Modern success is a sham. Where are you really being driven? "Get rid of the losers." Why “Succeeding” Is a Very Bad Idea

In our society, the fashion virus of "achievement" has flourished so much and the cult of success has spread so much that it is sometimes sickening. Let's face it: not everyone needs to become top businessmen or artists who sell paintings for hundreds of units of cryptocurrency. While every person from a huge society is trying to achieve a cool status, half break down in depression, another quarter just live their lives in an unnecessary race, ten percent cannot enjoy success, because they always look around. And only the remaining “last heroes” become “successful”. But do they need it?

“Success” is a bad argument in a dispute

Did you think this article would be about how poor rich people suffer so much? How do they curse their status, how do they weep over capital, how do they dream of returning to a happy Soviet childhood? Oh no, defusing latent envy will not happen here. Tell me what you think of the next person.

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Our Mr. X was born into the family of a housekeeper and a customs officer, and four of his brothers and sisters died of illnesses at an early age. As a child, he suffered from the pressure of his father, he was disgusted with school. At the age of 18, he buried his beloved mother and remained an orphan. He was twice unable to enter the chosen educational institution, but did not hang his nose: he got used to the creative profession and began to earn good money. Love for the motherland and a thirst for a better life for her pushed Mr. X into politics. He started from scratch many times: his “calm fanaticism” was not shaken by either a military injury, or imprisonment, or the intrigues of enemies. In just five years, he managed to increase his party's representation in parliament from 2.3% to 43.9%. A fortunate combination of circumstances, willpower, incredible charisma - in 15 years he turns from an insignificant person into the most important person in the country. By some miracle, he survived after several dozen assassination attempts. At the beginning of his reign, nature itself favored him, so that sunny days even began to be called "X's weather." Is this person successful? Undoubtedly. Is he worthy of emulation? Maybe. Does the fact that this man is Hitler make a difference? Perhaps.

Now imagine that you live in 1933 in Germany. The nuts are not yet tightened, and one can only guess what will happen next. You see what methods ensured the rise of Hitler to power, and you try to explain to your neighbor that a thunderstorm is coming, but he does not hear you. The argument is reinforced concrete and always the same: he succeeded, but you did not. Accomplish first, criticize later.

Do you think that the example is too phantasmagorical, and it is difficult to meet such debaters? All around. The conversation on the merits can be stopped when the opponent hangs a red card in front of your nose - an argument about someone's success. It is especially sad when the argument “but he did it” arises in a dispute about art, where there is always a temptation to justify one’s bad taste and unwillingness to develop with strict numbers. In Russia, the first part of "50 Shades" was watched by four million people, "Faust" by a hundred thousand (and there, by the way, there is a wonderful erotic scene, one of the best in world cinema). Does this mean that Erica James is more brilliant than Sokurov? No, this means that for one thinking (or aspiring to think) spectator there are 40, eager to be filled with emptiness. Do not forget about those who came because of the marketing hype and who were dragged on the lasso by picky soul mates. In a society of the victorious masses, where fashion is dictated by the majority, sweeping figures make one rather wary. As Edgar Poe said anti-democratically: "The opinion of the majority is always wrong, for the majority of people are idiots."

Society of Successful Losers

The idea that anyone can achieve anything with due diligence is a wonderful one. It's worse when the American dream becomes a dictate: you cannot succeed, but you must succeed, otherwise your life is meaningless. The most interesting thing begins when we take American grain, transplant it into our soil, and instead of sequoia, some kind of ugly frail fern grows, poorly adapted to the environment.

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In the US, it is easier to open a startup, the level of corruption is lower, and the system itself is built in such a way as to push a person to reveal his talents in the face of fierce competition. The understanding that everything is in your hands comes early: self-discipline and conscious goal setting are encouraged from school. “I studied for the test all my free time, and you were having fun and didn’t learn anything. I will get a high mark, and you a low one. It's a matter of personal choice." In our schools, these words will become an empty shaking of the air. A kind person will help out in trouble (that is, he will let you write off), and the one who does not give is an egoist. This type of corrosion corrodes consciousness from infancy. An ambitious A student is demotivated, and a loser has the confidence that you can always leave at someone else's expense.

Many of our universities are some kind of strange Looking Glass. Here, unlike in the USA, they are not kicked out for cheating, but etiquette requires each participant to portray the educational process. Why study textbooks for the sake of writing an essay that the teacher will not read if you can download it on the Internet? Without a cheat sheet, a student will pass the exam for 7, with a cheat sheet - for 9. The teacher does not mind, so what kind of fool would refuse a good grade? Honesty and awareness become aggravating rather than helpful factors.

An ambitious and caring individual in the post-Soviet climate even faces some suspicions. “You always climb everywhere, you always need more than anyone else. We don't like those." And our man, already corrupted by these concepts, enters a world where, at first glance, all roads are open to him. But the ground under the asphalt canvas is very unreliable. In front of his eyes, not the most talented one can be hired, but the one who was recommended. He is his own, native and inspires confidence. It comes to the point that the godfather, matchmaker or brother of the owner of the company can receive many times more than his colleague in a similar position. After all, how not to “please your own little man?”. No, of course we are happy for those who were born at the right time in the right place; But what about a newcomer without connections and with debts for rented housing? At the same time, we watch American films and firmly believe that there is a direct relationship between ability and success in society. And we forget to include the resistance of the medium in the calculations.

Why the American cult of success does not work in Belarus

Speaking of the cult of success, one should not forget that the Americans managed to get a lot of neuroses on this basis. In our well-fed time, the level of anxiety in general is steadily increasing. Research published in the journal American Psychologist shows that the number of Americans who consider themselves on the verge of a nervous breakdown increased by 40% from 1957 to 1996. From 2002 to 2006, the number of people in the United States seeking help for "anxiety" rose from 13.4 million to 16.2 million.

In some ways, an Indian who lives in a caste society is much happier. The cycle rickshaw knows that he will never become rich and does not even have the right to do so. He understands the root cause - his bad karma, and does not feel unfairly deprived by fate. If he behaves well, he hopes to become a taxi driver in his next life, so he evaluates his success only in relation to himself, and not to Bill Gates.

Neither Jainism, nor Buddhism, nor the Portuguese missionaries, nor the British colonialists, nor Mahatma Gandhi, nor the computer era have been able to shake the caste system in India. The country recently broke a world record by launching as many as 104 satellites into space with a single rocket - but the caste system remains unbreakable. Perhaps this is the main indicator of its effectiveness?

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Man is a socially conditioned animal. In a medieval town, the lion's share of our lives would be absorbed by the zeal before the Lord, in the Maori tribe we would consider it honorable to eat the enemy in order to be filled with his power. The American Dream encourages us to channel our energies into acquiring fame and money. As a result, most of the smart and ambitious people are moving from medicine and education to business and IT. And often it is not even the love of money that speaks in them, but the unwillingness to look like a loser in the eyes of classmates.

