A few years ago, I wrote a
rather long article that got me into a bit of trouble. It was titled; the demons that haunt originality. I
have since been trying to develop it into a book, I have titled “down Demon Avenue”. But this hasn’t
been as easy as I thought with the myriad of other books waiting to be
completed. God is in control. The purpose of that article was to treat the idea
of originality that in my opinion many people only make an attempt at; but
never really attain. This is a tragedy of the serious kind. It got me into
trouble because I mentioned the names of specific individuals as examples to
bring my point home. I shall now attempt to make a similar point under a cloud
of all the ambiguity I can muster at the inimical
expense of my innate need to say things exactly as I see it.
Because the idea of
originality is too broad for the purpose of this article, I shall focus on the
idea of difference (being different and
making a difference) which as far as I can see, is an aspect of the originality
discussion. Nature itself thrives on diversity. We see the manifestation of
this in the many different varieties it has of each entity. There are many
different species of apples as there are of oranges. A larger variety is the
citrus family and the much larger fruit family—yet they form a unit that
integrates with other units to make a larger unit. No aspect of nature is
without this diversity and no where do they not unite in one way or another.
Yet it is the unity of this diversity that makes nature what it is in a plug and socket manner. What kind of
life will this be if all the fruits were the same and had the same properties?
So that nature needs this heterogeneity that it will unite into one working
unit with many different players. Any attempt to deprive it of this difference
is error. Let’s put that in the bag for now.
With the forgone as a premise
therefore, we must see why it is required by nature that every one of its
constituents be different, unique and original no matter how apparently similar
and nature indeed makes the so by default. To be different therefore, one only has
to simply allow the different and
original that one already is—we have seen this in performance theory as a necessary
ingredient. The challenge most people
have starts with the attempt at being
different. Often when a person decides of their own accord to be different,
they are forced to think up ways in which they can appear different from
everybody else. This is not very difficult to achieve as a simple thing as
walking around without shoes in a society where wearing shoes is the norm can
make one significantly different in the immediate environment. Yet when we look
far enough, we will quickly learn that there are others who already walk around
without shoes. At that point what seemed different begins to lose its
authenticity and starts straying towards normal in a certain sense. Walking
around without shoes can easily be replicated by literally everyone. It is a
falsity then to think that is how one is different from others. It is a learnt
and created difference. It is attention seeking that became necessary because
one somehow learnt that you can gain attention by being different. When it wears
out, one will have to think up other ways in which they can be different.
For this group that tries to be different, they are often not very conscious of the effect of their
actions and its consequences. What is most important to them is to gain the
attention that being different or being seen to have challenged the status quo
brings. It is a need being met by any means necessary and this is not different
from a person who decides to rob others so he might feed his children. A
musician who decides to perform stark naked in front of an audience will gain
some attention no doubt. Possibly even world-wide fame and some have done that.
However, we will have been attracted by a naked body or eccentric behavior and
not great music. So perhaps this individual is not a real musician—his
authenticity as a musician is then challenged by his own need to be different. His
attempt at being different is actually a retrograde of civilization as we know
it. Man left the walk-around-naked zone thousands of years ago because we
decided that wearing clothes and shoes was the better option as far as our need
for continuous improvement goes. As a matter of fact, all those who have made a
difference did it with their clothes on. There is nothing special then about
the act itself as it can be replicated by anyone and therefore not that
different in essence. That which is different
in essence cannot be replicated by another. Put that too in the bag.
Difference; when allowed to be
what it is; brings humanity to a new level of progress its seeds rests within
everyone. It is running the same one hundred meter sprint that many have ran
for a millennia and bringing something new to it. Win it ahead of the elite,
break the record and stand out. Be known as the only man who ran a sprint and
actually slowed down in order to make room for a future breaking of your own
record. A feat like this one can barely be achieved by simply showing up naked
on the tracks. It is only with a certain capability (a unique combination of
talent, skill, traits and interests) possessed by one person only. Of course
the one who shows up naked will be remembered as the only one who showed up
naked but that is as far as he will go. Should he break away from the pack and
win the race by a significant margin, he would have made a real difference.
However a person who has the capability to break records barely thinks about
ways in which he can be different—he is already different.
My second concern is those who
say that their life mission is to make a difference in the world. Fantastic! But
they must by their occupation improve some aspect of our existence and be of
benefit to many and not so much themselves. Benefit for the self is what most
people do and hence we cannot claim difference when we do the same. It means
going out there to do something phenomenal that inspires someone to do
something too. Most importantly the conditions of others must change for the
better because of something you did. So that beneficiaries can look at their
situation at some point and say to themselves, I am different now because of
something Mr. X did. Or perhaps an aspect of the world changed for the better
because of something we have done. When we can make this happen, we can say
that we have made a difference. It is for this reason that the expression change-maker can be equated to one who
made a difference.
In conclusion, we should see
that merely choosing to be different will
not necessarily help us make a difference. To make a difference therefore, one
has to just remain different. Simple as this is, it has eluded many. They
therefore look outside of themselves for the solution to being different. This
can only be described as a tragedy. The need to be different is ASD (Attention seeking disorder); it can be
treated. Go make a difference with your already different self. #spidup
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