The Question of Conformity.

There are two comedians in this world who have always left me feeling cold and flat. I couldn't understand how people could find them funny and after my first experience with both of them, I avoided watching all of their movies and anything that included them on television.

I formed an opinion on first impressions (as most of us do) and then couldn't be swayed from that opinion.

Those two comedians are Jim Carrey and Russell Brand.

For 25 years I avoided everything Jim Carey and for 10 years avoided Russell Brand.

Actually, I'm still not a fan of Russell Brand's style of comedy and I think he is a bit confronting and offensive .. however, that's my problem, not his. I do however, believe in his belief system and his revolutionary way of opening our eyes to what's happening in the world today.

We all swim along the river of conformity like a school of fish. Have you seen the footage of huge schools of fish in the ocean and as they move in unison, the sunlight glistens off their scaly skin and flickers through the water? That's us.

We don't even realise we're doing it.

Conformity is actually hard work and takes all of our thought processes to keep ourselves close to the school.

You know what happens to the fish who become detached from the school?  They get eaten!

Somebody makes rules, so we follow them.

Somebody sets standards, so we aspire to reach them.

Somebody creates lifestyle cliques and we choose one.

Somebody brands certain life decisions as 'bad' and we avoid them.

Somebody tells us we must choose 'something', so we make our choice and then close our minds to all other 'somethings'.

Somebody tells us that women are the home makers, so all women become home makers.

Somebody tells us that all men are the providers, so all men become the providers.

Somebody tells us that a single mother is a failed human, so we look down upon and judge all single mothers.

Somebody tells us that a single father is a wonderful example of successful parenting, so we all look up to and judge all single fathers.

Somebody tells us that the sign of success is accumulated material possessions, so we spend our lives accumulating houses, cars, boats, caravans, big screen televisions, overseas holidays, expensive breeds of pets etc.

Through the decades, somebody has told us how to think, what to believe, where to go, when to stop, who to trust, who not to trust etc etc etc.

BUT they always find a way to put the seed of doubt in our minds. So we are always questioning inwardly, whether we have done, or are doing, the right thing. That way, our minds will always be preoccupied with all of the trivial matters that I've mentioned - and they are only a spit in the ocean - until our aim is to disappear into the mediocrity of the niche that we've created for our lives.

We don't want to stand out. We don't want to be noticed as different. We want to look like we are doing as well as everyone else, but not so well that others think that we believe we are better than them.

We spend our entire lives obsessed with creating the so-called perfect life.

I've discovered that these two comedians have not followed the flow of conformity. They detached themselves from that flow, at a young age, and they believed in themselves and they didn't care what other people thought of them. They became successful doing what they loved.

Yet they've realised that with success, comes responsibility and accountability.

They've realised that success, both spiritual and financial, does not bring happiness or comfort.

They know, that with their fame, they have the power to show us and teach us that we all have a choice.

We don't have to conform.

We have the power to change the way things have always been and we don't have to fit into any niche or clique or class system.

We can be unique.

We can be perfectly wonderful, just the way we are.

We can release the pressures of conformity.

They question conformity.

They try to open our eyes to what is outside our protected shell of a life.

They break the barriers.

That's what makes them confronting and offensive.

They force us to see outside our own existence and they question our ideals, just as we should always be questioning ourselves.

This video of Jim Carrey goes for almost 30 minutes. His speech is uplifting and he makes so much sense. I have become a fan. I still don't like his brand of comedy much, but he is a great serious actor and his take on life is inspirational.

I honestly believe that if I'd heard this speech in my teens, my life may have been entirely different.



Procrastination is the practice of carrying out less urgent tasks in preference to more urgent ones, or doing more pleasurable things in place of less pleasurable ones, and thus putting off impending tasks to a later time, sometimes to the "last minute" before a deadline.
This has been #369 from 'The Art of Procrastination' by Roz G.

Nite all.