I believe it is always preferable to daven with an minyen unless it is impossible, and then you must daven without a minyan. But there is always the obligation to daven, no matter what.
Well, I agree with you here.
I was taught that because of the darkness of the Galus of our generation that it is virtually impossible for a single Jew to reach a level of kavanah comparable to the “worst” minyan.
I’m not sure why you are conflating the ideas of davening with kavannah and davening with a minyan. They are two separate issues. Whether I daven with kavannah is a function of how well I concentrate on my davening, not how many people I have around me. Likewise, whether I daven with a minyan or not has nothing to do with whether or not I have kavannah when I daven.
I have been taught about our entire generation, not a Jew here and there – but the idea is that we are incapable of actually davening like previous generations
That may or may not be true… but that’s not quite the same thing you said earlier. Earlier you said that a person cannot discharge his obligation to daven at all without listening to the chazzan.
I reject the idea that we are automatically doomed to failure because of our inability to do something. If we’re still obligated to daven* (even alone), then I have to believe that it’s because we are capable of being yotzei the mitzvah while alone.
During this Galus, it is up to us to do everything we can in order to concentrate during our own davening and listening attentively to the Chazzan.
I fail to see why this is any different whether we are in galus or not.
The Wolf
* As opposed to our obligation to bring a korban, which is suspended while there is no Beis HaMikdash.