Can we really all just get along?

For my Psychology of Art class I had to read a few chapters from this book, actually one that was written by my professor. Now I really like my professor, he's a little senile I think but hey, he's kind of old. Anyway in this book he discussed the thoughts of human hierarchical thinking and how we tend to function in society. Now it's all good and well to want to work together all the time and cooperate and to aspire to be a cog in a well oiled machine so to speak. It must make it easy for everyone, no problems just each person to their station. However, how realistic is that? For one thing it is almost unheard of someone finding just one thing they love and sticking with it. And, if you are supposed to work well with others doesn't that mean compromising your sense of self?

In relation to art I think this all comes through fairly well. Your have the starving artist, staying true to what their vision truly is, unconcerned with the opinion of others. However, this artist usually cannot support themselves on just their passion. Then you have the mavericks, the ones that sell out, for lack of a less harsh term, in order to live; and hey, can you really blame them? These people sacrifice their true feelings and expressions in order to do only what they love and not anything else on the side. Who is really to say that one is happier and a truer form of an artist than the other? Either you stay in your portion of the societal hierarchy or you deviate, working on the idea that you need no one else's approval.

My professor went on to say that the true key to happiness is Compatibility, which is defines as "consistency with pro-life values and the other aspects of ecological consciousness. " That isn't all however, he also says that the importance of Compatibility is that we all hold the same pro-life values. I don't know about you, but I find that a tad too ambitious, and I might even say Utopian.