We were told by those who wanted a new economy that there is no such thing as society. We were to be individuals. The whole model of our economy changed and we lived by a new code, were the individual was the highest ideal and that our own individual happiness and success was the ultimate goal. It started in 1971. They were called neo-conservatives. This is the new economic model we were all told to live by. What we left behind was a world of 'society' as Keynes described at Bretton Woods in 1944. This new economy spread to Europe and Asia too, right across the modern world.
So what is the individual, as described by Ayn Rand? Are we all to be Randian heroes? Does our life have meaning if we detach ourselves from other people?
Frustratingly, the statement is both true and false. First, emotional connection. Emotional connection to other humans is important for some. Others do not value the emotional connection quite so much. Some humans are happy being alone and do not need to connect with others, see no inherent positive outcomes sharing an emotional bond with another. Those are emotional non-conformists. Contrary to what society tells us, there is no requirement as such to connect on an emotional level. So, this emotional connection is very much an individual aspect of our psyche, not a requirement of how we should behave.
Second, is the economic question. As has been said, if you choose not to contribute to the greater economy, does that invalidate your existence? No, of course not. Because there are ways to contribute to society, let's call it civilisation, that do not require the mindless gathering of wealth. Artists, writers (like me), carers, philosophers, teachers, inventors, all contribute to civilisation without necessarily contributing vast amounts of money to the economy. And civilisation has no right to ask that of the individual. But even if you live on welfare, and create art, or if your partner earns the money, and you look after Grandad, you are still contributing to the running of civilisation at its most basic level. You still buy stuff. The economy still circulates.
But after all this, we must ask ourselves, does our life have meaning? To this I ask in return, who said it had to? This is something I always struggle with and I suspect I'm not alone. We are all searching for meaning in this world, to some degree. I'm working on getting my book written, eventually published. I have ideas about the role of the individual in our civilisation I want to explore and if even one person buys the book, my life would have some meaning in the mass. But I don't think it has to. I don't think anyone should be forced to do what they consider to be contrary to their ethics or beliefs.
In the end, nobody is going to give meaning to your life other than you, yourself. You don't have to contribute emotionally or economically to civilisation in order to find that meaning. But however you go about your journey, as long as you do it in a way that is the least harmful to the mass, all civilisation can do is wish you luck.
