Pleasure becomes a value, a teleological end in itself. It's probably more Western than U.S. per se.

Beauty is not the goal of competitive sports, but high-level sports are a prime venue for the expression of human beauty.

Like so many other nerdy, disaffected young people of that time, I dreamed of becoming an 'artist', i.e., somebody whose adult job was original and creative instead of tedious and dronelike.

I felt, as I became a later and later bloomer, alienated not just from my own recalcitrant glabrous little body but in a way from the whole elemental exterior I'd come to see as my co-conspirator.

Our attachments are our temple, what we worship, no? What we give ourselves to, what we invest with faith. . . . Attachments are of great seriousness. Choose your attachments carefully. Choose your temple of fanaticism with great care.

...logical validity is not a guarantee of truth.

If you worship power, you will feel weak and afraid, needing ever more power over others to keep the fear at bay.