Sure, and it's hard to detach from the idea we must have a purpose - which I would even argue predates and exists outside the christian sphere. I'm an atheist and I still think life should try to expand outwards in space for the sake of structuring the chaos...
Look having no goal, purpose or calling seem to work now that we organized process-heavy societies where one dilletante wouldnt hurt too much. But let me remind you not so long ago we did what our father did and his father before. And also, that if we jump back into natural nihilism to live as free of purpose as animals, we'll miss many of the intellectual wonders that the group managed to accomplish, maybe through the illusion it has no alternative, I concede.
Probably not important to you, after all, since there's no inherent rule nor purpose, but sad a bit to me.
No one is suggesting having no goal. But if you have exactly the same goals as everyone else - build a business, become an executive, do executive things - while persuading yourself that you are somehow different because you read a few extra books and don't use a GPS etc, you are very much not operating outside of your culture, never mind being counter to it.
And you are at least metaphorically - and possibly also literally - "doing what your father did."
>What goals are genuinely countercultural in 2022?
Undermining or opting out of society: Crypto, neo-reactionism, antiwork, anti-capitalism, even alternets like Gemini to a degree.
Undermining societal norms or rejecting status quo reality: incels, anti-vaxx, flat earthers, pro-pedophilia. QAnon and BLM are both explicitly against society, albeit for vastly different reasons.
> Undermining or opting out of society: Crypto, neo-reactionism, antiwork, anti-capitalism, even alternets like Gemini to a degree.
Most of these exist as negative reactions against existing ideologies and as such aren't really countercultures. Antiwork, anti-capitalism, they only exist because the thing they oppose (c.f. work and capitalism) exist. These cultures only exist as long their opposite cultures exist, no longer. They are just as mimetic as the dominant culture they oppose.
Gemini is a fun one because despite it having lots of people who want to participate in a counterculture, it uses the same infrastructure as the corporate internet they want to oppose.
A genuine counterculture would be orthogonal from the original culture, not the negative of it.
>A genuine counterculture would be orthogonal from the original culture, not the negative of it.
Counterculture always runs contrary to an existing culture, in rejection of its ideals and values, it's right there in the name. I think you're making an argument that counterculture can be just as mimetic as culture, which I might agree with. It's all part of the same cycle of assimilation, transformation, rejection and rediscovery.
Look having no goal, purpose or calling seem to work now that we organized process-heavy societies where one dilletante wouldnt hurt too much. But let me remind you not so long ago we did what our father did and his father before. And also, that if we jump back into natural nihilism to live as free of purpose as animals, we'll miss many of the intellectual wonders that the group managed to accomplish, maybe through the illusion it has no alternative, I concede.
Probably not important to you, after all, since there's no inherent rule nor purpose, but sad a bit to me.