I am re-purposing the term:

"Acculturation"

cultural modification of an individual, group, or people by adapting to or borrowing traits from another culture the acculturation of immigrants to American life also : a merging of cultures as a result of prolonged contact

to describe the condition of having surrendered one'self'to an ideology, 'ism, or personal improvement technology

Personal Anecdote:

I evacuated Japan after having experienced a 10 day-long, perceived near-death experience, post 3/11 earthquake (aftershocks were endless, and we truly believed the reactors were going to go!!!)

Such an experience produces an amazing range of emotions and needs. I felt a profound need for MEANING, beauty, love, music, GOD, a big cosmic anchoring experience.

This refugee stayed with friends in Carmel, California.

This is weird, but I recall traversing that tiny town and asking its residents 'existential' questions.

I started with my host, a consultant by profession.

Question: "What is the most important thing you have done in your life?"

Answer: "I took a brain-training course."

This sort of thing went on for days (my sample was pretty huge)...answers often involved some 'perceived' expression of 'identity', sexual; some attainment of 'authenticity' (usually achieved in some engineered group context).

I felt that I was walking in a desert of in-authenticiy, a Stepford-humans HELL.

I finally met a man who could 'heal' me (just a little). He was a waiter in a cafe, a refugee from Lebanon. He/I talked war, and death, and music, and great art, and feeling glad but guilty to be alive. The only other non-acculted person I found was an uber driver, who was pretty disgusted with the whole milieu.

Can you imagine lying on your deathbed thinking, "I sure am glad I took that brain-training course"?

bakkagirl

California is pretty much the capitol of that sort of thing, (in the U.S., anyway), you know. It depends on which part of California you are in, though. I don't know anything about the mentality of Carmel. You do realize that CA is going to vote on whether they are going to split themselves up into three states, right?

I can tell you a story about my own experience with that sort of thing when i get proton account.

I recently visited Iowa, and saw just plain, common sense. Same thing in Nebraska. I also visited a family member in Mississippi, and didn't see it there. I think it depends on where you go, or who you are with.

bakkagirl wrote:

Quote

I finally met a man who could 'heal' me (just a little). He was a waiter in a cafe, a refugee from Lebanon. He/I talked war, and death, and music, and great art, and feeling glad but guilty to be alive. The only other non-acculted person I found was an uber driver, who was pretty disgusted with the whole milieu.

The people who helped you were the ones who were capable of human relatedness peer to peer.


Capable of ordinary face to face human empathy. People who had been in situations where survival and basic necessities for survival could not be taken for granted.

Where it is life and death whether people are honest and stand by their promises.

And warn you when they cannot stand by what they promise.