Breaking Away From Conformity

 

“You consider yourself odd at times, you accuse yourself of taking a road different from most people. You have to unlearn that. Gaze into the fire, into the clouds, and as soon as the inner voices begin to speak, surrender to them, don’t ask first whether it’s permitted or would please your teachers or father, or some god. You will ruin yourself if you do that.”
— Hermann Hesse, Demian

 

Breaking away from convention is never easy. There are so many messages around us from childhood telling us that we need to conform in thought, word and deed and not wander too far astray from the herd. Yet as I’ve discussed in the last few days, it is a myth that any two people think and act exactly alike or even believe in the exact same things. When we believe otherwise and spend our lives trying to fit into a common cold, cognitive dissonance arises and builds. The more we try to fit in the stronger the dissonance becomes until our mental, physical and spiritual beings suffer. Not to mention the rising cost on society itself as it becomes sicker and sicker. It is only by breaking away and embracing our uniqueness, despite what our religions, our schools, our media and our politicians tell us to do that we can start to discover what true health means.
Blessings, G

Click on images to see full-sized:

 

Sitting By The CanalSitting by the Canal by G A Rosenberg

 

Fear Her (Beleth)Fear Her (Beleth) by G A Rosenberg