Many people tend to like others simply because they dress, act, and believe in the same things they do. If the similarities are justified, then so is the affinity, but many times, the similiarities are created to attract those affinities . This is the aspect in our nature that feeds comformity. People's lives and their opinions should be genuine, and thoroughly reasoned through.
Conformity is the alcohol that slowly poisons our minds, yet brings us much pleasure. Doing whatever everyone else is seen doing gives a feeling of false security, and false confidence. People use conformity to cover up their insecurity of being different. As a side effect, it can also cover up their greatness. Mother Teresa, Bill Gates, Martin Luther King Jr., Franklin D. Roosevelt, Ghandi, and Muhammad Ali are some of the greatest people at what they did. They weren't afraid to be different. They weren't afraid to lead. They weren't afraid to be great. When was the last time someone great conformed to society?
One of my friend's favorite quotes is a quote by Marianne Williamson. I think his choice is very justified.
-Marianne Williamson“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
3 comments:
I love your analogy of conformity to alcohol, and also what you said about people artificially creating things about themselves so that people with similar attributes will be drawn to them. Perhaps that's why people follow fashions in the first place: to have a similarity with people around them, which opens the way for them to connect. I thought this was pretty thoughtful, and the quote is inspiring.
I couldn't agree more. I love that quote...sounds familliar. It's from the movie Coach Carter isn't it?
I totally agree to what you said about the possibility of the philospher purely conforming to get his PHD because his parents told him to do so. Also about the great leaders of history not being afraid to be different and lead, but it seems also a little one sided in that many of the worst dictators and oppressors in history weren't afraid to lead or be different...Also, I think although they might not categorized as "great" there are a lot of truly "good" people who conform to their own ideals and of their culture (Buddhist monks?) that do question the world they live in and have that understadning but without the desire to go out and lead culture in a different direction and we there will always be more people like that than the "great" who go out to lead. Overall I totally agree with what you had to say, especially the difference between pure conformity and reasoned agreement, definitly a big point.
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