#individuality
This is something I’ve been asking myself a lot lately. Personally, I feel that most of the world’s human-caused problems are due to ego. A struggle of mine was coming to terms with what that meant for me, as an individual. This is clearly a struggle many people have in trying to navigate through life, especially those who wish to grow into more enlightened people.
By my definition, where individuality and ego diverge is in application and perception. Most people have an inflated self-importance. It makes sense. You only know yourself. You can only perceive this world through your own individuality. Thus, most people develop an expectation that their will and their freedom is somehow more important than another’s will or freedom. The problem is everyone has this same misperception.
Expressing yourself, being who you are as an individual, is not the same as acting upon others, oppressing others, forcing others to conform to your will or forcing others to make way for your freedoms. The freedom to act upon the world as an individual is naturally tempered by the reality that everyone must function in that same realm, i.e., millions of individuals with differing interests, needs, wants and individual self-expressions much somehow co-exist. Problems ensue when people over-inflate their right to exert control over a given reality - i.e., not everyone can have their way without limiting someone else. Thus, by definition, you have free will, but everyone else also has free will, therefore, so long as this remains our reality, no one can ever be entirely free and exist in peace. So you have two options: 1. Cling to your ego and fight…forever. You can spend your entire life fighting to get to the top, hurting countless others along the way. The moment you get to the top (if you ever do and you likely never will), everyone will be vying for you. You will never stop fighting. You will never know peace. 2. Let go of your ego. Express your individuality by treating yourself with respect and treating everyone else with that same respect. Make compromise. Self-restrain.
The question humanity has thus far failed to answer and is seemingly and hopefully in a continuous quest to achieve is how we can all co-exist harmoniously and with balance and compromise.
I do not believe this can be achieved on a mass scale simply through revolutionary fight. It must also be achieved through mass enlightenment and individual effort to self-improve, i.e., we will not change the world only through changing the systems in which we all live, we must also work hard to change ourselves. That includes people who often feel they are more evolved or enlightened. Without making changes at the individual level (e.g., learning to let go of ego), it will not matter what system we live in, we will never know peace.
Here are seven suggestions to help transcend ingrained ideas of self-importance and ego.
1. Stop being offended. That which offends you only weakens you. If you’re looking for occasions to be offended, you’ll find them at every turn. This is your ego at work convincing you that the world shouldn’t be the way it is. But you can become an appreciator of life and by all means, act to eradicate the horrors of the world, which emanate from massive ego identification, but do so always in peace. Act not in anger or vengeance, but with a genuine desire to eradicate the horrors of this world. Being offended creates the same negative and destructive energy that offended you in the first place and often leads to attack, counterattack, and war rather than logical and rational resolution.
2. Let go of your need to win. Ego serves to divide people into winners and losers based on something as subjective as the current fashions and values. You will never reach a place of peaceful contentment in the pursuit of winning. Why? Because ultimately, winning is impossible all of the time. Someone out there will be faster, luckier, younger, stronger, and smarter-and back you’ll go to feeling worthless and insignificant.
You’re not your winnings or your victories. There are no losers in a world where we all share the same energy source. All you can say on a given day is that you performed at a certain level in comparison to the levels of others on that day. But today is another day, with other competitors and new circumstances to consider. Let go of needing to win by not agreeing that the opposite of winning is losing. That’s ego’s fear. Be the observer, noticing and enjoying it all without needing to win a trophy. Ironically, although you’ll hardly notice it, more of those victories will show up in your life as you pursue them less.
3. Let go of your need to be right. Ego is the source of a lot of conflict and dissension because it pushes you in the direction of making other people wrong. When you’re hostile, you’ve succombed to ego. Living free of ego is to be kind, loving, and receptive; and free of anger, resentment, or bitterness. Keep in mind that ego is a determined combatant. I’ve seen people end otherwise beautiful relationships by sticking to their need to be right. I urge you to let go of this ego-driven need to be right by stopping yourself in the middle of an argument and asking yourself, do I want to be right or be happy?
4. Let go of your need to be superior or special. True enlightenment isn’t about being better than someone else. It’s about being better than you used to be. Stay focused on your growth, with a constant awareness that no one on this planet is any better than anyone else. We all emanate from the same place. We all have a mission to realize who we are and how we cope in this world. So your neighbor might be mean and rude, but loyal and principled. You might be kind and accepting, but unreliable and unprincipled. We all have our faults we must work through and different ways of coping and learning. Don’t assess others on the basis of their appearance, achievements, possessions, and other indices of ego. When you project feelings of superiority that’s what you get back, leading to resentments and ultimately hostile feelings.
