As a result of massive propaganda in ads, education, work-training,
and other avenues of influence, people are pushed toward explaining
their behavior according to certain acceptable clichés.
More and more people are explaining their values, goals, work, and relationships in the following terms:
"My parents were great teachers." "My coach was like a second father."
"In school, I learned how to get along with others." Etc., etc.
In general, people are explaining their actions in terms of their past history. "I do what I do now because of prior causes."
This pattern may seem trivial, but it is profound in its effect. In a
slippery fashion, responsibility is laid at the door of others. Not
self. Rarely do you hear a person honestly say, I CREATE MY OWN
FUTURE. Instead, as in soporific Academy Awards acceptance
speeches, there is a long list of people to thank. All this is
socialized behavior. Programmed. Taught.
It is a first cousin to: DON'T BE PROUD, BE HUMBLE.
Learned humility is socially approved of. In most cases, it isn't
real. It's robotic. Most importantly, it is a barrier to realizing
one's own inventive power. It blots out that power and relegates it to a
back bench.
DO YOU YOURSELF CREATE ANYTHING?
WELL, IN A CERTAIN SENSE I SUPPOSE I DO, BUT REALLY, IT ALL COMES FROM
THE GREAT TEACHERS IN MY PAST. THAT'S WHERE I GREW. I WAS TAUGHT. IF
IT WEREN'T FOR THOSE GREAT PEOPLE, I WOULDN'T BE HERE NOW. I'M NOT
ACTUALLY CREATING ANYTHING, I'M RESPONDING TO
PAST LESSONS.
Baloney. Thick slices of it. Every possible excuse to get out of admitting one's own power is invoked.
Then we get something like this: THE UNIVERSE GIVES ME PERMISSION TO
ACHIEVE WHAT I ACHIEVE. MY ACCOMPLISHMENTS WERE REALLY PROGRAMMED IN MY
DNA, FROM THE BEGINNING. I HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH IT.
I'M AM PROUDLY HUMBLE.
Over time, socialized behavior makes a person passive. In the core of
his consciousness, he falls asleep. He goes into a coma. He still
walks and talks, but the dynamic quality is gone.
What does all this add up to? It adds up to Collectivism emblazoned in the sky, like a giant billboard:
The individual is not really an individual. He is a Group, composed of "all the people that made him what he is today."
And that, my friends, is the myth, story, and legend of the 20th and 21st centuries.
Reject the story.
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