At the same time, we are weighed down by Soviet heredity, which says that it is better not to stick out. In addition, there are echoes of the Orthodox mentality, where a businesslike entrepreneur is a despised creature. "Kulaks" are unanimously hated by the whole village, and "traders" in classical literature are all unspiritual phenomena. And so, on the one hand, success and money are obligatory things, but on the other hand, it seems as if it is a shame for them. Long live social schizophrenia!

And here was Hitler?

There are people with simple thinking, like a cable car. There are no forks, no turns, no crossroads - there is movement forward and movement back. If a person has achieved money, fame and love, then there must be something good in this person. If not, something is wrong with him. The idea does not penetrate into their minds that for the sake of success in big politics or business, many walk around on other people's heads. In the saying “if you are so smart, then why are you so poor” they do not see the catch. “Successful” scoffers will never believe that a doctor of sciences is happy that he teaches at the department, and did not go into business due to lack of interest, and not from some hidden, hidden defect.

Beneath the outward consistency of their arguments lies magical thinking: the belief that the world is driven by our thoughts. It’s bad when such a view of things becomes an excuse for indifference: everyone can, and you can. I couldn’t - I tried badly, I didn’t want to.

The worst thing that can happen to a "magical thinker" is achieving notorious success. Such reinforced concrete self-righteousness grows in him that it cannot be knocked out by the most Gestapo methods.

The apotheosis is the situation when such a person begins to think of himself as the guru of living. It is delightful to read from a blogger who grew up in a wealthy family that nothing is impossible, it's time to get off the couch and move towards your dream. The main thing is positive thinking! This is the kind of stupidity that borders on ruthlessness.

Imagine a housewife, Masha, whose husband died and who, for the sake of her children, has to urgently look for a well-paid job. She would dream of making money not by sales, but by translations. But for this you need not be afraid to go into an unknown space: look for clients, improve the level of the language at night, cope with failures. In a new field, earnings will be low at first, so a monetary airbag will not interfere. And at the same time, you have to have time to work, solve everyday problems, raise children ... Theoretically, everything is possible. Practically, it is much more difficult. To overcome the inertia of life, you need to be a fanatic of your work, have an unbending will and unshakable self-confidence. These qualities do not indicate the most pleasant character. And if our Masha is a kind, vulnerable, not the most penetrating person?

Can't judge the losers

Of course, a passionary will ram any mountains on the way to his goal. We are often pointed to Lomonosov, Jobs, Vuychich. But it's one thing - exceptional people obsessed with their mission. The majority wants to exist with dignity, without committing feats for this. An ambulance paramedic, saving lives in Belarus, earns about 200-400 dollars a month. Eighteen-year-old Mariana Ro, filming herself on camera for Youtube - about $ 25,000 (according to RIAB). In the generally accepted sense, Mariano Ro is more successful, but does this make her more useful to the universe? Do you have the conscience when the paramedic starts complaining about the low standard of living, advising him to give up everything and do a more profitable business?

Let us return to our Indians: “It is better to fulfill your own dharma, even the most modest, than to perfectly fulfill the dharma of another,” says the Bhagavad Gita. Everyone has their own mission: happiness consists in revealing it. The whole country needs one president, a couple of singers and a dozen bloggers. What to do: only the right found place in the system provides the same, elusive, authentic happiness. A person who runs after social expectations and does not want to understand what he really wants is doomed to psychological crises. So let's get to know ourselves and never, ever condemn "losers".

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"Every cook can run the state!" says an aphorism erroneously attributed to Lenin. “Everyone can create their own startup and earn a million!” business coaches say like a mantra. The idea of ​​becoming the owner of factories and steamships was very attractive at all times. But now that network marketing is turning into a kind of cult, bitcoin price fluctuations bring huge amounts of money to random lucky ones, and teenagers earn money for cars and apartments with the help of blogs on YouTube, it seems to us with a vengeance that the world opens up a lot of opportunities for us every day. And only fools don't use them.

Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos have become symbols of the new time. Collages in the spirit of "before and after" go around the Internet. Here is Bezos in 1998: an ordinary guy, in a baggy sweater, with a bald head and a languid smile. And here he is 20 years later: practically a terminator, in expensive sunglasses, who has just come out on top in the ranking of the richest people in the world with a fortune of under a hundred billion dollars. Here and there we read that the late Ingvar Kamprad, the founder of IKEA, retained the habits of the most ordinary miser-Swede to the last, and the Spanish tycoon Amancio Ortega, the creator of the ZARA brand, did not even really finish school.

If earlier the conditional king was a celestial being for the common people, now, thanks to the fact that we have the opportunity to follow the life of the powerful of this world on the Web, the illusion arises that the gap between them and us is insignificant. Mark Zuckerberg does not have a crown, a scepter and a mantle lined with ermine fur. He dresses like the average American college student. So, any student can become Mark Zuckerberg. Well maybe. Purely theoretical. If you try a little.

Stress and Subordination

Nowadays, success has become not just an option, but a basic requirement for a person - like the desire to run up the career ladder, jumping over steps, or the willingness to demonstrate all your talents to the world. It is no longer enough for a woman to be “just” a wife and mother: at the same time, she must look good, play sports, get an education, do everything in time and have a more or less decent job, at least remotely. At the same time, the background of the one to whom such requirements are made is completely ignored, as well as his or her psychological state.

One of the most common mise en scenes in modern Russian talk shows looks something like this. In the studio, they discuss the story of a man who finds himself in difficult life circumstances. It can be, for example, a young man who was brought up in an orphanage and was completely confused when he got into the world of adults. Or a woman who is systematically subjected to domestic violence, but still cannot leave her husband. And here he or she is sitting on the shameful red couch, and on the contrary - invited experts: public figures, minor stars of show business, athletes, businessmen, psychologists without higher education.

Their "expertise" usually comes down to comments: "Take care of yourself! Find a real job! Why are you worse than others? Everyone is the blacksmith of his own happiness! I did it - and you can too! Can't you take it and change your life?!" And few of them come to mind that the honest answer to the last question will be: “No, I can’t.”

erhui1979/istockphoto.com

American biologist and neuroendocrinologist Robert Sapolsky spent many years studying the baboon population living in Kenya. Baboons are social animals, their social structure is strictly hierarchical. Sapolsky's goal was to find out if the position of the monkey in the hierarchy affects the level of stress that he experiences, as well as his state of health. It turned out, yes - it does. Low-ranking males and females produced by low-ranking parents are, as a rule, weaker than high-ranking counterparts. They are more nervous, twitchy and less inclined to defend their interests in case of conflict. It is easier for them to give in or run away than to compete with someone who is obviously higher on the social ladder.

