It’s pretty simple to figure out why so many minds think alike. Most human beings are very social and want to belong. Most do not think about why they feel they need to belong or why they want to be liked or admired, they simply want to, and therefore, must adopt the beliefs and ideologies of the crowds.
Not being a true individual seems like such a crime today, that there are even several disorders made up to categorise those rebellious types who don’t want to think or act the same as everybody else. Sometimes we call these people schizoids. At other times we even may say that they suffer from Asperger’s Syndrome or something similar. It seems that to be uninterested in the same things as other people: blase television shows, top forty tunes, or dumbed-down popular novels makes somebody “weird” and weird means they are somehow aberrant and thus must have some disorder that makes them so peculiar, right?
Well, this is entirely wrong.
Most of the great geniuses who contributed everything we have in the arts, literature, music, and so forth, were all those who deviated from the norm. Most were born differently from everybody else, and thank God that most of them did not see themselves as somehow being “aberrant,” for if this were the case, they’d simply take a certain prescription given to them by either a doctor or psychiatrist, and made normal and complacent once again.
To be happy, sadly enough, we think we need to be like everybody else. What a grave belief that is.
I often wonder what kind of future we are building when so many children today are being spoon fed psychotropic drugs in an effort to make everybody happy. In fact, many great creators were not always happy and without their so-called bipolar traits of creativity and depression, would have never been able to fly to such great heights nor taste such deep lows.
It is the knowledge and experience of such profound euphoria and sadness that often prompted many of the greatest works of art known to man, and sometimes it’s necessary for life to be a little messy. Nobody lives a perfect life, and anyone who thinks their life is the worst will soon meet someone else who has an even more bad case of the blues.
Yet, as I said, most minds think alike because it’s just easier that way. It’s easier to find solace in crowds, and easier to be liked, if you generally adhere to a group mindset; however, remember how it was back in school. To be a part of the crowd you had to often act a certain way and not like the same people. Think of how people are manipulated even today. To not have empathy for a certain race, culture, or society, people have to believe and take part of the same ideology of the group they want to belong to. This doesn’t lead to anything good in the end.