5. Let go of your need to have more or that you deserve to be rewarded. The mantra of ego is more. It’s never satisfied. No matter how much you achieve or acquire, your ego will insist that it isn’t enough. You’ll find yourself in a perpetual state of striving, and eliminate the possibility of ever arriving. Yet in reality you’ve already arrived, and how you choose to use this present moment of your life is your choice. Ironically, when you stop needing more, more of what you desire seems to arrive in your life. Since you’re detached from the need for it, you find it easier to pass it along to others, because you realize how little you need in order to be satisfied and at peace.
What separates life from non-life is will to survive. That drive that propells us forward can be “co-opted” by ego. Rather than a drive to self-protect and survive, one develops a drive to conquer, amass, defeat. This is an ego driven desire. A more enlightened desire is to strive to coexist, to give back, to honor this world and those around us. Create to share and for personal enjoyment, not for acclaim or power or money. Stop viewing life’s events as opportunities to defeat others. Start viewing life’s events and opportunities for self-improvement, learning, discovery, creation.
6. Let go of identifying yourself on the basis of your achievements. This may be a difficult concept if your worth is wrapped up in the sum of your achievements. You’re not this body and its accomplishments. All of that is fleeting. You are the observer. Notice it all; and be grateful for the abilities you’ve accumulated. Accept that chance and luck are huge factors in life’s events. Try to be aware that with every accomplishment you make, there were those who helped you in the process, whether you can see it or not (as simple as those who invented a device you used to reach your accomplishment, or wise words from a mentor). While you can and should feel accomplished for your principled follow-through, you must never inflate your ego with accolades or you will live a contrived life.
7. Let go of your reputation. Your reputation is not located in you. It resides in the minds of others. Therefore, you have no control over it at all. If you speak to 30 people, you will have 30 reputations. Just think of the thousands of impressions you gain about others through such unreliable things as gossip. Now imagine the same sort of conversations are being had about you outside of your presence. You have no control over how other interpret your actions or convey your actions to others. You have no control over the misinterpretations or lies others might spread. To consume yourself with something that is out of your control will distract you from things you can control. Focus on BEING a good person, not on being perceived as a good person. Stay on purpose, detach from outcome, and take responsibility for what does reside in you: your character. Leave your reputation for others to debate. You are not a good person or a bad person. You are a person who can do good and bad things. Try to be a person who does only good things and that is all that will matter.
“I’m selfish, impatient and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can’t handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don’t deserve me at my best.” -Marilyn Monroe
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“I was learning that who you are and what you do and make and wear and say can be a contribution to people around you, that many of the most valuable gifts are not direct or material or measurable. That even how you live your life can be a gift to others.”
- Rebecca Solnit, Recollections of My Non-Existence
From the very beginning you are being told to compare yourself with others. This is the greatest disease. It is like a cancer that goes on destroying your very soul because each individual is unique, and comparison is not possible.
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“The idea that a college diploma is an all-but-mandatory ticket to a successful career is showing fissures. Feeling squeezed by a sagging job market and mounting student debt, a groundswell of university-age heretics are pledging allegiance to new groups like UnCollege, dedicated to “hacking” higher education. Inspired by billionaire role models, and empowered by online college courses, they consider themselves a D.I.Y. vanguard, committed to changing the perception of dropping out from a personal failure to a sensible option, at least for a certain breed of risk-embracing maverick.
Risky? Perhaps. But it worked for the founders of Twitter, Tumblr and a little company known as Apple. […]
No wonder the swashbuckling Web subculture is suddenly percolating with whiz-kid programmers thinking like “one and done” college hoopsters, who stick around campus only long enough to showcase their skills (and meet National Basketball Association draft requirements) before bolting for pro riches. Tech-start-ups have their own versions of Carmelo Anthony: folks like Jack Dorsey and Evan Williams of Twitter, and Kevin Rose of Digg. (Meanwhile, David Karp of Tumblr dropped out of high school.) […]
Peter A. Thiel, the billionaire co-founder of PayPal, in 2010 started his Thiel Fellowship program, which pays students under 20 years old $100,000 apiece to bag college and pursue their own ventures. “People are being conned into thinking that this credential is the one thing you need to do better in life,” he said on “60 Minutes” last spring, adding, “they typically are worse off, because they have amassed all this debt.”
For such critics, the explosion in student debt is the next subprime crisis. There is now $1 trillion in outstanding student debt, with $117 billion tacked on last year alone, according to calculations by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Tuition levels have quadrupled since the early ’80s, according to the Student Body Scholarship Association.
