We can attain a sense of self, and a sense of group identity, through two means, though usually some variation of both: comparison to others, or to a cultural ideal; or, through contribution to a greater collective. The former is problematic while the latter often fails to receive recognition and monetary compensation; consequently, our society is afflicted by a certain degree of demoralization. The problem with comparison is that it lends itself to humiliation and the occlusion of sympathetic love and the ability to confront the truth.
Part of the reason Rick Warren’s book The Purpose Driven Life became and remains a best-seller, I believe, is that it addressed and provided some relief from this demoralization. At the time, Warren believed the country to be on the verge of a third great awakening and I would agree with him. But in a pluralistic country founded on the tenets of the enlightenment, a broader approach is needed because a country’s moral culture is more than religion, also encompassing, for example, its history, traditions, ideals, and its art.
Through a poetic approach and the use of symbol, metaphor, narrative, and vision (projection of the primal soul) we can create an imaginative framework which then can be interjected with the arts. This framework, that essentially promotes community spirit in concert with the human spirit, can help to affirms one’s sense of self, and one's sense of group identity, derived from contribution as the appropriate and surer foundation toward human flourishing for both the individual and society. This can act in conjunction with a faith-based approach or outside of it. What we hope to restore through all of this is a collective sense of progress by way of a synthesis movement.
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