Decaf

As a side note, this term was originally coined by yours truly while listening to "Porcelain", by Moby.

The scope of Decaf is broad, yet it references a very specific way of life; it hovers like a shadow of true authenticity in a commercialized world. The term Decaf aims for the depth of ancestral philosophies seeking Enlightenment and Virtue through a deeper understanding of the Self, yet it has the immediacy and availability of consumer goods/services in the modern Free Market. The Decaf way of life emphasizes some New Age values –spirituality, simplicity, holism, transcendence-, borrowed from ancient religions and cults, and satisfies the innate sense of peace and balance through readily purchasable products and services. The original values that they appeal to become exclusively one-dimensional, and the individual is endowed with an alternative, unorthodox identity grounded in Conformity and the lack of internal struggle. To be Decaf is to look for a false sense of self-fulfillment through ownership, trying to adapt the quest for Wisdom to daily life, rather than to adapt daily life to the quest of Wisdom.

The most Decaf thing you can imagine? Well, probably an executive with a ponytail, dressed in white linen, driving his Porsche 944 and listening to Pogo, heading for a meeting with Steve Jobs in a Zen Garden on top of a Mies Van Der Rohe skyscraper. Yikes!

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