Of course, people are not baboons: our society as a whole is more complicated. But stress, subordination and low social status also have a detrimental effect on us. A graduate of an orphanage finds out that he is “second class” as soon as he comes to meet the parents of his beloved girl. A woman cannot leave her beating husband because she is afraid of him, and she has nowhere to go.

In every office, there are a few employees that the boss clings to more than the rest. They are assigned a bunch of tasks at the same time, indirectly making it clear that they are unlikely to cope with these tasks. The reasons for this behavior of the boss are very different: he may simply turn out to be a typical bully who, from his school years, has been accustomed to spying on those who seem to him weaker. But this is not so important. It is important that even an initially quite balanced person is constantly reminded that he does not meet some requirements, unsettles. Psychological defense mechanisms are weakened, and survival in the team becomes the main concern. Where is the ambition and desire to get promoted here?

erhui1979/istockphoto.com

Habitus and objective environment

Similar examples can be found in any group of people where there is inequality in one way or another. The consequences of such a distribution of roles can be easily explained through the concept of "habitus". It began to be widely used at the suggestion of Pierre Bourdieu, a famous French sociologist and philosopher. To simplify the meaning of this term, within the framework of Bourdieu’s concept, habitus means how a person understands his place in life, how he sorts proposals in the field of work, study, personal relationships into “I can probably handle this” and “I definitely can’t I can handle it." How does a person decide what is right for him and what is not?

Take, for example, the Soviet cartoon Twelve Months. How imposingly and freely the young queen behaves, how unshakable her belief is that any of her whims must be fulfilled. The meeting with January cools her ardor a little, but it is hard to believe that when she returns to the palace, she will radically change her views. On the other hand, let's remember: what did the half-sister of the main character ask from January when he offered to fulfill any of her desires? Dog fur coat. She is a commoner and implicitly understands that she deserves no more.

So it is in real life: a child born into a wealthy family knows from childhood that the whole world is at his disposal. Yes, later, having taken a risk and invested a lot of money in a business, he will not at all be immune from ruin. But in general, he is capable of committing a risky act. It is much more difficult for a person who comes from a poor family to perform tasks that can turn into failure, because he knows that he does not have an airbag. It is unlikely that Gustave Flaubert could afford to endlessly write and rewrite the novel Madame Bovary, if he did not receive material support from his relatives.

Habitus, according to Bourdieu, is produced by the objective environment. That is, not only early experience, in which most of the psychological problems are usually looked for, but also the experience of the family, as well as the value system and social system in the country where you grew up. Historically, Russia is a state with a very significant class stratification, and public opinion in our country is often formed under the influence of stereotypes that have taken root in the mass consciousness.

erhui1979/istockphoto.com

A non-resident hears every now and then that he is a limit and "come in large numbers." Since childhood, a woman has been told that she cannot become a writer, a surgeon, a president because of her gender. Parents forbid the child to express his own opinion, because "still small." A job seeker aged 45+ is looked upon with disdain, because he allegedly, by definition, cannot be an effective employee. And in general, they did not live well - there is nothing to start.

In this whole story with the idol of success, it turns out that at first society points to a person in his place and draws a line in front of him, for which he should not intervene. So live. Don't stick out. And then suddenly, for no apparent reason, the same society orders: forget everything that you were told about before. Become successful! Take it right now and stand. Terrible hypocrisy.

The genuine Leninist quote about the cook and the state does not sound like that at all. Here is the original, taken from the article “Will the Bolsheviks Retain State Power?” (1917): “We are not utopians. We know that any unskilled worker and any cook are not capable now of entering into government.<…>But we<…>We demand an immediate break with the prejudice that only rich officials or officials taken from wealthy families can govern the state, carry out the everyday, daily work of government.

Of course, a society of absolutely equal opportunities is a practically unattainable ideal. But it is, in principle, possible to create a non-aggressive environment, with really working social elevators. The countries of Northern Europe do this with varying degrees of success. However, most likely, in this case, we will all the more have to come to terms with the fact that not every student is able to become Mark Zuckerberg. Because with relatively equal initial data, it will be much easier to figure out who is actually the son of my mother's friend, and who just passed by.

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Today we will analyze the truth of our desires. It is very important!

If desires come from the heart, then this practically guarantees their implementation. Some desires and goals come from outside, which makes us spin like squirrels in a wheel. It robs us of joy and strength.

Tell me, do you like all your activities? Is this really what you would like to do?

Very often, our desires, in fact, are not ours. We are chasing something. And it seems to us that we are doing everything right!

It so happened that our society is a society called "In pursuit of Success!". We squeeze all the juice out of ourselves in order to achieve some kind of success. In fact, it's scary, because. chasing after something we forget to live. We do not get pleasure from the process itself, but on the contrary, we force ourselves to endure something, because. In the future, we will receive good dividends for this. And we really think it's worth it! We set some goals and spend years on their implementation, and then at some point we realize that these are absolutely not our goals and aspirations. We understand that this is not at all what our soul wants.

Are all your dreams really yours? Or is it just more prestigious and solid?

Write down 10-20 main, biggest goals for the coming years. Pay special attention to the sphere of self-realization and career. Now let's work with each. Right now! Don't delay. This is your life and no one will do this work for you!

So let's take the first target. Read it. Now listen to yourself. What is your heart saying? Trust yourself. Listen to your inner voice. What does he tell you? Is it really yours? Or maybe this is the goal of your parents or teachers? Return to childhood. Why do you want this? Maybe the realization of this goal will help you prove something to someone? (It is this question that helps to clearly understand the truth of the goal - be honest with yourself!)

Will you feel calm and harmonious after achieving this? Will you lose yourself? Will it be good for you and your loved ones? Doesn't this go against the universe? Are you cheating on yourself by striving for this goal?

Don't you think that this goal is inspired by society? Or maybe it's just prestigious and cool?

You need to understand that in our society there is a cult of success. It leads us to compare our achievements with the achievements of others. And we don't always like the results of this comparison. But do not fall into the state of the victim and blame society. Our thoughts and our life is our choice!

You also see some people have all sorts of motivators on the walls - about how to follow your dream. Or open your own business and stop working for your uncle. Or become financially free by working 4 hours a week?

Photos of new iPhones, expensive cars and chic houses with calls “this can be yours” are full of on every corner?

If all of the above is new to you, then the so-called “cult of success” has strangely bypassed you.

And someone even tried himself (trying now) in various schemes of earning, feeling himself chosen and being in full confidence that HE - SUCCESS - is already waiting for you around the next corner.

So - the cult of success. A painful and painful topic for me.

Painful because all this is 95% complete nonsense.

Suffering because I still try to find that same success (and even started to succeed), but in the process it turns out that it looks completely different than the “especially advanced” people are trying to draw it for us.

Why is the very concept of modern success wrong? Because it is measured only by money and material goods.

A person is judged by the size of his bank account, the brand of car, the number of storeys of his own house (or the number of rooms in an apartment), the manufacturer of the suit, etc.

