The Climb to Freedom

Break free from the system and rediscover your inner compass. This post explores conformity, domestication, and how to reclaim your unique path.

Domestication

As soon as we are introduced into the world, we are integrated into a system. This system is merit-based and not creative-based. Like sheep we are herded into academia, the work force, the military, or the corporate sector. To stand out is to be ridiculed, shunned, even hated in cases. Modern culture values conformism more than standing out, and so, most people choose the former.

Domestication is subtle. Obedience is trained into us through rewards and punishments. The seeds are planted as children and follow us into adulthood. These gold stars and ‘good job’s’ wire the brain to crave approval. We then seek this approval into adulthood from the systems we integrate into, academia, the office, the field, etc. If you follow the norm, you are rewarded. If you go against the grain, you are shamed. This system of reward and punishment suppresses originality. If you cannot benefit the system, you are not wanted. And so, most people choose to remain part of it because being praised feels good, and being shunned doesn’t.

We become comfortable within the system and stop questioning it, choosing instead to suppress our uniqueness in favor of conformity. The system rewards this, and so we grow dependent on its approval—obedience begets praise, and praise begets more obedience. This cycle is seductive. But this comfort is the death of free thinking, and the truth most are too afraid to awaken to.

Even when awakened to the truth, most are too afraid to break away from this system. They refuse to break free, leaning on the voice of society, parents, teachers to guide their actions. In doing so, their internal compass becomes dulled and forgotten. Because of this, the irritation of being unable to follow themselves and their own choices manifests itself in ways most of us aren’t aware of: envy, greed, passive aggression.

A Way Out

Understand, you cannot destroy these emotions. You cant kill thoughts or emotions; they are energy. They must be transmuted into your work, your creativity, and your life’s task, whatever it is. If you haven’t found what it is, don’t stop looking. You will find it. Refuse to settle for anything less than your true potential calls for. When you find it, you will know it. Better yet, if you align yourself with your true nature, it will find you. Opportunities will present themselves to you in ways you were otherwise unopen to before.

And when they strike, you have a choice. You can choose to stay within or you can break free. Refuse to be part of the game. Don’t follow the dogmatic narratives pushed to you from the outside. You cannot afford to lose what make you different! In fact, dare to be different. Dare to challenge your own values and beliefs. Ask yourself: Do I value this because out of my own reasoning? Or, have I been told that this is what I should value?

Most people are too afraid to ask themselves the hard questions. Doing so forces them to come to terms with their conformity and the truth of how they have delegated their reason to the outside sources – Religion, Societal norms and exceptions, etc. To conform is to lose your sovereignty in ways that the world cannot afford right now. In a world dominated by bureaucracies, influencers, hustlers, and corporate interests, we need creativity and humanity. We need free thinkers and doers.

If you can ask yourself those questions, if you have the courage to follow your intuition, you can become more. You can choose to create yourself and live your life how you want, free from the voice of the many. You can dedicate yourself to ideals and values of your choosing and follow them with unwavering conviction. Dare to be different, dust off your inner compass and have the courage to follow it even when it leads you away from everyone else.