Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-25620577-20141114171551/@comment-25620577-20141118223612

I agree with most of your points but here are rebuttals for points I do not fully agree with:  (Rebuttals only offered to gain more information and therefore better understanding)

"But to be honest how can one break out of the norm when he doesn't know that the danger (fire hose) is gone?"

If nobody is still in your culture who has seen the danger and there is no evidence of it existing, or years have passed since encountering the danger, how do you know it is still there?

"This in itself cannot simply apply to culture because cultures don't put a rope around your neck, expecting you to sit."

When people drive vehicles they are punished in a manner that costs them immediately and then increases insurance rates for 3 years every time they commit a noticeable error and a cop notices it even if what you did is not currently a danger to anybody else in order to make people drive more safely.

In most stores there is a camera in plain view when you walk in and store security comes after you and you are banned from the store after criminal charges are pressed on you if you are caught shoplifting.

People are reprimanded or lose their jobs in work places if they arrive late too often even if they are late by only one or two seconds or if they do things the ones in charge of the business do not approve of.

Those are just some examples of how we are conditioned by being subjected to negative consequences for our actions. No leash is involved but there is a good measure of control involved.

"Sure some cultures enforce the idea of good and evil but is it really that detrimental to your success?"

It is detrimental when what is considered evil is not really evil and considering it that way slows or halts progress.

One example of this is Christians considering pagan practices to be evil. This led to witch trials where innocent people were put to death. Many enlightened people were lost and entire cultures were negatively affected.

Another example would be current Western media. It repeatedly tells the Western world that Muslims are the Islamic state (which is not true, in fact, there are Muslims who consider the Islamic state detrimental to their religion) and both dangerous and evil. This has led to relations between nations being damaged.

"Don't be different just for the sake of being different, have a purpose become what you truly are. More power to you"

I do not disagree with this sentence at all but think it deserves to stand out. Changing yourself for the sake of being different from what is normal is still an act of conformity and as such defeats the purpose of being yourself.