US Culture has certainly shifted away from spiritual traditions in many families.
There is a larger gap on the “church and state” philosophy.
This is also widely varied in areas of the U.S. There is more emphasis on self versus family and community.
It starts at home and family. Spiritual teaching and prioritization are at a low. It does not mean that the country or it’s people do not allow for it.

Here is a good article from Psychology Today on the topic

I would say the US allows for the freedom and pursuit of an interior life. Religion is more up to the family not the state, but we do have mention of religion and God in our government and government leaders, which I feel we probably shouldn’t, but to a point it doesn’t bother me.

Most of the US has taken religion out of public education from what I can tell, except for comparative religion and schools that find loopholes to teach religion. Religious pursuit is not prevented by our education system; there is still plenty of time in the day to practice one’s religion or seek religious meaning. The schools do nothing to discourage a belief in God in my opinion.

The US is one of the more religious western countries.

I hope I am defining interior life correctly.

I find it very odd that the first two posters interpreted “interior life” as a religious life. I think of it as having the time to think, dream, plan and fantasize. I’m not sure it is the role of education to enable that but certainly it can be encouraged and enabled in the home by parents who allow and encourage fantasy play and emotional communication. As far as education goes, the best way to encourage the development of an interior life is exposure to and discussion of reading and literature. Allowing unstructured time in the home can also engender an interior life and it’s probably true that Western cultures in general don’t provide enough of that. But children in developing nations may be working most of the time.

A further thought. When “specials” such as art and music are cut from the curriculum or there is no time for creative writing because of teaching the basics “to the test”, there could also be a diminishment of the development of an interior life. It is an interesting statement to think about.

Religion is not important to having an interior life.

I suspect context is important to this statement. I have seen the article linked on Facebook and read a blurb, but I don’t subscribe, so I can’t read the whole thing.

The writer seems to be unfairly evaluating the fellow passengers on a pleasure cruise. It is an Epicurean atmosphere. It is not an educational tour of Greece to explore sites of ancient philosophy or a similar intellectual endeavor.

Americans come in a great many shapes and sizes and intellectual abilities. You can take one of them and plop them in a pleasure cruise one week and then insert them in a performance of Shakespeare the next, and I suspect you would witness 2 largely different sets of behaviors.

I disagree with the statement quoted in the OP without context.

I would disagree. Life is what we make it to some degree and we are far better off than many countries. The pursuit of happiness is a phrase used in the Declaration of Independence, and why people come here in droves.
Our education system may not be where it should be but it’s our choice to self-educate and apply ourselves in intellectual pursuits, as well.

I also do not consider religion to be applicable here for the most part but interior lives that do include that aspect are also personal choice.

@janbb My stating spirituality and family values is not religious life.

I don’t know. I thought Americans loved watching TV and eating potato chips on the couch, which is part of an interior life.

Could you say what the context was? I am curious, if nothing else (as much I despise the Atlantic). On its surface, it sounds like a rather pretentious and elitist statement, and I’m inclined to disagree with it. Everyone knows cruises are for the hoi polloi; it’s been a long time since they were something only the wealthy and educated could afford (if that was ever the case; my low opinion of cruises is reflected in David Foster Wallace’s notorious essay on the subject).

But I suppose I’m getting distracted by my conception of what the context may be. Nonetheless, I think while there may be a lack of introspection and an interior life among many Americans, I don’t know that it can be faulted by the education system or one’s upbringing alone. Who has time for an interior life these days? I think we could all benefit from such a life, but I don’t know that American culture is uniquely discouraging of it (even if there’s more we could do to encourage it).

@Kropotkin Lmao.

Context matters here. I have no idea what was meant by this.

Education and upbringing are family responsibilities. The problem we see today is government invading every inch and aspect of citizen’s lives.

I just read the whole Gary Shteyngart artcile from The Atlantic that the quote comes from. I think it is a very snarky article written by an intellectual and maybe this quote from the same last paragraph sums up the tone more. It’s pretty easy to throw your New York intellectual self into an Icon (pun intended) of:garish culture but your conclusions may not be totally valid:

“For the creative class to point fingers at the large, breasty gentlemen adrift in tortilla-chip-laden pools of water is to gather a sour harvest of low-hanging fruit.”

An “interior” life? What do they mean by that?

I don’t expect that’s on the Department of Education’s list of goals.

But I could be wrong.

I’m in the US, but I didn’t attend US public schools.

I hear their quality varies widely from community to community. I hear the public schools in Princeton are very high quality, for some reason . . .

One definition. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interior_life_(Catholic_theology)

I’ve been thinking about subscribing to The Atlantic. A few articles come across my facebook.

@JLeslie That link doesn’t work for me.

@janbb That sentence you’ve quoted makes me think the writer is very elitist. Perhaps if I read the whole article, I could see nuance.

I thought by changing the () in the link to %28 %29 would work, but the edited version only worked in the preview mode.

“I thought by changing by the () in the link to %28 %29 would work….’

I thought by changing the () in the link to %28 %29 would work

Fluther devours certain characters, making many Wiki links not work. Try this version of the link .

The link from @Zaku can be found on the page from @JLeslie.

@Hawaii_Jake The whole tone of the Shteyngart article is elitist and very snarky. Might be how I would feel if I went on a Mega-cruise but then I would not choose to go. It is fun to read but I wouldn’t draw any broad sociological conclusions from it.

The link from Wikipedia only discusses interior life in terms of Catholic theology. i think the term is meant much more broadly in the original quote.

@JLeslie I subscribe, and the articles that are 8n the magazine itself are much better than most of what comes up on Facebook, I think you would like it a lot, having access to the quality stuff.

@janbb Very astute summation of the tone of the article. I was put off by that tone and couldn’t slog through the whole th8ng.

To indict the entire “education” system and “upbringing” (and in my growing up world, “upbringing” was solely used as a classist descriptor) because some seek to be entertained by sensual overload is just, as was said, elitist.

@canidmajor I used to subscribe to the Atlantic and also used to read it at the library when I had a chance. I’ve been fighting the urge to subscribe to it again, because I already subscribe to a few magazines and really don’t read any of them, except occasionally The New Yorker. The Atlantic is expensive, but I can get a student’s subscription under my daughter’s name for only 50 dollars a year, but I have been telling myself just save 50 dollars and read it at the library, which I haven’t yet had a chance to do.

@Jeruba Do you agree with it?

The interior life isn’t imposed from without through education or upbringing it grows from within. What it needs most of all is to exist in a free and open society and I think the United States provides that as well as, in most cases anyway, a decent education and upbringing. The author may have his own concept of what an interior life should be like but we are each free to develop in our own dull or surprising ways.