Freedom is madness

[Awani]

[Awani]

I have also noticed that the more deep I go into all this stuff, the more I alienate people. That people misunderstand me is nothing new, that's normal. One negative aspect, on my part, is that for some reason I don't have much patience anymore with people in general. This makes me appear as an asshole in a way I guess (maybe I am, don't know), but for example:

If I begin watching a series on Netflix and after a few episodes it begins to repeat, or it is not as deep/interesting as it was in the beginning or whatever... I turn it off, and I don't watch it anymore.

I tend to do the same thing with people. Turn off... and then look for a new person/TV-series. Why post in this thread? Well, there is a great freedom in this. But it is also madness. Or appears like someone is mad (asshole). My oldest friends are less than ten years, and I have lived way longer than that. Most people have friends that go back to childhood (at least a couple). I really have none. That is not a complaint, nor something I wish I had. It is just an observation of the abnormal way I tend to live.

I often talk about the importance of compassion for everyone, but that does not imply one has to communicate or spend time with everyone. Those who know me well, know that I have really embraced this notion of "let go". And I let go of people too. When you start to let go, then you let go of more and more things. I guess there is some sanity in minimalism, in a down-grade of the amount of components that fill a persons life (people, friends, family, work relations etc).

[Eshai]

I was thinking about what was said about society being one mind, with individuals within it. How society "moves" in, more or less, the same direction.

Before you can get out of the crowd, you've got to get to the edge of it. Until you can get to that "edge," if you can even define where it is, you're going to be sucked along with the herd. It is inevitable.

I know I'm in the herd. I see and feel myself being pulled along, pushed along,... going somewhere, but I have no idea where. I'm lost in it. If the "edge" of this herd were a physical place, I could find it. But it's not. It's some ephemeral state of being (which includes a state of mind).

Can anyone live in the herd (of society), and not live in it at the same time? Can one be free of it, and just visit from time to time? And while the herd and the edge of it isn't a physical thing... is proximity to the herd a factor?

[Awani]

Can anyone live in the herd (of society), and not live in it at the same time? Can one be free of it, and just visit from time to time? And while the herd and the edge of it isn't a physical thing... is proximity to the herd a factor?

That is an excellent question and something I have been dabbling with for most of my life. The short answer is yes, however it is very difficult. And I think it gets harder the closer to the "herd" you are... so personally I keep my distance as much as possible.