Peer pressure can make it difficult to think for yourself and find your own way, your own individual style. Why are we so fearful to be different? We talk about individualty, but everyday I see people, men and women, who have the same hairdo. If a person varies from dress code and hair styles, they are considered weird and possibly ostricized.

However, there are times it's O.K. to follow the crowd, just as birds flock to mirate to a warmer climate. There can be safety in numbers.

What are your thoughts on this?

__________________
InterfaithForums.com-Where your ideas and beliefs count.

short response....

Re individuality.....there are how many billion individuals? And out of that only a few who claim no individuality ( who are viewed with horror) anyone else see the ironic humor in that?

I believe all things are a balancing act, there is as much benefit to being part of the social collective as there is in individuality. For example, if one person decides not to engage in a criminal act with others of a peer group, is he an individual going against the peers or a conformist in deciding to obey the laws of a society? One can make an individualist choice to conform depending on what peer group one is being associated with. I think hyper autonomy and hyper conformity or more apt to be psychological disorders than ideal we ought to strive for.

-TC

I think all of us are followers some times and individuals at other times. To me the question is: Are we followers as individuals or individuals as followers?

__________________
May your awareness be perfection

I guess how individual you are, or want to be, depends on your goals in life. If you want a job in a professional setting, you must look and act the part. If you want a job in a club, you must have the image the club is looking for. If you want to be part of some organization, you have to fit in with that organization's goals and image. It all depends on what you want.

__________________
"Philosophy is a walk on a slippery rock
Religion is a smile on a dog."

As an auto-theist, I find individuality to be paramount. "Following" for me is to reel in my immediate desires and personal agenda when necessary to put forth the illusion of conformity. It is in this illusion that I am able to manipulate my environment and the people in my environment to perceive me in whatever light I need.

Certainly, this reads like a bunch of self-absorbed hooey. However, memetics, and neuro-linguistic programming are tools I use every day in the self-centric reality I work to create. More on this later...in the appropriate forum. Interesting topic, though!

Octavius

__________________
"The Lord can make you tumble, the Lord can make you turn, the Lord can make you overflow...but the Lord can't make you burn." - Randy Newman