Gnostics

You may not thank me for reminding you of the Eurythmics most famous work: "Sweet dreams are made of this. Who am I to disagree? I travel the world and the seven seas. Everybody's looking for something. Some of them want to {use you/get used by you/abuse you/be abused}".

Yes, it's supposed to be a song expressing disillusion. The way it does is gnostic.

Those with the Knowledge know better than the rest of us, and are free from the demands of the world's illusions (like love). Check.

The original Gnostics thought material existence was flawed and even evil. Check.

The original Gnostics taught that there was a chain of creators and Aeons and whatnot. Doesn't quite match. Anyhow.

The song ties in to our strange reductionist belief that the meaning of things is always trivial; that the less beautiful/ thoughtful/ moral/ supernatural explanation is always the true one. There's no such thing as essence, only action, and only the actions that I care to monitor matter. Because I have the Knowledge.

The "operations-only" approach has its uses and strengths, but also unacknowledged limits.

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Early in my UW career I carpooled for a while with a woman from our neighborhood. One week she picked up her daughter too, who was due to be married shortly. Naturally she sat in the front and chose her favorite station, which was playing Sweet Dreams. As she sat back, satisfied with her selection, I hoped it didn't reflect her attitude to the upcoming wedding. Never found out...