This reasoning is partly correct. But very one-sided.

Today, the "new successful" (NU) - I will introduce such a term - have forgotten that in addition to material wealth, a person has many more areas of realization. There are also personal relationships, social environment. Family, children, friends, harmony. And there is also realization in your favorite business, and it is not necessarily accompanied by a lot of money.

Yes, of course, the material side is important. Without money, no realization is possible at all, because a person needs to eat, drink, dress, live somewhere. Least.

But it is one thing to have an income that covers the needs of a given person, and it is quite another thing when this person has made money his idol, and now he is sacrificing everything to this idol. And he earns much more than he needs. He spends extra money on super comfort.

Again, this is all cool, if not to fanaticism. Everyone has the right to comfort of any level - up to buying his wife a ring worth the cost of a spaceship. If a person earns on such a ring, then why not?

However, the danger of the cult of success is that today this person is considered very mega-successful. Only because of the opportunity to buy rings for the price of a spaceship. And it doesn’t matter to society that even for such luxurious gifts, girlfriends still leave him for less successful (for some reason) guys. For example, with which you can have fun going out into nature or going to the theater.

The cult of success strictly divides the whole society into "winners" - beautiful people in solid suits, earning a lot of dough, owning luxurious houses-villas-yachts-cars, and "losers" who do not have all of the above.

What's the catch? The fact is that just the vast majority of such success has not been achieved and cannot be achieved by definition.

However, there is another dangerous hook of the cult of success. The imposed opinion that "everyone can do it, you just need to boldly dream, strain and not notice the obstacles." Like, success is a system of certain actions, stupidly repeating which you can become successful.

An outright lie!

If that were true, then the richest people would be the most accomplished workaholic dads.

Is it so? Not at all!

The false axiom "everyone can do it" is beneficial to a very small group of people - manufacturers of things that are not necessary for a person.

Just because few people will buy them. But against the backdrop of the modern cult of success, people are beginning to go out of their way - just to cover themselves with world brands.

And the phrase is beneficial to the current working system. After all, now employees are straining with all their might - working overtime, at 2-3 jobs - everything to earn on a car loan or a mortgage.

To take an apartment on a mortgage and practically never visit it (because there is no time for life) - this is the peak of the modern cult of success.

To buy an expensive car to stand idle on the street “for show off”, to buy a chic three-ruble note in a mortgage and only spend the night there - this is the beginning. And then a person will have nervous and physical exhaustion, and hello a heart attack or stroke before the age of 50. With a lethal outcome.

And what happened during these 50 years? One plow. I didn’t really see my family, I hardly did my own business, I didn’t even really rest.

Well, if a person really managed to earn money for housing or a good car.

And if not?

That's when mass neuroses and inferiority complexes begin. "Complex of the loser", which destroys normal self-esteem.

“I couldn’t achieve success, I didn’t buy it, I didn’t earn money for it, I didn’t get this position, so I’m a nonentity,” the poor fellow rushes about. And now without the help of a competent psychotherapist can not do.

But since in Russia the psychotherapist is still perceived by many with a grimace of disgust (“What am I, a psycho, to go to them?”), The poor fellow will be in deep depression and frustration with all the consequences up to suicide.

When I myself reached such a state, I said: “Enough!”. It is good that there is an understanding husband nearby, with whom we do business together. Together, the state of frustration was more easily experienced, the impossibility of getting something so far was realized, and ... all the falsity of the “cult of success” was realized.

To begin with, the truth is that not everyone can reach heights. Most are destined to do some kind of work as directed with an 8-hour sentence at the workplace for the rest of their lives. And that's completely normal! That's the way the world works! Our society is built on a hierarchical scheme, and there should be many times more ordinary workers than managers and business owners.

Second, the starting point is very important. The false axiom says: "Any of any conditions can do it!". Yes, theoretically this is true. But it depends on what path - in terms of time and difficulties - needs to be done for this success.

Imagine: Vasya was born in a separate three-room apartment, to well-off parents, has no brothers and sisters, and grandparents have a good country house, and there are no more grandchildren except Vasya. Petya was born in an overcrowded communal apartment, to impoverished parents, and his grandparents live in rotting houses in remote remote villages. Petya has a brother and a sister.

Now tell me that Vasya and Petya have equal opportunities to acquire their own housing by the age of 25.

Ahh, according to modern concepts, Petya just doesn’t work much and doesn’t know how to dream, yeah ... He dreams just from the cradle, works like Papa Carlo, but he still doesn’t have a home. While saving up as best he can for a mortgage. While Vasya may have already moved to that country house, or while he lives in a separate room with all amenities.

There is a way out of dependence on the “cult of success”.

No, this is not two stomps, three slams. It's hard here, to be honest.

But start. To get started, your actions are as follows:

1. Learn to listen to yourself. Take a walk alone, take a relaxing bath - think well what you want. You, not your parents, your boss, or the community. Find something that pleases you, even if it does not fit into any usual framework.

2. Stop trying to please everyone. This path is definitely not to your happiness.

4. Find a lifestyle: a family, a loved one, a job, a hobby that you enjoy. And develop all these directions.

Remember that the "cult of success" draws you into. In any system and at any time, the truly happy (as well as rich, famous, successful) people were those who went against the system and acted in accordance with their life goals.

If you are offered a mass system that kind of works, then remember that mass systems are offered for the masses. And the masses are never successful. Success, realization and real happiness - they are for units. And it's up to you to decide whether you will follow the "successful" mass system or actually find your own happiness.

Positive for today:

If your goal is money, then it is not necessary to work hard and hard. Money can be made like this:

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It's no secret that society today is entirely focused on material goods as the main measure of the quality of life. On September 24, 1999, the phrase “wet in the toilet” was perceived by the Russian population as a bar, above which it makes no sense to rise now. The cult of success was put at the forefront. At what price it is achieved - no one cares.

Wanting to achieve success in life, many perceive it as a phenomenon that does not require explanation. The most common template: "Success in a person's life is always fame, universal recognition, love and wealth." One imagines a large house by the sea, with luxurious furnishings, the walls of which are hung with various awards and magazine covers with the face of the same person that he sees every time he looks in the mirror. If we talk about success, meaning financial heights, then, undoubtedly, a person who has achieved career growth, a high financial level, is considered successful. The person is successful in terms of making money. If he occupies a high social position, then, of course, he is successful here too. But this does not answer the question of what success is in the general sense and who is a successful person. In addition to successful earning money and high social status, there are other facets of success that together make up the concept of universal global success. After all, it happens, and quite often, that a person who is 100% successful, financially and from the point of view of the environment and public morality, is deeply unhappy in his personal life. But these are no longer interesting nuances to the layman. The vast majority of the population today considers money and power to be fundamental in success.

So, the cult of success has firmly penetrated our lives. We strive not only for career achievements, high earnings, but we measure personal life and the quality of raising children with success. The child turns into a global project that needs to be implemented. "Superparents" strive to reach certain heights, and they perceive spending on education and health of their children as investments.

