The call for individuality

We live in a culture where the call to be an individual is not just encouraged but championed and glamorized. However, this emphasis can become an unhealthy obsession with individualism. Developing individuality means not letting our life choices be dictated entirely by society, culture, people around us, or even by our mind’s default tendencies. Instead, it involves consciously contemplating the values that matter to us, the abilities we possess and wish to develop, and the causes or issues we want to address.

Finding our voice entails linking our hidden potentials to the challenges and agitations in the outer world. As we work on issues and make choices accordingly, we gradually discover our individuality and our voice. This voice may otherwise be drowned by external noise—cultural glamorization, social expectations—or internal noise from habitual inertia.

The importance of discernment and determination

To truly find our voice, we need discernment to identify our innermost calling amidst the medley of voices and determination to pursue it despite societal opposition. The Bhagavad Gita (18.37) highlights that the most rewarding things in life often follow phases that feel demanding and even unpleasant.

However, in trying to find our voice, we may overcorrect and rebel against societal norms without evaluating whether the rebellion is expressing our higher self or indulging our lower self. While some societal expectations may inhibit us, they can also protect us from our lower tendencies.

When rebellion funds vice instead of expressing individuality

In our eagerness to rebel, we may focus excessively on our own feelings, desires, and grievances. Such obsessive narcissism leads to unproductive living and wastes our energy. Instead of finding our voice, we unwittingly fund our vices (V-I-C-E-S).

Initially, this might manifest as impulsive and inconsistent actions, where we keep jumping from one pursuit to another in search of our calling. Over time, this impulsiveness may evolve into calculated attachment or addiction, where we justify our choices with cold, rationalized excuses. This shift reflects not determination but fixation, as described in Bhagavad Gita (18.38), where actions may seem sweet initially but lead to eventual bitterness.

Deliberation is key

Before walking a path different from societal expectations, we must deliberate. Are we genuinely finding our voice, or are we funding our vices? This self-awareness can help us channel our energy toward meaningful self-expression rather than destructive indulgence.

Summary:

We may feel restricted by societal expectations but can find our voice through discernment of our deepest calling and determination to pursue it.

Impulsiveness or rebellion driven by lower tendencies can lead us to fund our vices, wasting our energy and potential.

True individuality emerges when we align our talents and aspirations with meaningful contributions to address external challenges.

Think it over:

Have you ever felt constricted by external expectations? How do you typically respond, and do those actions improve your situation in the long run?

Reflect on whether your actions are reactionary and whether they lead you to a better place or a worse one over time.

List three untapped potentials within you and three issues in the outer world you feel drawn to address. Visualize how you could use your potentials to tackle these issues effectively.

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18.37 That which in the beginning may be just like poison but at the end is just like nectar and which awakens one to self-realization is said to be happiness in the mode of goodness.