Dear Editor,
The inherent value of being an independent thinker, one that is free from the influences of preconceived cognitive biases, is incalculable. Relying on one’s autonomy to process the world we inhabit inevitably results in us becoming able to exercise our heavily endowed capacities for a highly autonomous existence. To mold or shape the totality of our earthly experiences independent of and free from the impact of pre designed societal roles and conventions serves to extricate us from the fetters of the socialisation processes and conditioning which many of us ever so often unconsciously submit to.
Being able to resist the ever so present urge which viscerally pokes us to trade in our individuality for guidance from without activates and keeps in motion our often untapped capacities for relying on self. Constantly resisting we set in motion our facility for self-reliance which instantaneously consults the economy of our individuality, constantly withdrawing from its reservoir the intangible internal resources needed for the preservation of our agency, thus reinforcing our immunity from rigid conformity. Becoming susceptible to contamination and contagion from the singular and boring consciousness of the collective dangerously enables unhealthy encroachment on the innocent mental spaces that were once available and fertile for the development of and employment of our sense of autonomy.
This highly individuated project of becoming separated from the ways of the collective can span an entire lifetime during the course of which we will be subjected to fierce resistance from its foe – the dull, stagnant, unimaginative, thoughtless and dependent herd. Unavoidably, following the commencement of this secernate enterprise forces of conformity and nonconformity, orthodoxy and unorthodoxy, are now engaged in an internal conflict to assert each other’s superiority and dominance. For those who are acutely aware of this inwardly directed struggle, the battle is won even before it is actually waged, as a conscious choice is made in the nascent stages of this contest to remove oneself from the state of mental dependency which perpetually characterizes the unthinking masses.
It becomes a tragedy of epic proportions for the huge chunk of individuals whose faculties regrettably have now become a homogeneous mass of uniformity easily recognizable to each other. The tragic loss of this vast store of innocent human capacities that were once available and in service of independent self regulation has now succumbed to a highly regimented and predictable communal existence. A mechanical state of being now ensues inhabiting souls whose spiritless and lifeless existence desires nothing else save for the continuation of a sustained recurring nature populated with perspective less and thoughtless conformities. Sadly, there remains no inherent creative human equity in this automated mental mode of being, as any sense of one’s authenticity and separation from the blunt uninspiring herd is now conspicuously non-existent.
In this robotic disposition nothing new or fresh proceeds from within the confines of one’s cranium. Neural pathways after being bombarded with persistently tedious stimuli become incapable of being stimulated when presented with unorthodox views or ways of perceiving or thinking differently about the world. One’s sense of the possibility of becoming autonomous becomes the only antidote to undo or reverse this imposed mental monotony which invariably results in cognitive indolence. Even if one periodically aligned oneself with the modus operandi of the confirming sect, consciously suspending one’s faculty for independent thought and momentarily regurgitating and spewing the common utterances of the collective, it is still imperative that we seek to discontinue the perpetuation of this impoverished mental state. As voluntarily prolonging the inactivity of our frontal lobe will eventually relieve us of a defining feature of what essentially makes us human-our capacity for independent thought.
Earnestly fostering a culture of self directed thought in the early stages of one’s mortal lifespan is an important undertaking primarily because it disallows an inauthentic way of being from dominating our earthly vacation. An original planetary existence enables the proliferation of unique perspectives which is essential for resolving problems and challenges we have hitherto imposed upon ourselves. It is counterproductive to keep employing uninterested structured, inflexible and regimented thought systems that continue to reproduce and perpetuate mass invariability of thought. Our efforts to assert the contents of our subjectivity which excitingly and enthusiastically awaits moments to distinguish its capacity for self directed thought and expression ought to be profusely encouraged.
Orlando Patterson