Of course, inexperienced, immature young souls are malleable and plastic, so the mores that prevail in society immediately leave their mark on the psychology of children. Where an existential vacuum arises, destructive manifestations begin to grow, which in their organized forms form an anti-cultural environment. Children, falling under the influence of surrogate values, find themselves drawn into certain anti-cultural currents. At the everyday level, value-semantic disorientation often manifests itself in radical views, categorical judgments, bitterness and a hostile attitude.

However, such trifles are unlikely to turn the social machine back. The cult of success - as a new national idea of ​​Russia - zombifies and directs everyone without exception. Even those who are trying in every possible way to preserve the old cultural values, traditions of spirituality are forced to adapt to new standards so as not to be crushed by a ruthless society.

An alternative to the cult of success in the near future is clearly not visible. Any objection to this score is parried very simply: you first become successful, show what you are capable of, and then you will raise objections. In other words, only people who have managed to earn money and have enough money have the right to despise money. As folk wisdom says: “Only those who have achieved success have the right to say that happiness is not in money. When the same is said by those who do not have them, it sounds like “the grapes are green,” in Aesop's fable, ”and, therefore, there is simply no other choice but to run in the crowd of contenders for success.

They listen only to the opinion of successful people, and they are unlikely to cut the branch on which they sit. Thus, the circle closes - the idea of ​​success becomes the absolute value of our time.

Like any social phenomenon, the cult of success is criticized. Here are some examples of typical almost toothless performances of this kind.

The cult of success

They are ready to go over their heads, forgetting that their stereotyped head, which is full of other people's ideas and thoughts, is much more fragile than they think.

victims of success. How fashionable it has become to use the word “success”: everyone is eager for it, they read the same best-selling books on manipulating people, non-verbal communication, motivation, “how to become rich”, etc. After reading these books, they begin to act on them, considering their thoughts special, thinking that other people are now subject to them. But they miss the point. They forget that if these books are bestsellers, then a large number of people have read them, and from this it follows that the advice given in the books is no longer unique, the ideas are second-rate. Instead of simple and relaxed communication, they begin to analyze and try to read the movements of the interlocutor. All their attention goes to this meaningless analysis, and they are not able to hear the interlocutor, namely to hear, and not to hear, and communication, as such, fades into the background, and the illusory desire to read the emotions and thoughts of the interlocutor rises to the fore. Communication with such people is simply unbearable.

They made a brand out of success. Everywhere they teach to be successful, conduct trainings, lectures, webinars. And who conducts all this and teaches it, who writes books about success? Ordinary people who just want to make money. Success is a good commodity that is sold and cultivated. Where there is demand, there will always be supply. The desire for success is akin to masturbation.

To become successful, you must first become a man and accustom yourself to love to think. Not reading any books, but learning to think. Reading bums.

The creators of large corporations and small firms did not motivate themselves with books about success, they simply thought, worked and created; they did not litter and were not carried away by other people's thoughts and advice.

If there was a real recipe “how to become successful,” then no one would have said it, especially the person who achieved this very success, because it is simply unprofitable and unnecessary for him.

Source: Pavel Egorov http://nikkiewart.net/?p=2371

The Dictatorship of Success and the Consumers of Happiness

The consumer society in which our contemporaries live is gradually transforming culture and beginning to dictate its own laws. One of the main laws of this new dictatorship is the worship of the cult of success and prosperity. Modern society does not need sufferers and losers, it needs beautiful, happy and successful people. Anyone who wants to consider himself a full-fledged member simply has to be successful and happy. It’s not enough for people to be “no worse than others”, they are burdened by the usual course of things, because you need to successfully compete in society. But the more persistently they pursue success, the more it becomes unattainable: the modern economy is built on the concept of an endless increase in needs. As the French writer Pascal Bruckner rightly noted, success and happiness in our time have become a duty. The modern layman must be successful at the same time in love and family life, in business and career, in public and private life, in the physical and spiritual spheres, and even always receive “complete moral satisfaction”.

The universal demand for happiness is formed, and in response to it, supply inevitably appears. When psychology is turned into a service for "consumers of happiness", we unwittingly become hostages of the market with its persistently imposed abundance. So we see everywhere offered ready-to-use "happiness" in the form of professional psychology and psychotherapy, which are profaning, but massively popular courses of "personal growth", "attracting money" and "influencing others". A paradox is natural: the less expectations from such courses are justified, the stronger the need for new “happiness kits” - more “powerful”, “super-efficient”, guaranteeing “100% results”. Of course, professional psychologists and psychotherapists, with their “usual” consultations, are not easy to find among such flashy and extraordinary “sellers of happiness”. Common sense and a formed “mature” attitude towards working with a psychologist (instead of “teach me how to live” - “it’s time for me to accomplish something in my life”) may not be enough. In this case, you can seek help from professional psychological communities that teach, supervise, support, respectively, know and can recommend their specialists.

Andryushin VV, Director of the Alliance of Helping Practitioners, member of the EEAET Board. St. Petersburg

http://av.appme.ru/text/396/

Natalia Ichenko: Human Rally

Life is like a race for success

In society at all times there were certain canons, according to which everyone “should” live. Today, much attention is paid to the success of a person. In many families, a cult of success develops from childhood: the child is instilled that one should always strive to be better than others, more successful than others, richer, smarter, more promising. Moreover, the focus on success and achievement is actively promoted in the external environment through cinema, television, and glossy magazines. As a result, the whole life turns into a race for success. And its meaning is money, position in society, material wealth.

The striving for perfection and well-being is wonderful in itself, but until it becomes an overvalued value and begins to control all life. When in our life there is a place not only for reaching the heights, but also for life itself: friends, family, relatives, and finally, our own interests that are not related to moving ourselves up the social ladder.

Chase risks

The desire to look prosperous and successful often reaches the point of absurdity. The desire to live up to the external façade of well-being pushes people to take huge loans, which become a debt hole for them.

Ambitious goals often do not correspond to the real capabilities of a person. After a series of failures, there is depression, dissatisfaction with oneself and one's own life.

Some people are tormented by the high achievements of others. Those who have them are often haunted by the fear of losing everything they have achieved. Constant tension and anxiety bring a person to a state of deep stress.

Professional and personal relationships become overwhelmed by competition and rivalry. Many of us have long been living in a mode of comparing our own lives with the lives of friends and the desire to surpass them: to have a better paying job and a high position, a more beautiful wife or status husband, a more expensive car and apartment, and much more. This desire to be better does not subside with each peak reached, but, on the contrary, flares up with renewed vigor.

In relationships between a man and a woman, the cult of success makes it difficult to express warmth and love. There is a fear that any tender feelings can be regarded by a partner as weakness, and "weakness is not allowed for a successful independent woman", and even more so "it is not allowed for a successful man."

