The personal sacrifice of our mental psyche begins small and grows over time as this reality becomes more habitual and integrated into daily life. Being limited to a single category restricts personal growth and hinders progression, however we have natural tendencies move ourselves forward in the direction of evolution. These two constantly competing forces lead to internal turmoil that we find ourselves trying to constantly escape.
In addition, we run the risk of missing a lot of social cues that help us to better relate to one another and effectively determine whether actions come to truly represent genuine or ingenuine motives. This can lead us towards creating a lot of unrealistic expectations that we have for ourselves and others. What this does in the long and even short-term is debilitate us from developing real and meaningful relationships with others. Furthermore, with the rapid dismissal of understanding situational context, the direct result is being conditioned to only look surface-deep and make decisions based on little thinking and evaluation. Now we are in a vulnerable position where society doesn’t want us to think for ourselves.
Another issue is around morality. Societal acceptance becomes our moral compass – our sense of social morality will become so skewed that we will fail to take personal accountability for our own behaviors. Instead, we’ll begin to rationalize them, integrating them into the frame of who we are. Soon we become what society wants us to become and the cycle continues. If someone, like say an influencer, is so celebrated within a certain category of social acceptance and we identify within that same category, we can eventually be inclined to accept any action they do as an alignment of values, when in reality that could very well not be the case. And let’s say it were the case, where’s the line drawn for what should be representative and what shouldn’t and who gets to define that? This is how some of the most heinous acts in human history against a people have taken place—it all started here.
Yeah, yeah…but why should we care?
Naturally, we are creatures of habit driven by emotion, and emotions are easily manipulated, therefore, we as people have the ability to be controlled on a larger scale. And before you say, “nah, that’s not me, that’s other people,” no my friend, this applies to you, this applies to me, this applies to your mom and your dad, your neighbor down the street…everyone. As long as you actively participate within the larger human society, you are subject to it.
However, emotions can be channeled productively, if approached with a healthy degree of objectivity. It’s in this space of introspection where we can truly achieve some sense of autonomy. It’s in that autonomy where we can move productively towards shaping our life’s purpose.
Yeah, you thought this analysis wouldn’t relate to you personally, huh?
Ray of JoKay 