TRUE INDIVIDUALITY
Becoming True Individuals
We become true individuals socially only when our social values and actions are determined by our own distinctive judgment and values. When we look around us and at ourselves, we find that nearly all we say and do is in conformity with the beliefs and behavior of other members of our family, community or nation. The clothes we wear, the food we like, our habits, our choice of education and career, the way we greet friends or strangers, our codes of conduct, our judgments of other people, our sense of superiority or inferiority to others which depends on their relative wealth, class, education or caste - all these indicate that we are not distinct social individuals in the true sense. We compensate, of course, in many ways to convince ourselves and others of our uniqueness by affirming our favorite food, color, dress, author, singer, actor, sportsman, etc. But these are only skin deep appearances. Individuality is not a surface difference. It is born and emerges from deep within us. (MSS) Several Criteria for Becoming a True Psychological Individual Here are several social-related criteria by which one can evaluate one's self in being a true psychological individual: 1. An individual thinks for himself and forms his own opinions of every social and national issue. He accepts an idea because he understands it to be right, not because it is spoken or endorsed by socially-important people or generally believed by others. 2. An individual decides what is right on the strength of his own mental judgment, not on the basis of what others think and say, and he does what he knows to be right, not what others do or approve. 3. An individual relies on himself rather than expecting others to support him and accepts from others only what is due to him. 4. An individual judges himself in terms of what he knows himself to be as a human being, not on the basis of his wealth, occupation, status or what others say or think of him. 5. An individual respects the individuality of those who disagree with him. When others criticize him, an individual takes it as the other person's personal opinion and impartially evaluates the truth of the criticism, rather than taking it as an abuse that evokes his anger, defensiveness or resentment. Becoming an individual is the highest human achievement short of spiritual realization, the most direct path to highest accomplishment in life. (MSS, slightly altered) The True Individual -No two individuals carry the same fingerprint; the response to any situation is not the same for any two individuals. Each man is unique in what he is. The personality of the individual is Individuality. In less developed societies, men have more of the common character. In advanced cultures, individuality is better formed. Nothing achieves as Individuality. -The Individual achieves most, his very best, when he breaks out of the group. -Individuality is fostered and nourished by self-confidence, self-esteem, self-respect, self-awareness, privacy, independence, self-reliance, etc. What emerges in the Individual is the Spirit of the person or the Spirit of the capacity of the person. -In the best sense, the concept of Individuality means exclusive concentration of a person on himself so that his endowments will reach an acme. (MSS) |