“Do as you’re told” is something nearly every person can remember being told at some point in their lives. But there is a time and place for this, like anything else. Once one is able to interpret that their life is to follow the path of their choosing and not one that has been predetermined, they may undertake the journey of becoming a true individual.
This isn’t anything anyone can Google or read in a book, there is no sugar coating, no condensed or full version. “I’m not going to censor myself to comfort your ignorance” (Tom Retterbush). What better way to express an idea than to simply state the message that you are trying to convey than in the most simplistic way?
Let me put it this way. Imagine trained monkeys in a cage. Throw in a few bananas and they’ll go crazy for them because it’s their nature, but then throw in a few things that look like bananas, and smell like bananas. The monkeys won’t have the same reaction to them. They’re skeptical of these new wanna-be-bananas. However, then add in a messenger that tells the group that they are better than the bananas they once knew, that they have double the flavor and will keep them full for twice as long. One skeptic will turn and try the foreign fruit, and become another messenger, then another, and another. Soon the whole cage accepts this new form of banana without truly knowing anything about these new bananas. Let some time pass, offer them normal bananas and they refuse them; you have now changed their nature. This happens thousands of times today to us humans. We are so blind to the truth about things constantly around us because we trust the words of those we consider know more than us without question. Take Plato’s word for it; “The people have always some champion whom they set over them and to nurse into greatness… This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when he first appears he is a protector. The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men” (Plato).
You have to let you “reveal you to yourself” (Bob Marley). That is the only way to move forward. That is the only way to truly allow yourself to live life and live without regrets, false hopes, and any phrase containing the words: should’ve, could’ve, would’ve. “I’d rather be hated for who I am than loved for who I am not” (Kurt Cobain). Why live a life that is not yours, because then you are only holding yourself back by following what everyone else tells you what you should be doing instead of yourself. “We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much. We have multiplied our possessions but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often. We’ve learned how to make a living and not a life. We’ve added years to life, not life to years” (George Carlin).
We used to love people and use things. The problem started when we starting loving things and using people. Everything begins and ends in the human mind.
This isn’t anything anyone can Google or read in a book, there is no sugar coating, no condensed or full version. “I’m not going to censor myself to comfort your ignorance” (Tom Retterbush). What better way to express an idea than to simply state the message that you are trying to convey than in the most simplistic way?
Let me put it this way. Imagine trained monkeys in a cage. Throw in a few bananas and they’ll go crazy for them because it’s their nature, but then throw in a few things that look like bananas, and smell like bananas. The monkeys won’t have the same reaction to them. They’re skeptical of these new wanna-be-bananas. However, then add in a messenger that tells the group that they are better than the bananas they once knew, that they have double the flavor and will keep them full for twice as long. One skeptic will turn and try the foreign fruit, and become another messenger, then another, and another. Soon the whole cage accepts this new form of banana without truly knowing anything about these new bananas. Let some time pass, offer them normal bananas and they refuse them; you have now changed their nature. This happens thousands of times today to us humans. We are so blind to the truth about things constantly around us because we trust the words of those we consider know more than us without question. Take Plato’s word for it; “The people have always some champion whom they set over them and to nurse into greatness… This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when he first appears he is a protector. The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men” (Plato).
You have to let you “reveal you to yourself” (Bob Marley). That is the only way to move forward. That is the only way to truly allow yourself to live life and live without regrets, false hopes, and any phrase containing the words: should’ve, could’ve, would’ve. “I’d rather be hated for who I am than loved for who I am not” (Kurt Cobain). Why live a life that is not yours, because then you are only holding yourself back by following what everyone else tells you what you should be doing instead of yourself. “We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much. We have multiplied our possessions but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often. We’ve learned how to make a living and not a life. We’ve added years to life, not life to years” (George Carlin).
We used to love people and use things. The problem started when we starting loving things and using people. Everything begins and ends in the human mind.