Thus, an overemphasis on success and well-being can lead to chronic tension, stress, lack of human closeness, and loneliness. Moreover, becoming hostages of this fashionable trend, we lose the inner freedom that we have been striving for.

http://www.yugregion.ru/society/blogs/56848.html

SOP people, or about the new sectarianism

These people are almost flawless. In their perfection, they are similar to each other like twins. Or like broiler chickens on a chicken farm. The movements, facial expressions and even the way of thinking of a twenty-year-old girl and a forty-year-old man are almost the same. Because they belong to the SOP - Success Oriented People.

Corporate dress code has become their style. Their vocabulary resembles an automatic translation from English. The intonations, even in a conversation with relatives, are the same as at a presentation for some investment committee. With an emphasis on the promoted idea. And most importantly, to promote yourself.

They do everything right. They know what is right - they are taught this universal knowledge in business trainings. If you do everything right, you will definitely succeed. This is the meaning and purpose - to systematically and steadily move up the career ladder.

I remember, in the late nineties, a herbalife salesman came to my apartment. Then I first got acquainted with such a mimic mask, with these stereotyped intonations and gestures. The Herbalife people were our pioneers, the front line of the SOP.

I sat opposite a guy in a tight gray suit and a snow-white shirt, looked at his gestures, at the movements of his lips and did not understand the meaning of the words. It was like he was speaking in a foreign language. Maybe because the gestures were unnatural, memorized. And the speech was not confirmed by the lively gleam of the eyes, familiar and understandable emotions.

It was midday on a hot July day. Beads of sweat glistened on the young man's forehead. But the jacket and shirt remained buttoned up.

Why don't you tell in your own words? - I asked the seller, - Do you have your own experience, do you drink these medicines yourself? And relatives, probably drink. Tell us what exactly did you take, how do you feel?

– We value your time and try to provide as much important information as possible. Of course, I use our wonderful products. I owe a lot to our company. With your permission, I will continue...

And the young man continued the ritual.

Since then, SOPs have advanced a lot, have taken root and spread, but the sectarian nature of their worldview has not changed. Instead of washing Herbalife lectures - initiations into various degrees of initiation in MBA courses, instead of a single gray suit - wardrobes, a hierarchy of watches and cars, as indicators of success.

But the essence has not changed: SOP adherents are given simple rules, a simple model of sectarian happiness. If you follow this model, if you do everything according to the rules, you will be successful. If you don’t accept the rules, if you dare to love, raise children, write poetry, you will become a loser, you will fall out of the SOP world.

From the world of unfortunate successful zombies.

Derkachev, http://www.odnako.org/blogs/lyudi-sop-ili-o-novom-sektanstve/

What do they offer us instead of criticism of the cult of success? Absolutely nothing! We deal only with negative emotions. And who needs them, and there are plenty of their own!

We draw appropriate utilitarian and understandable conclusions. Money is the equivalent of any work activity. And this is a necessary part of the evaluation. Otherwise, a person is not able to assess his place in society. The love of money stimulates labor activity.

Wealth is not the only measure of worth. There are other personal qualities: professionalism, kindness, honesty, masculinity, and so on. However, without success, kindness, professionalism and courage are worthless and will not bring any benefit to others. These are purely ephemeral concepts. How can you show kindness if a person does not have a penny for his soul? Petting a starving child on the head?

The idea of ​​success creates two classes, the class of winners and the class of losers. Everyone wants to climb to the top of the social pyramid. But in order for the pyramid to have a sharp top, it must have a wide foundation, and this foundation is made up of losers. Thanks to them, the top exists. And, therefore, sharp economic inequality is a genetic property of the system itself.

Equality and brotherhood are slogans, not real things. There is no equality in life and never has been. Equality is an absolute that humanity can only aspire to. But it will never reach it.

Here intervention is needed in terms of directing activities in the right direction. So, "labor" can be criminal. He also brings money, but this is "dirty" money and is despised by society. Hence the need to wash them, which also costs money. It is not money that leads to crises in the economy, but fraud in the financial sector of the economy, which ultimately results in an excess amount of money. Thus, it is not the love of money that needs to be stopped, but criminal activity that leads to an unsecured mass of money.

Success is money and power. But what is money and power for? They are needed to have more money and even more power. When a fighter for success achieves wealth, he cannot stop there, not only because it is necessary for self-affirmation, but also because economic society does not provide other life goals besides this. Therefore, from time to time it is necessary to talk about the undeserved fact that the best part of society does not pay attention to spiritual values ​​and the intelligentsia switches to utilitarian values.

It is the system itself, the corporate system, that changes society and shapes individual destiny, and if this formula is constantly repeated, it becomes part of the public consciousness. Success or failure is ultimately up to you. The losers, blaming the system, not themselves, only cause rejection and irritation. The very presence of victims undermines the confidence of the fighters for success. For them, not only criticism, but even a simple doubt in the system is dangerous, it can deprive them of optimism. Whether this optimism is justified or not is not important.

If you lose, it means that your tactics and strategy of life as a business were wrong. But you can succeed if you make the right investment of time and money, the right investment in health, which is your capital, the engine of success. You must watch your diet and exercise.

Your economic and physical health depends only on you. If you lose, it's your fault, you can only blame yourself. If life seems gloomy to you, it is not because it is really gloomy, but because you are setting yourself up for this wave. If you convince yourself that everything is fine, your life will become wonderful in your feeling. Success depends only on you, you just need to believe in your ability to achieve it.

Set specific goals for yourself. Think about the goal you want to achieve. Listen to your inner voice and emotions. The goal must be made achievable and attractive. Too difficult, a distant goal seems to us absolutely unattainable, and we give up. It is necessary to outline several successive, feasible stages on the way to the goal. Gradually carrying out each stage, we gain confidence in ourselves and in our abilities.

You have to work hard to be successful. One of the main ways to achieve success is hard work. You must take responsibility for the realization of your goal and start working tirelessly. To achieve success, you need to work for it every day and all your life. Work all the time you are at work. Don't waste time.

Be the master of your thoughts. Watch what you say, because words have an impact not only on you, but also on those around you. Remember that our life is largely what we think about it. It is the negative assessment of what is happening, and not the actual state of affairs, that is the main cause of our concern. Don't let negative feelings get the better of you. Focus on the positive.

Upgrade your skills. Learn. Expand your professional experience. Improve yourself. The more you know and be able to, the wider your professional opportunities will be. Use other people's knowledge and experience. You will save a lot of effort and, ultimately, time if you make it a habit to regularly update your knowledge base or use the personal experience of other people.

Plan your working hours. This is a tool used by every successful person that will make your work better and more efficient. When making plans, a person determines the scope of work for himself. He knows what he needs to do, when and why.

