I remember sitting in church as a kid thinking, “Do I really believe this stuff? Or am I told to believe this stuff?”
I’ve been questioning ever since.
Moving to Belgium I’ve discovered how much belief systems are rooted in DNA and upbringing. I didnt see it as clearly in the US because I was so used to it. Rules for society that we just bought, hook line and sinker. This is the way you function, this is polite, this is how the game is played. So yes, we choose to follow some rules in order to, say, have roads and police and such ( taxes) Have a form of income so we can eat ( although its come a long way from my father telling me to get a good job with a company who gives you a good pension and retirement. When I told him at age six I was going to be an artist, he laughed,
But all through my life, in a metaphorical way, I felt like that movie character being tortured by an large ugly man saying ‘Will you play by the rules now?” “No” I would grunt. Then more torture.
Then it stopped. Now I see more and more how much we let it define us. Often it is said “but I have no choice”.
But you do. You just have a built in need for survival. And your fear is telling you, if you don’t do this, then you won’t fit in, or find love, or… and then you might die. Thats old DNA from running from tigers.
So this brings me to a book I love “Mr. Tiger goes Wild” by Peter Brown, where a tiger is tired of fitting in. He keeps doing things that are a shock to his neighbors, but he is slowly finding who he really is. Finally they say, “If you are going to do that, live in the wild’, So he does. But after a while he decides he likes some of the comfort of the city, so he makes a couple of compromises, knowing thats why hes doing it. But in his ‘wildness’ he has inspired others to play more, romp on all fours, get naked every now and then.
So should we all.
