Much can be written about life (in) of contemporary society and it will never fully capture the reality of the day. Something interesting is all the time missed, a statement made always creates new questions and it will point out other paradoxes. This corresponds to the character of the time, which is fast and party-coloured. The present day is dominated by a plurality of values, a manifoldness of life forms and optionality of perspectives. In the same way, it is characterized by an appeal to the freedom of the individual, to the individual search for the meaning of life and a walk through life which is worth to remember. Accompanying phenomena are easiness (some would say fluidity or ephemerality), expressiveness (some would talk about eccentricity, provocativeness and the urge to consume attractive experiences) and the need for a home (if you want, the need to belong somewhere, to find and have a support - a fixed point -, not to be here for life alone, to get along with someone, to share something with someone). Human being is not by his nature a solitary creature - solitude and loneliness makes him a problem, as well as the absence of a life path and goal; this also applies in the second decade of the 21st century.
For the postmodern man, identity has become a challenge. However, its traditional sources are questioned, values relativized, and even more so "guaranteed recipes" for "finally your style" appear "on the market and in all kinds of catalogues".
There are many answers to questions concerning the identity (or perhaps crisis, chaos and panic?!), there are a number of more or less original and authentic, more or less tolerant, more or less thought-out, more or less hazardous. It is not easy to know a lot about them, or as a case may be, do not give way to fear when dealing with them and a priori mistrust when dealing with them; often stemming from impatience, ignorance and a lack of reliable or consistent information.
The main purpose of this encyclopedia is to grind off the edges of preconceived thinking, building communication bridges between often in parallel existing worlds and creating such an important intermediate space for meeting each other.
PhDr. Mgr. Lukáš Urban, Ph.D.