Don't be afraid of the obstacles that come your way. Failure makes you stronger, more resilient, and more determined. When you fail, the only rule you must follow in order to succeed is that you must stand up one more time than you fell. If life knocked you down, you must get up and continue on your way. If you don't stand up, you've lost. As long as you are determined to get up, you are moving towards success.

Connect with successful people. Find a mentor, introduce positive, successful and purposeful people into your life, into your social circle. If you communicate with losers, whiners, victims, you yourself will become the same victim - a victim of circumstances, other people. You become like those with whom you communicate.

Like it or not, the environment has a huge impact - and most importantly, the environment affects your way of thinking, your aspirations and ideals. It is not in vain that such expressions have taken root among the people: “Whoever you behave with, you will gain from that”, “Tell me who your friend is, and I will tell you who you are.”

In fact, with success in Russian, everything is not so simple.

Remark on the Russian Internet: “Recently I was talking with my acquaintance, extremely successful, and who seemed to me a man who has achieved everything that I could only dream of. He told me: “You see, I can earn a lot and I do! But I don’t see my wife for days, I don’t see how my children grow up, I have everything, but I don’t have time to use it. Everything is subordinated to earning money, which I no longer know what to spend on. And why should I? Life passes me by, and at the same time I can’t stop, everyone will see me as a loser! And the thought arises that his success is like a sentence for the rest of his life.

Yes, the path to the top is an endless struggle, the eternal fear of making a mistake, not being on time, being late, this is an eternal dissatisfaction that drives like a whip: higher and higher and higher. Stopping for a moment and enjoying what has been achieved is out of the question. No time.

Previously sentenced to the camps, now - to success. The peculiarity of Russian politics is that there is no alternative, they always impose the only possible way of life on you. This is the essence of totalitarianism, no matter what mask it is covered with. Therefore, it is no coincidence that the Russian cult of success is implicated in the phrase “wet in the toilet” and the like. An unambiguous message is being sent to all of us “from above”: “Do as I say!”

The doctrine of the cult of success will live as long as Stalin-Brezhnev socialism. It is hardly worth arguing with such an uncomplicated forecast. After all, the inertia of society is not an accident, but a natural characteristic of its survival. Revolutions are good from time to time, but not more often than once every 50 years. Therefore, all those who doubt the reasonableness of the newly minted attitude to life values ​​should seriously worry about their own psyche and look for effective replacements for the imposed simplistic philistine approach to constructing their reality. After all, an intelligent person is not the one who finds objective justifications for his own inaction. The mind is given to us to create the desired reality and to overcome objective difficulties for this, no matter how insurmountable they may seem at first. But only a few can solve this problem.

So, criticizing the cult of success is a waste of time. Criticism of totalitarianism is a campaign with a slingshot against a bear. In both cases, there is an attempt to justify their own failure. The optimistic point of view is as follows: the system of totalitarianism and the cult of success has so many weak points that the possibilities for creativity for a dezombized individual are simply unlimited here.

Remember: a zombified individual is suspicious and prone to depression, loses the ability to think analytically, and attracts conflict situations.

The process of own dezombirovanie includes several stages. The first stage is a detailed acquaintance with the problem that causes concern. This post can help you get through this stage. Let's take a quick look at what we have to deal with.

Thinking in a straight line is the lot of the layman. Therefore, he constantly goes to extremes. In the USSR, such an extreme was the total control by the Communist Party of all spheres of life. In the post-Soviet period, political control was abandoned - it was replaced by economic control. The same straightforward thinking, but in a different perspective. The transformation of society that has taken place is quite natural.

It is not difficult to understand that making everything dependent on money is a great collar for citizens. Once you put it on, you won't be able to take it off later. You have to constantly “turn around” so as not to lose your livelihood. When you have to pay for everything, you need to properly dispose of the money received, property must be defended all the time, maxims like “not united by bread” completely cease to be perceived. What kind of harmonious development can we talk about when commodity-money relations are at the forefront, if all ties between citizens and the state are built on the basis of buying and selling!?

It would seem that forcing everyone to think economically is good for society. Why? Arguments in this regard are presented in numerous publications of our leading economists. But the arguments put forward, upon closer examination, cease to look convincing.

The economist is far from psychology, and his knowledge of Maslow's pyramid of needs is very limited. In fact, we have a straightforward scheme of thinking with abstraction from factors (the upper part of the pyramid), with which it is not clear what to do. The constructed "economic man" turned out to be too ideal with greatly simplified criteria for assessing success. And in reality we get a situation that turns out to be not as smooth as the theoretical economists paint.

There are many talented people who do not want to do business, do not want to measure everything with money. Creative activity, and especially scientific activity, is not always consistent with market conditions. The results of creativity sometimes fail to fit into rational sales schemes. Many new approaches and inventions are ahead of their time and incomprehensible to the layman, nevertheless they are extremely important for mankind. How can all this be reconciled with a market economy?

A mixed economy, it would seem, solves the problems of financing promising developments, talents, and also partly takes into account that not all people are able to think purely economically. However, for a mixed economy to work, management flexibility and a high social culture are needed. But in Russia there is no such culture.

The idea is strongly imposed on us that the reason for the collapse of the USSR was the inefficiency of the socialist economy. But how then to interpret the fact that in 1985 M.S. Gorbachev headed for the development of the cooperative movement, building a mixed economy? Political functionaries, having full power, could not cope with the tasks of restructuring, putting the economy on a market track? Hardly. They had all the administrative and political possibilities. If they decided to take the path of dismantling the USSR, then there were serious reasons for that. We see the absence of an appropriate social culture in the upper echelons of power as one of these reasons. Social culture is a system of socially significant knowledge, values, traditions, norms and rules of conduct, through which people organize their life in society, as well as creative activities to create and develop them.

The command-administrative system has little in common with culture, on the basis of which a mixed economy can be built. The only way to use totalitarianism is to create a different type of totalitarianism on its basis. Which is what was done.

Instead of ideological power, economic power was established with a strict concentration of personal power, practical bargaining with the most powerful social forces, a greedy bureaucracy and a cult of success as a surrogate for the national idea.

All resources and major infrastructure projects are concentrated in the hands of the oligarchs, who are connected with the authorities through informal relations. Small infrastructure projects - shops, studios, workshops, etc. - are given at the mercy of the people. They are not strategically important and do not influence the distribution of power.

There is nothing strange that, under the strict control of the omnipresent greedy bureaucracy, small and medium-sized businesses in Russia, if they develop, then at a slow pace. E accidentally also the presence of a handful of oligarchs, the concentration of all power in the hands of one party, the absence of a strong opposition.

The birth of economic totalitarianism - with a comprehensive centralized control of the economy, unification, unilateral regulation - is a completely natural phenomenon. There simply could not be another version of Russia's transformation.

