zeigeist: spirit of the times

The word Zeitgeist had been appearing multiple times in the media I watch or read lately. Radio and TV interviews, newspapers and magazine articles, movies, documentaries are mentioning the German term. Curious, I decided to find out what its exact meaning is.

First: Google(of course!)which leading result was a video documentary about social myths including religion, 911 and economy crisis.

Then Wikipedia's definition:
Zeitgeist is the general cultural, intellectual, ethical, spiritual, and/or political climate within a nation or even specific groups, along with the general ambiance, morals, and sociocultural direction or mood of an era (similar to the English word mainstream or trend).

Phew! I need some examples to help me digest that definition.

• When I did my MBA back in the 1980's the zeitgeist was all about "maximizing profits"

• The band seems to channel the loud discordance of the zeitgeist

• One of our favorite measures of cultural zeitgeist is the kinds of costumes people choose to wear for Halloween.

And the most helpful of all...

• If you want to track the zeitgeist, then Google Trends (Google. com / trends) is a good place to start.