And I asked - what's the right way to live?

The most brazen example to counter American individualism and utilitarianism is the culture of the peoples of the Andes.

The various groups - Quechua, Aymara, Chibcha, Wanka, Cañari... they center their livelihood on the veneration of their gods (Pachamama, goddess of the Earth, represented by the mountain), of nature, the veneration of their ancestors and ancestral sites (huacas), and familial and community ties. The individual is only an individual who furthers the cause of the pueblo, the group, through a role within the ayllu, or community. A young boy's life is to be shaped by his ascent in the ayllu, from lower to higher-rank positions, serving his people via labor or administrative means. A young girl is to grow up, be fertile, and produce many offspring. And that's it.

No "me, me, me," no "mine, mine, mine." No flagrant, vivacious, Disney-style success stories, no personal achievement anecdotes, no motivational posters, no books, no workshops on becoming a multimillionaire, on attaining individual glory and recognition.

Just the ayllu.

(Side note: It'd be a curiosity to document the current mixing of the Andean village people with the more Hispanic and European city influences, which, of course, are continuously injected with shots of American culture. I. e., how is the foreign individualism impacting the ayllu, if anyhow?)

We could be perfect models of the two extremes, or we could fall somewhere in between.

But here's an idea: There is not a correct way to live. One just has to figure out what works.