The change from one form of totalitarianism to another, of course, happened very quickly. In the 1990s, the social structure of Russian society was literally blown up by the emergence of a new class of large owners. This social upper stratum was hastily created by Gaidar and Co. as a subject of private property development of the country and as a guarantor of the impossibility of returning to the previous system. The main stake was placed on this class in the presidential elections of 1996, when its most prominent representatives were close to the Kremlin. This class was created: a) quickly, with the help of voucher privatization and loans-for-shares auctions, which were a convenient form of distribution of property; b) in the extractive industries and the "black redistribution" industries. What kind of elite have we received?

The ideology of big capital has not developed in Russia. Within the framework of lightning-fast privatization, a culture of long-term accumulation and increase of wealth at the expense of one's own labor and abilities could not be formed, as was the case in Protestantism, which ideologically ensured the onset of capitalism in the West. Some bosses of Russian business in the 90s did not even have time to change the suits in which they went to party meetings.

The hasty distribution of national wealth gave rise to a powerful corruption component in the process of enrichment of large owners. The raw material nature of the private sector made it possible to prosper without entering into a fierce competitive race. Our nouveaux riches had no experience of class struggle, the search for social consensus and regulation of industrial relations, and they did not take into account the interests of employees.

The life and well-being of the Russian bourgeoisie entirely depends not so much on their personal potentialities and economic conditions, but on their ability to establish contact with the new political elite of the country. The practice of lobbying and "kickbacks" is much more important here than managerial skills and industrial strategy.

Having received significant but not burdensome wealth in just a few years, the financial and industrial oligarchy first of all took care of selecting an entourage corresponding to the situation. Number one is consumption and lifestyle. And the public is seriously worried about whether Abramovich will shut up the Sultan of Brunei by the belt or postpone it for later.

The dominance of the ruling class takes shape in the priority of its ideology. An irrational belief in success, a cult of wealth, and standards of a prosperous life are successfully pushing aside traditional values ​​associated with the family, moral and physical health, and personal development. Success in the new interpretation is measured in a standard way: money, career, fame. That's right - the market determines the value of a person. Let's remember Erich Fromm: “If the qualities that a person can offer are not in demand, then he DOES NOT have any qualities at all ...” Success in the market is determined by the demand for a person, which is identical to popularity. Hence the endless promotion and public flashing, equivalent to the social significance of the subject. Even the politicians understood this well.

Those who want to live tolerably must earn money at any cost and think only about their own well-being - they have no other choice. And so that no other needs arose, everything was reduced to a sale-purchase relationship, i.e. money has become the measure of all interactions between people. Even friendships and love received a characteristic monetary coloring.

As a remedy for feeling tired from a new way of life, a cult of success was prudently imposed on a person, i.e. endless pursuit of well-being. Propaganda artistically subtly showed that absolutely everyone strives for success: bandits, officials, oligarchs, shopkeepers, etc. True, everyone has their own idea of ​​​​how to achieve success, but this is not so important. The main idea - about the importance of success for every person - was successfully built into the subconscious of the masses. The people adopted a new program of behavior, and almost paradise came to Russia. Finally, it became clear to everyone what he should strive for, what is the meaning of life. Those who could not accept the new format of social relations were declared losers, or losers - a feeling of disgust quickly took shape towards them, they began to frighten the younger generation.

The cult of success, fueled by glamor, is a grandiose propaganda find, a sure-fire installation for the authorities in every sense.

The word "success" has a powerful positive meaning. In terms of significance, success overshadows such concepts as freedom of choice, social justice, equality, etc.

There is nothing reprehensible in the fact that a person wants to become successful. Open envy of successful people is not considered shameful.

The desire for success symbolizes glamour. Modern glamor is a cult of eternal youth, eternal pleasure, luxury and idleness. And nobody cares where the money comes from for the attributes of luxury and status. The essence of Russian glamor is the desire to emphasize one's status through external luxury. Putin dons a Patek Philippe jacket to gain respectability in the eyes of the West. A schoolgirl in Ryazan buys a fake Louis Vuitton at the local market, wears false eyelashes and dreams of silicone breasts. The pop star does another plastic surgery to rejuvenate, buys a house in Hollywood. They all strive for one thing: to demonstrate their success in life. Success in life in today's society is, above all, money. You don't take money on yourself. Therefore, status clothes, gold-plated iPhones and luxury cars are bought. This race has no end. The ideal of glamor is always out of reach.

Another goal of glamor is to show contempt for others who have not managed to achieve the same position, and to arouse their envy. The layman is annoyed by secular parties with rivers of champagne, tons of rhinestones and endlessly long limousines. “They are completely snickering,” he grumbles enviously, peering greedily at the TV.

No matter how greedy, cruel, deceitful the oligarch is portrayed, the people will still not have absolute hatred for him. A corrupt official who stole hundreds of millions from the state does not cause a strong negative reaction in anyone. Putting himself in his place, almost everyone subconsciously feels that he would have done exactly the same. Everyone is well aware that the end justifies the means, and to achieve success, all means are good - the main thing is not to be caught. If you want to live richly, you will definitely have to take risks, sometimes commit illegal acts.

According to a pessimistic oppositionist, under the current regime, every functionary in power, by hook or by crook, wants to snatch a piece thicker and fatter. With this statement, he counts on understanding and support from those who were not given a chance by fate to take part in the division of the common pie. However, at first, mass demonstrations against "crooks and thieves" ended in almost nothing. And this result is far from accidental. The protesters, on the one hand, are fighters for justice and democracy, and on the other hand, losers who failed to take a seat closer to the trough. Such ambiguity becomes possible largely due to the cult of success instilled in the people. Any man in the street has the right to say that the goal of the opposition is to rotate power in order to start enriching itself. In other words, there is no fundamental difference between the current government and the mercenary opposition, and both are essentially molded from the same dough.

Violence carried out by economic power is perceived as "sweet violence", because the point is that, having "commodified" their specific capabilities and their convictions, a part of the intelligentsia (in essence, has long turned into the spiritual plebs of consumer society) receives the desired material benefits . Understanding that the qualitative difference between material and spiritual goods exposes it, the new intellectual elite reduces them to the difference between goods and services and, identifying itself as a provider of market intellectual services, proposes to eradicate the very concept of the intelligentsia from public memory, enrolling it in the category of traditionalist vocabulary. Such a capitulation of the secular intelligentsia as a whole was prepared by several centuries of secularization, and in general fits into the logic of the latter.

The market is such a specific selection system that inexorably rejects all the meek, the poor in spirit, who carry the fear of the Lord in their souls. The market is a system that brings material and spiritual benefits to the wealthiest - those who have more money. Therefore, the church, having become an institution of a market society, will inevitably reorient itself towards the “most adapted”.

In the conditions of the market, a normal person cannot but strive to become successful. If someone is disgusted by success, it is not otherwise that he is sick, weak, cowardly, overly cautious. In any case, the process of constant culling of losers has been launched, and everyone knows that if he stops “spinning”, the label of a loser will certainly be hung on him.