[Millenial]…’values hold that the self is an autonomous being, the self\u2019s desires are fundamentally good, and societal and sexual repression as not just undesirable but actively evil. These millennials, which in my new book I called \u201cRemixed Millennials,\u201d are at once attracted to moral and theological certainty \u2014 accounts of the human condition that claim totalizing truth or demand difficult adherence because the challenge is ultimately rewarding \u2014 and repulsed by traditions that set hard limits on personal, and particularly sexual or romantic, desire.<\/p>\n
That, for better or for worse, is where corporations come in. Increasingly, companies have recognized that there is a gap in the needs of today\u2019s Remixed: institutions, activities, philosophies and rituals that manage to be challenging and totalizing while also preserving millennials\u2019 need for personal freedom. It\u2019s the dot-com bubble for spirituality, a free marketplace of innovation and religious disruption. No sooner does something become a viral movement than an ingenious startup finds a way to re-create it at a more profitable price point. (Columbia Business School is currently hosting an incubator for \u201cspiritual entrepreneurs,\u201d offering a certificate in spiritual entrepreneurship for those who complete a 20-week course.)<\/p>\n
Consumer-capitalist culture offers us not merely necessities but identities. Meaning, purpose, community and ritual can all \u2014 separately or together \u2014 be purchased on Amazon Prime.<\/p>\n
As journalist Amanda Hess wrote in The New York Times, \u201cShopping, decorating, grooming and sculpting are now jumping with meaning. And a purchase need not have any explicit social byproduct \u2014 the materials eco-friendly, or the proceeds donated to charity \u2014 to be weighted with significance. Pampering itself has taken on a spiritual urgency.\u201d’<\/p>\n