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<\/p>\nWhat in God\u2019s name has occurred to our youth? Not all of them, not yet \u2013 but the affliction is spreading fast. What contagion has taken hold?<\/p>\n
I could name a dozen, but the one that troubles me most \u2013 and the one that flows from all the others \u2013 is the loss of depth. By that I mean the quiet abandonment of any real pursuit of meaning, the evaporation of purpose, and the slow death of genuine passion.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Am I merely an alarmist? Would most people push back and say I\u2019m exaggerating? Possibly.<\/p>\n
People have probably been saying this about the young for centuries \u2013 about my generation fifty years ago, about the one before that, and so on, stretching back a thousand years or more. Maybe this drift toward spiritual shallowness began generations ago.<\/p>\n
I suspect humanity has been sliding along a very slow trajectory toward inner emptiness for a long time, though the decline wasn\u2019t steady or steep until perhaps the mid-19th century. Since then, especially with the erosion of spiritual awareness, it has accelerated dramatically.<\/p>\n
The causes are tangled and overdetermined. It\u2019s hard to pin the blame on any single cultural shift \u2013 the fading belief in God, the moral unravelling of society, or the rise of smartphones and virtual communication networks. I may sound like an old preacher on a soapbox, Bible<\/em> in one hand, fist shaking at the sky, preaching fire and brimstone.<\/p>\n To be fair, in some measurable ways humanity has improved. We no longer tolerate the routine horrors once considered normal: the systemic subjugation of women, the open acceptance of slavery, the casual use of torture as public spectacle, or the brutal treatment of children and the psychically ill.<\/p>\n Life expectancy has risen, literacy is widespread, and basic human rights have gained ground in many parts of the world. Yet I struggle to reconcile these gains with the deeper rot I see.<\/p>\n Maybe I\u2019m just an incorrigible doomster. Or maybe, after the apparent optimism following World War II \u2013 when it seemed we might finally make peace with centuries of ugliness \u2013 the situation quietly went off the rails.<\/p>\n Look around today: the Epstein scandal and its lingering shadows, what many describe as genocide in Gaza, the explosion of powerful synthetic drugs, widespread child trafficking, rampant pornography that has warped entire generations, endless foreign wars, the normalization of surveillance states, and what appears to be a reckless, almost wanton effort to injure or kill large swaths of the global population through a novel pharmaceutical intervention pushed with unprecedented coercion. It feels as though the devil has finally claimed the throne he has coveted for millennia.<\/p>\n But I digress \u2013 or do I? Let\u2019s return to the young and their apparent surrender of purpose and the search for meaning. In my practice, I see many people between eighteen and thirty. The majority show signs of this peculiar zombie-itis.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t misunderstand me \u2013 by conventional modern standards, many are \u201csuccessful.\u201d They chase high-earning careers that promise shiny toys, luxury homes, expensive cars, and attractive partners. Yet beneath the surface, their relationships are often dysfunctional, their own children seem headed for the same void, and real contentment is rare.<\/p>\n Yes, therapists mostly see the troubled ones, so I can\u2019t claim a perfect sample. Still, I witness the same pattern in my personal life, on virtual communication networks, in films and television, and in the broader culture. It\u2019s everywhere.<\/p>\n These young people fixate on making as much money as possible with the least effort, dressing in the finest clothes they can afford, acquiring the biggest house and flashiest car, and securing the most physically appealing partner available.<\/p>\n Few show interest in the deeper workings of the world they inhabit \u2013 beyond having convenient targets for outrage. Hobbies rarely extend beyond gym routines. Learning for its own sake, travel as genuine exploration, or any serious engagement with religion or spirituality for inner growth? Almost non-existent. The conscious pursuit of meaning and purpose simply isn\u2019t on the menu.<\/p>\n Are they happy? I don\u2019t believe so. Some convince themselves they are, as long as the stream of instant material gratification keeps flowing. For brief intervals, the dopamine hits mimic happiness. But the feeling fades quickly, leaving them emptier than before.<\/p>\n How long can a culture sustain itself on such shallow soil? Aldous Huxley\u2019s Brave New World<\/em> offers a chilling blueprint. In that dystopia, society engineers happiness through genetic conditioning, consumerism, casual sex, and above all, the drug \u2013 a perfect pharmaceutical that delivers euphoria without hangover, physical dysfunction, or disruption. That drug doesn\u2019t just numb pain; it erases any need for depth, reflection, or struggle.<\/p>\n Citizens remain placid and productive precisely because they never confront discomfort, loss, or the big questions of existence. The \u201chappiness\u201d it provides is stable and endless \u2013 until the rare Savage from outside the system introduces real feeling, at which point the fragile illusion cracks.<\/p>\n In our world, the modern equivalents of that drug (endless scrolling, consumption, pharmaceuticals, and curated outrage) seem to work much the same way: they sustain a zombified equilibrium far longer than one might expect, precisely because they starve the soul of anything real.<\/p>\n That said, there are bright exceptions. Not every young person has been fully captured by the mould the prevailing agenda has cast. Many who pursue serious art or music operate from an entirely different paradigm \u2013 one that values creation, beauty, and inner exploration over external metrics.<\/p>\n The same often holds for those drawn to skilled craftsmanship, deep philosophical inquiry, genuine community service rooted in compassion, or any disciplined spiritual path that demands self-confrontation. And then there are those rare souls who, for whatever mysterious reason, simply never swallowed the poison \u2013 perhaps protected by family, temperament, or sheer stubborn grace.<\/p>\n Still, the trend is unmistakable and accelerating.<\/p>\n A society that loses depth in its young eventually loses its future. Without purpose, passion, and the willingness to wrestle with meaning, we drift toward a Huxleyan stasis \u2013 comfortable, efficient, and profoundly hollow.<\/p>\n The real question isn\u2019t whether this loss is occurring. It\u2019s whether enough of us still remember what depth feels like, and whether we can model it fiercely enough for those coming after to recognize its absence \u2013 and begin, once again, to seek it.<\/p>\n Author: Todd Hayen (registered psychotherapist practicing in Canada, holding a PhD in Depth Psychotherapy and an MA in Consciousness Studies)<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n yogaesoteric <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What in God\u2019s name has occurred to our youth? Not all of them, not yet \u2013 but the affliction is spreading fast. What contagion has taken hold? I could name a dozen, but the one that troubles me most \u2013 and the one that flows from all the others \u2013 is the loss of depth. 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\nJuly 14, 2026<\/strong><\/p>\n