Despite what mainstream religion, culture, and such tell you, not everything is a matter of right vs. wrong or black vs. white. Even science is known to be in need of correction every now and again, taking things that are established as "fact" and overturning them with the flick of a pen (remember when Pluto was a planet?). Truth is relative to the situation, in most cases, and while there are many absolutes, in other cases things that are true now may not be within any given period of time.
No other thing demonstrates this fact better than watching a person grow and mature. As we get older, our desires, hobbies, likes, and dislikes all change drastically from year to year. Maybe something we used to like has become something we no longer care about. Maybe our morals or opinions have shifted on an issue, or maybe we no longer identify with something that we used to. Regardless of what shifts in us, we all change in some way, and acceptance of that is paramount in an individual's personal development.
However, it seems that America has taught us that one cannot be more than one thing. The media, popular culture, and old ideas create a mindset that wants to categorize people into neat little boxes. Many prefer to use blanket terms to judge people instead of dealing with them on an individual basis, quickly dismissing and filing away people in an effort to streamline the process of living.
In response to this, people have actually been forcing themselves into said boxes, whittling away or hiding parts of themselves in order to fit in better with the people they do associate with. People cluster together around events, movies, objects, television shows, political idols, and other things in order to feel acceptance, hiding away the true individuality that makes them unique.These people have a way of latching onto each other, becoming a mob of people united under one (usually inane) brand, group, or logo with no room for disagreement. This type of behavior can be seen in sports fans, music group fans, and religious people from all brands of belief.
The problem with this process is that a person is a product of their experiences, likes, dislikes, and the ideas of the people around them. No one person has the exact same experiences as another, though there can be similarities. Therefore, by concealing those parts that differentiate them from others, people are beginning to stunt their own growth as individuals.Think of the many of problems that pervade Western society: rampant drug use, suicide, racism, gang violence, narcissism, alcoholism, gender-bashing, mistreatment of the LGBT community...if one looks carefully enough, they may be able to see that the core of several of these problems is a lack of peace with oneself and the stresses of trying to "fit in" with expected norms. We are taught by our forebears and those in authority the antiquated thought of "if you're one thing, you're not another," and this poison of absolutes is slowly killing us. You see, to deny the existence of a part of yourself is akin to chopping off an appendage from your soul.
This part of us that we pull away from ourselves is our hidden doppelganger, our "daemon," as it were. These pieces of ourselves that we cast aside coagulate together into our "shoulder demon," the one that whispers into our ears ideas that we fight away on a daily basis. We, due to our teachings, do our best to ignore it, fight it, "resist temptation," or whatever other euphemism people use regarding their daemon, making it our sworn enemy that we must do combat with every single day.
The problem with fighting all the time is that sometimes we get tired. As Lincoln said, "A house divided against itself cannot stand," and the worst conflicts are the ones that we have inside ourselves. From these come the external rifts that we create in our environments, mainly with other people in very trivial situations. Having given the "bad" part of ourselves a face, we have made it our enemy, and have therefore created a part of ourselves that we claim to hate and creating unnecessary conflict. However, part of our psyche knows that it is still us, creating a permanent tension between the factions in an eternal fight against the individual parts of ourselves.The symptoms of these tensions and opposing viewpoints are then noted in the behaviors of other people, this sudden noticing and critiquing the result of a projection of our subconscious mind onto the behaviors of others. We then either ignore or oppress the externalized version of the thing we are at odds with ourselves with, depending upon how we have dealt with the physical manifestations thereof in our lives.
Upon reflection of that person, we must consider what are we fighting against. Are we really standing in opposition to things that are truly bad, or are we wrestling with and falling back on doctrines, rules, and such that society has taught us are wrong in order to keep control over us? Do we really want to be that person that follows the rules we live by, or are we just putting on a facade in order to be accepted by said society?
It is with this thought in mind that I ask you this: are there things you do like that you are not allowing yourself to do in order to gain acceptance by others? Are you restricting yourself from acting in ways that would make you feel some sort of enjoyment in life just because some person or institution says you shouldn't or can't? Are these things actions that wouldn't have any effect on anyone else if you were to do them aside from possibly causing your peers to look at you a bit differently? Perhaps you should re-evaluate your associations if, by doing something you enjoy on your own time, you could be shunned.
Of course, I don't encourage anything illegal or perverse (violence, sexual assault, etc), nor do I condone things that would destroy your well-being over time. However, I am asking that you take the time to examine your daemon. Look at it, know it, and become comfortable with it. It is also you, and it will not go away if you plug your ears to it like a child. Reevaluate your beliefs, look inside yourself, and begin incorporating some of the things you learn about yourself while studying your daemon. Eventually, you'll learn to wear it rather than fighting it every day. If you tailor it right, the whole of you will be comfortable in your own skin.
