The 50th Law (with 50 Cent)

particular style of humor that each generation tends to forge. In humor
people release their frustrations and express their inhibitions. Such
humor could tend toward the irrational, or something edgier and even
aggressive. A generation might seem rather prudish and correct, but its
humor is raunchy and irreverent. This is the shadow side leaking out.
As part of this, you will want to look at the relationship of the
genders in your generation. In the 1920s and 1930s, men and women
were trying to bridge their differences, to socialize in mixed groups as
much as possible. The male icons were often quite feminine, such as
Rudolph Valentino; and the female icons had a pronounced masculine
or androgynous edge, such as Marlene Dietrich and Josephine Baker.
Contrast this with the 1950s and the sudden and rather strong split
between the genders, revealing an unconscious discomfort with and
split from the cross-gender tendencies we all feel (see chapter 12).
In looking at this shadow side of your generation, keep in mind that
its tendency toward one extreme—materialism, spirituality, adventure,
safety—conceals a hidden attraction to the opposite. A generation like
the one that came of age in the 1960s seemed disinterested in material
things. Its main values were spiritual and inward, being spontaneous
and what was thought of as authentic, all of this in reaction to their
materialistic parents. But underneath this spirit, we could detect a
secret attraction to the material side of life, in the desire to always have
the best of something—the latest sound systems, the highest-quality
drugs, the hippest clothes. This attraction was revealed in all its truth
during the yuppie years of the late 1970s and early 1980s.
With all of this accumulated knowledge you can begin to form an
overall profile of your generation, one that is as complex and organic
as the phenomenon itself.

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Your third task, then, is to expand this knowledge to something
broader, first trying to piece together what could be considered the
zeitgeist. In this sense, you are looking particularly at the relationship
between the two dominant generations, early adults (ages twenty-two
to forty-four) and those in midlife (forty-five to sixty-six). No matter
how close the parents and children of these generations might seem,
there is always an underlying tension, along with some resentment and
envy. There are natural differences between their values and how they
look at the world. You want to examine this tension and determine
which generation tends to dominate and how this power dynamic
might be shifting in the present. You will also want to see which part of
the larger historical pattern your generation might fit into.
This overall awareness will yield several important benefits. For
instance, your generational perspective tends to create a particular
kind of myopia. Each generation tends toward some imbalance as it
reacts against the previous one. It views and judges everything
according to certain values that it holds over others and this closes the
mind to other possibilities. We can be both idealistic and pragmatic,
value teamwork and our own individual spirit, et cetera. There is much
to be gained by looking at the world from the perspective of your
parents or your children, and even adopting some of their values.
Feeling that your generation is superior is simply an illusion. Your
awareness will free you from these mental blocks and illusions, making
your mind more fluid and creative. You will be able to shape your own
values and ideas and not be such a product of the times.
With your awareness of the overall zeitgeist, you will also
understand the historical context. You will have a sense of where the
world is headed. You can anticipate what is around the corner. With
such knowledge, you can bring your own individual spirit into play and
help shape this future that is gestating in the present.
And feeling deeply connected to the unbroken chain of history, and
your role in this grand historical drama, will infuse you with a
calmness that will make everything in life more bearable. You do not
overreact at the outrage of the day. You do not go gaga over the latest
trend. You are aware of the pattern that will tend to swing things in a
different direction within a period of time. If you feel out of harmony
with the times, you know that the bad days will end and you can play
your part in making the next wave happen.

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Keep in mind that this knowledge is more critical to posses now
than ever, for two reasons. First, despite any antiglobal sentiments
sweeping the world, technology and social media have unified us in
inalterable ways. This means that people of one generation will often
have more in common with those of the same generation in other
cultures than with older generations in their own country. This
unprecedented state of affairs means that the zeitgeist is more directly
globalized than ever before, making knowledge of it that much more
essential and powerful.
And second, because of these sharp changes initiated by
technological innovations, the pace has quickened, creating a self-
fulfilling dynamic. Young people feel almost addicted to this pace and
crave more shifts, even if of a trivial nature. With the quickening pace
there are more crises, which only speeds up the process. This pace will
tend to make you get dizzy and lose your perspective. You might
imagine some trivial shift as groundbreaking and will thus ignore the
real groundbreaking change under way. You will not be able to keep
up, let alone anticipate what might come next. Only your generational
awareness, your calm historical perspective, will allow you to master
such times.