Defining and Explaining Myself

Most people believe that the best way to pursue a happy and meaningful life is to gain acceptance from those around them. I am not one of those people. And I believe that is what defines me as the person I am.

Elaboration 1:  I do not find relationships with other people meaningless or unenjoyable. I find it can be one of the most fruitful parts of life. The difference is that the people I enjoy having in my life do not define my values, but are an extension of them. In other words, my enjoyment is not defined by the approval of those in my life but the people themselves and how they relate to me as a person and my values.

Elaboration 2: I am sure most of us do not think of ourselves as mindless beings simply doing the bidding of those around us. I am sure that is not completely true, but I believe it is probably more true then you think.  I would suggest taking a second glance at your life.  Do you go to church because you really want to? Or because your parents want you to? Are you going to college because its where you want to be? Or because its expected of you? Would you die for your country because its what you want to do? Or because its what everyone else thinks it's what you should do? Are you being polite and kind to those around you because they deserve it? Or because you fear their disapproval? Consider all aspects of your life. The questions are hard to answer honestly, and easy to rationalize.

Elaboration 3: I am not advocating being a hermit. I am advocating self respect. There is nothing wrong with wearing pants to improve your social interactions with people.  But that hardly makes it the meaning of life.

Elaboration 4: One of my favorite quotes by Ayn Rand is when she was asked if she is the same person now as when she wrote "The Fountainhead", she replied "Yes, but even more so." I do not claim to be entirely consistent with this definition of myself, but I do believe that it represents the truest part of myself.

Fear and Friendship

What most people call friendship is really fear. A fear of other people and a fear of ones self, or the fear of disapproval and the fear of being alone.

The fear is used against one another.  The fear is used to control other people. The fear is nameless but understood by all.

The fear keeps us all average.

There is nothing more dangerous then the average man.  The man that will do anything to remain the standard of human approval.

There is also nothing more sad then the people that will do anything to avoid believing in anything, or standing for anything, or being an individual, because they know that it will reduce their chances of keeping the approval of others.

This is what separates the living from the dead.

There are so few of us that actually have the courage and ambition to be alive, but those around us do everything that they can to stop us from gaining it.

"How dare you think!"

"How dare you walk alone!"

"How dare you believe in yourself!"

All that most people have to offer is ridicule and attempts to bring you down to their level.

They try to bring us down to the level of the cultural robot, with its culturally programmed ideas, its programmed talk, and its programmed beliefs.

The endless struggle is never against the strong and the weak, but the average and the individual.