granfalloons

It seems to me that most people are unhappy and unsuccessful, not because they lack effort or initiative, but because they become fixated on the wrong things, or, even worse, the wrong people.

Kurt Vonnegut coined the term "granfalloon," to my knowledge. Basically, granfalloons are seemingly related, ostensibly important groups of people who are utterly meaningless in the grand scheme of things. Granfalloons outwardly choose or claim to have a shared identity or purpose, but their mutual association is really just incidental. Vonnegut uses Hoosiers as an example. The protagonist in Cat's Cradle finds himself on an island nation where he is surrounded by fellow Indiana residents. But, other than hailing from the same state, they have no significance in each other's lives. A granfalloon is predicated on nothing real, nothing of consequence.

A granfalloon is inversely related to a karass (essentially the opposite of a granfalloon). A karass is comprised of people whose lives are entwined with yours in mysterious yet profound ways. Such people may not even be a part of any of your more obvious granfalloons, but in the end it is their presence on this earth that influences the direction of your own life.

Needless to say, granfalloons can distract us from our true karass, bringing people together by shared but ultimately false premises.

Who are you with tonight? Why are you with him/her/them?

It's the only thing that matters. You're wasting your life...just not in the way that you think you are.