These figures rankle James Altucher, a prominent investor, entrepreneur and pundit who self-published a book called “40 Alternatives to College.” “College presidents now just arbitrarily think they can raise tuitions,” he said. “So what is happening is, rich people can still afford college, but poor people are borrowing this money and sacrificing their future for a lifetime of debt.”
Such opinions have met considerable headwind. Jacob Weisberg of Slate pounded Mr. Thiel over his “nasty” idea, which he argued is “diverting a generation of young people from the love of knowledge for its own sake and respect for middle-class values.” […]
UnCollege advocates a D.I.Y. approach to higher education and spreads the message through informational “hackademic camps.” “Hacking,” in the group’s parlance, can involve any manner of self-directed learning: travel, volunteer work, organizing collaborative learning groups with friends. Students who want to avoid $200,000 in student-loan debt might consider enrolling in a technology boot camp, where you can learn to write code in 8 to 10 weeks for about $10,000, Mr. Stephens said.
THEY can also nourish their minds from a growing menu of Internet classrooms, including the massive open online courses, or MOOCs, which stream classes from elite universities like Princeton. This guerrilla approach hits home with young people who came of age seeking out valuable content free on Napster and BitTorrent.”
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The Zed Omegas created an activity for the Student Open House at the Walker in November. The Open House theme was “Identity Crisis,” and the Zed Omegas created a long row of cookie-cutter silhouettes and invited passersby to personalize them with their high school selves.
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Do you have a working definition of love?
It’s a verb. That’s the first thing. It’s an active engagement with all kinds of feelings – positive ones and primitive ones and loathsome ones. But it’s a very active verb. And it’s often surprising how it can kind of ebb and flow. It’s like the moon. We think it’s disappeared, and suddenly it shows up again. It’s not a permanent state of enthusiasm… I think that definition today of love – “you are my everything” – where you really see it, this complete exaltation, is in wedding vows. Have you ever noticed? I mean, it’s “I will wipe every tear that streams down your face before you even notice it’s going down.” I think a realistic vow is “I will fuck up on a regular basis, and, on occasion, I’ll admit it.”
– Excerpt from The New Yorker interview with Esther Perel
Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.
Oscar Wilde
I don’t think I fit society’s beauty standards , but does that really matter ? #foodforthought
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A snippet of the “The Revolution Part A” from The Difference SP. More creativeness to come…check out www.YancyDeron.com for more music
“Never make yourself more
palatable for others;
they’ll either eat you whole,
or nibble you away
in bite-sized chunks.”
- d.c.
Romantic Academia
Colors: Brown, beige, tan, cream, grey, white, gold, soft pink, black, navy, deep ruby, forest green
Values: Romance, academics, emotions, maturity, curiosity
Motifs: Reading, writing, holding hands, kissing, cal mythology, historical remnants
Simply put! #beyou #individuality #yourdifferenceisyourstrength
#beunique
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bpt2-lnhsKG/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1nmkk6m5yrcm8
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A hair renegade is someone who goes against the grain, they wear their individuality on their sleeve and aren’t afraid to go left when the crowd is headed right. FKA Twigs is not only a unique force musically, but she is always sporting a do that is as much questionable as it is creative. That’s why she is a hair renegade!!
Follow FKATwigs
Rethink.
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#patience #individuality #rethink #flourish #selfcare #selflove #selflovejourney #models #reality #hurt #heal #healing #acceptance #letgo #lettinggo
https://www.instagram.com/p/CcXI7FLsxUv/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=
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Rethink.
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#relationships #individuality #rethink #flourish #selfcare #selflove #selflovejourney #models #reality
https://www.instagram.com/p/CcC-HLZrQx1/?utm_medium=tumblr
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|exploring individual sexuality by the means of fashion| emerging trend|capitalistic exploitation|individual freedom|what’s about it| #trend #trends #trends2019 #fashiontrends #individuality #genderfluid #gender #openminded #openminds #fashioninspo #fashionista #fashioninsider #fashioninspiration #fashioninspired #trendalert #trending #style #styleinspo #styleinspiration #styleinfluencer #influencesonfashion #influencesonstyle #designteacher #designteaching #fashionteacher #teacherfashionista #designthinking #thinkingaboutfashion #socioculturalinfluences
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4R7mNTIzSr/?igshid=5b5osa1v9c1z
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Jango was a father to thousands, but he wanted a son that was not altered to be obedient. He wanted him to have his own personality and his ability to be self-sufficient.
— George Lucas
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