All over the world, we are saturated by a contemporary culture of materialism, instant communications, and electronic luxury. Advertising bombards us with pulsating music, sexual imagery, and the urgent appeal to involve ourselves more and more withy gadgets, objects, and new fads. Nothing old is ever good enough. Each season, we must throw out the old and buy “new, revolutionary” products. Old ways, we also throw out for the sake of whatever new thoughts and attitudes come along. We think in terms of decades, and at the end of each one, we declare that era over with and look forward to a wholly different one. What use is there for a tradition, let alone a tradition that urges contentment, acceptance, self-discipline, and inward contemplation?
–Deng Ming-Dao, Scholar Warrior: An Introduction to the Tao in Everyday Life
How Things Looked in 1990
