First up, credit where its due.. Came across an article by Mr. J. Krishnamurti, and was very impressed. A writeup which brought me back from the oblivions of dormancy to hopefully active blogging, has to be very good! So, without further ado, here I go...

On Non-Conformity

'Out of the Box' has been going around so much that its been reduced to the antonym of, for what it stands. From being a revolutionary phrase that could change/save the world, it is now a poor cliche! Most of us seek security and a safe harbor in life, and most of these most tend to view life with light rose tinted glasses. We seek comfort, and in seeking comfort, we generally find a quiet corner where there is minimum of conflict, and then we are afraid to step out of that seclusion. We become 'indifferent to different'. We are afraid to explore beyond our comfort zone..

This fear of life, this fear of struggle and of new experiences, kills in us the spirit of adventure; our whole upbringing and education have imbibed in us the tendency to be afraid of being different from our neighbour, afraid to think contrary to the established pattern of society. We become afraid of authority, afraid of breaking tradition. This fear is internalized to such an extent that we become falsely respectful of authority, norms, rules and tradition.

Conventional education makes independent thinking extremely difficult. We have to follow the laws put forth by our ancestry, whether they are relevant today or not. We have to confirm to set standards. Conformity leads to mediocrity. To be different from the group or to resist environment is not easy and is often risky as long as we worship success. Our society defines 'success'. We pursue it. The urge to be successful, which is the pursuit of reward whether in the material or in the so-called spiritual sphere, the search for inward or outward security, the desire for comfort-- this whole process smothers discontent, puts an end to spontaneous thought and action and breeds fear; and fear blocks the intelligent understanding of life. With increasing age, dullness of mind and heart sets in.

As kids, we all want to change the world, make an indelible mark or two upon its functioning. As children, we don't understand its machinations, but we are very eager to grow up, explore, learn and change! But, as grown-ups, when we become 'mature thinking individuals', this thought appears entirely foolish, absurd and laughable! What is the reason for this glaring gap? You got it, 'Conformity'. Every stumbling step into uncharted waters is lovingly 'corrected', so that we don't veer off-course. What could have been trailblazing leaps of innovation, is reduced to treading on the beaten path. Ah, but for conformity, the world would have been so very delightfully different!

Fortunately, there are a few who are in earnest, who are willing to examine our human problems without the prejudice of the right, or of the lest, or of the center. But, in the vast majority of us, there is no real spirit of revolt. When we yield uncomprehendingly to environment, any spirit of revolt that we have dies down, any spark of innovation that we may have fueled is vanquished. Our responsibilities soon put an end to our budding dare.

Revolts are of two kinds: There is violent revolt, which is mere reaction without understanding, against the existing order, i.e. shouting and crying because of bitter grapes, or worse, just because of the heck of it, say in a mob scenario, where everyone seems to lose capacity for intelligent thought.

And then, there is the deep psychological revolt of intelligence. This is the revolt of the learned and discerning individual; who dares to be different, different for good, and different for better. He/she steps out of the rat race, charts his own course, and makes a difference. For instance, the one who coined 'out of the box' . For instance, a Ms. Kiran Bedi, who swears & lives by 'I dare'. There are examples galore about such people who've broken the shackles of their comfort zone, who have lived free and lived true. These are people who deserve to be called 'individuals'. They have individualism internalized into their system. They define their own standards, keep raising the bar and refuse to confirm to set standards. They dare to think , reflect and change. They are pioneers and they should ideally be allowed to define this world's standards. Maybe, I'm advocating intelligent oligarchy. In any case, these are people that the world looks up to, some with wist and some with passion. They are people that children want to be like when they grow up, and who ease these children's path by carving out 'acceptance for non-confirmity'...