Licking the Razor's Edge (2015)

There are quite a few preachers and teachers and mystics and gurus who offer lots of
different solutions to the problem of conformity. They recommend learning how to
tactfully refuse others’ requests, learning how to doubt everything until it is “proven to be
true”, learning how to be “true to yourself” (i.e. do what you want to do), learning how to
calmly consider “all your options” before making a decision, and learning how to set
“healthy boundaries” for self protection.
The list goes on & on, and it is nice that so many truly brilliant and well-intended
individuals are offering us so many different ways we can be happier by enhancing our
levels of “self-respect” & “self-acceptance”. Of course, the problem lies in the fact that
these methods simply do not work. It is true that some of them provide moments of
“inner peace”, and others provide moments of “happiness”, and yet that calm proves
temporary and those joys prove fleeting. Indeed, it is only a short matter of time before
our addiction to conformity creeps back into our lives – often stronger than before.
*We learn how to politely say “no”, and yet end up becoming cold and selfish.
*We learn how to be skeptical of all news and rumors, and yet end up spending more of
our time looking for “the Truth” than living Truth-fully.
*We learn how to “wait for more proof” before making decisions, and yet end up making
no decisions at all.
*We learn how to “take care of ourselves” by “being true to ourselves”, and yet we end
up with lives that feel lonely and devoid of purpose.
So, is there no hope for those of us
who wish to be free? Of course there
is … and exuding “Self-Acceptance”
– along with “Self-Respect”, are
indeed valuable tools we can use to
break out of the cage that is our
addiction to normalcy.
And yet, it is not whether we learn to
respect ourselves that really matters,
nor is how we do so pertinent.
No, if we truly wish to be free of the
insidious addiction that is conformity,
then we must have the wherewithal to
respect our True Self (as opposed to
our ego) -- by having the courage to
break free from convention to become
that True Self.
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