Even the naughty bits.
No other thing demonstrates this fact better than watching a person grow and mature. As we get older, our desires, hobbies, likes, and dislikes all change drastically from year to year. Maybe something we used to like has become something we no longer care about. Maybe our morals or opinions have shifted on an issue, or maybe we no longer identify with something that we used to. Regardless of what shifts in us, we all change in some way, and acceptance of that is paramount in an individual's personal development.
However, it seems that America has taught us that one cannot be more than one thing. The media, popular culture, and old ideas create a mindset that wants to categorize people into neat little boxes. Many prefer to use blanket terms to judge people instead of dealing with them on an individual basis, quickly dismissing and filing away people in an effort to streamline the process of living.
In response to this, people have actually been forcing themselves into said boxes, whittling away or hiding parts of themselves in order to fit in better with the people they do associate with. People cluster together around events, movies, objects, television shows, political idols, and other things in order to feel acceptance, hiding away the true individuality that makes them unique.These people have a way of latching onto each other, becoming a mob of people united under one (usually inane) brand, group, or logo with no room for disagreement. This type of behavior can be seen in sports fans, music group fans, and religious people from all brands of belief.
The problem with this process is that a person is a product of their experiences, likes, dislikes, and the ideas of the people around them. No one person has the exact same experiences as another, though there can be similarities. Therefore, by concealing those parts that differentiate them from others, people are beginning to stunt their own growth as individuals.Think of the many of problems that pervade Western society: rampant drug use, suicide, racism, gang violence, narcissism, alcoholism, gender-bashing, mistreatment of the LGBT community...if one looks carefully enough, they may be able to see that the core of several of these problems is a lack of peace with oneself and the stresses of trying to "fit in" with expected norms. We are taught by our forebears and those in authority the antiquated thought of "if you're one thing, you're not another," and this poison of absolutes is slowly killing us. You see, to deny the existence of a part of yourself is akin to chopping off an appendage from your soul.
This part of us that we pull away from ourselves is our hidden doppelganger, our "daemon," as it were. These pieces of ourselves that we cast aside coagulate together into our "shoulder demon," the one that whispers into our ears ideas that we fight away on a daily basis. We, due to our teachings, do our best to ignore it, fight it, "resist temptation," or whatever other euphemism people use regarding their daemon, making it our sworn enemy that we must do combat with every single day.
The problem with fighting all the time is that sometimes we get tired. As Lincoln said, "A house divided against itself cannot stand," and the worst conflicts are the ones that we have inside ourselves. From these come the external rifts that we create in our environments, mainly with other people in very trivial situations. Having given the "bad" part of ourselves a face, we have made it our enemy, and have therefore created a part of ourselves that we claim to hate and creating unnecessary conflict. However, part of our psyche knows that it is still us, creating a permanent tension between the factions in an eternal fight against the individual parts of ourselves.The symptoms of these tensions and opposing viewpoints are then noted in the behaviors of other people, this sudden noticing and critiquing the result of a projection of our subconscious mind onto the behaviors of others. We then either ignore or oppress the externalized version of the thing we are at odds with ourselves with, depending upon how we have dealt with the physical manifestations thereof in our lives.
Upon reflection of that person, we must consider what are we fighting against. Are we really standing in opposition to things that are truly bad, or are we wrestling with and falling back on doctrines, rules, and such that society has taught us are wrong in order to keep control over us? Do we really want to be that person that follows the rules we live by, or are we just putting on a facade in order to be accepted by said society?
It is with this thought in mind that I ask you this: are there things you do like that you are not allowing yourself to do in order to gain acceptance by others? Are you restricting yourself from acting in ways that would make you feel some sort of enjoyment in life just because some person or institution says you shouldn't or can't? Are these things actions that wouldn't have any effect on anyone else if you were to do them aside from possibly causing your peers to look at you a bit differently? Perhaps you should re-evaluate your associations if, by doing something you enjoy on your own time, you could be shunned.
Of course, I don't encourage anything illegal or perverse (violence, sexual assault, etc), nor do I condone things that would destroy your well-being over time. However, I am asking that you take the time to examine your daemon. Look at it, know it, and become comfortable with it. It is also you, and it will not go away if you plug your ears to it like a child. Reevaluate your beliefs, look inside yourself, and begin incorporating some of the things you learn about yourself while studying your daemon. Eventually, you'll learn to wear it rather than fighting it every day. If you tailor it right, the whole of you will be comfortable in your own skin.
Even the naughty bits.
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