressing the same issues and caring about the same things. This concept is both comforting and stimulating.

I am curious to know if you really exist. Talk to me....

"Then we can dance together in the glowing."

SARK