The individual

[Coolydudey]

We live in an age of decreasing individuality. Our educational system, our workplaces, our possessions, our prison system - all are designed for the mass. In this impersonal reality, everyone is forced to conform: school is mandatory, work is mandatory (sort of), going to prison is mandatory (assuming you break the law); there is no personality in sight as far as these requirements are concerned. In these roles that are imposed upon us, we carve out our little personal spaces. Yet think how much we would profit from a personalised world.

Imagine that when you go to school, and increasingly so as you grow up, the knowledge you learn and the way you learn it is tailored to you. It need not be an active process, just an application of a much more diverse educational system with your choices and needs in mind.

Imagine that when you go to work, you do not enter a strict employee hierarchy and are not expected to climb it to gain prestige or income. You work on what you do best, what you want, and are rewarded for your contributions.

Imagine the true individual.

Notice that it is our individuality we enjoy. Being able to do what you want, be who you want. School is boring. Being with your friends there (or reading a book for you guys) is fun. But this extends further. Centering your life around your individuality is rewarding and fruitful. Being you is not only productive, but nice. Assuming you have a grain of sanity in you, you respect and like yourself to some extent, and this is the reason why the above holds true.

Truly successful people are individuals. According to Thomas Edison, "genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration", and being successful requires hard work. That hard work needs your will behind it, and that only happens when your individuality is in the equation.

Equally, many individuals have been just average, but very successful at living their life to the fullest. They are in tune with who they are and what they want, and led accordingly tailored lives, satisfying not only themselves but also those around them.

Individuality is an interesting lens through which to view the world, and one which is surprisingly sharp. Its benefits are obvious, yet we love in a world which is constantly ignoring it. A mass is easier to deal with, organise and structure. Yet we should not sacrifice the individual with these shortcuts in mind, for individuality is human nature.

P.S: how are my essay-writing skills?

 

[Vrecknidj]

This is an interesting little video that hooks tangentially into what you're getting at.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc

Also, you are saying many of the same things Kierkegaard was interested in.

And, your writing skills are fine.

 

[Cognisant]

Yet think how much we would profit from a personalised world.

I dunno I'm still not sold on this, mainly because I see individuality as being something that's caused by a need to differentiate oneself, that it is a reaction to be treated as or seeing oneself as merely one of the masses. For example you have a number of people and you put them in one large room together, they form groups, some by themselves, some standing, some sitting, different conversations occur simultaneously, everyone's trying to find their own niche. Whereas if everyone was in their own little room they'd pretty much all do the same thing, like cubical workers each in their own little individual cubical.

Basically what I'm saying is that treating people as a group is precisely how individuality is encouraged, because the pursuit of individuality is a reaction to losing oneself in the crowd, y'know you need to see yourself in society before you can set yourself apart from it, before you have enough perspective to know what that means.

 

[Brontosaurie]

I dunno I'm still not sold on this, mainly because I see individuality as being something that's caused by a need to differentiate oneself, that it is a reaction to be treated as or seeing oneself as merely one of the masses. For example you have a number of people and you put them in one large room together, they form groups, some by themselves, some standing, some sitting, different conversations occur simultaneously, everyone's trying to find their own niche. Whereas if everyone was in their own little room they'd pretty much all do the same thing, like cubical workers each in their own little individual cubical.

Basically what I'm saying is that treating people as a group is precisely how individuality is encouraged, because the pursuit of individuality is a reaction to losing oneself in the crowd, y'know you need to see yourself in society before you can set yourself apart from it, before you have enough perspective to know what that means.

so individualism is a defense mechanism activated in response to excessively conformist societal values?

 

[kvothe27]

It's the increasing number of choices and the possible effect it may have on us that makes us more conscious of our self-concepts. We're conscious of how our choices may reflect upon us. This makes us more aware of such things as conformity. If we did not have such options for individuation, we would not be so aware of conformity because it would be taken for granted.

Instead, in this highly individualistic society with all the options afforded to most of us, we are often extremely aware of our individuation. Hence all the talk of "being true to who you are," and worries over conformity, etc.

Despite all our options, the "true individual" is a rare sight because we are continually bombarded with messages telling us how deficient, un-American, un-whatever we are. So, instead of discovering who we are, we're continually pulled through the mud and told how to wash it off. And we just keep going back for more.