Today I saw someone make a left turn at a red light. He actually did an illegal U-turn while the light was red. After the turn, he looked around to see if anyone saw what he did. Had he waited just 15 more seconds the light would have turned green and he could have turned legally. This raised questions for me like … was he in that big of a hurry? I thought about how there’s something liberating about making your own rules. He chose to turn left because there was no one coming, there were no police around to see this and it appeared safe. This is not the first time I have seen people do this in this particular affluent area. Maybe this person felt above a law that doesn’t make sense. I have to say I do understand this. There are so many rules that I may disagree with that are expected to be followed for an orderly society. Breaking rules is always fun. Why is that? We usually have disdain for people telling us what to do and how to do things especially when it doesn’t make sense. We are expected to buy in to the rules we are told to live by or there will be consequences. Those results from breaking conventional rules range from some desperate outcome if we don’t adhere to them to a guilt put on us by those that do follow the rules or an actual dangerous situation we can create for ourselves and others.
Making your own rules is the best I will have to say. As children, we would make up games or change the rules of games we knew with the rules we decided on. Now as adults, we have an opportunity every day to make our own rules of how we want to live. We can create our own Path in this life. We can choose what precepts we want to follow and what to believe in and live how we want to live. Our best life can come from creating our own personal code. We don’t have to just be vanilla and follow the Path our church or parents or government sets for us. Sometimes, it requires us to unlearn. We must rethink what we are told when those rules don’t make sense to us. When it doesn’t quite add up, we can choose to accept begrudgingly or rethink and change our mind. The latter takes work and the former will create grief, anger and frustration. We can choose to follow a conventional religion if we choose to. There is nothing wrong with that if we believe it. If we are not challenged with the inconsistencies and juxtapositions, then it works. Although, we will have to work on not judging others for not following the dogma if that religion says everyone is to do it one certain way.
We have the ability to take from all the things we learn and create our own plan for our lives. It is the age of individualism. We are not in a paternal or a maternal era any longer. The maternal era was the early era before modernization where Mother Earth was the God. This is the age of tribalism and the ways of the indigenous before they were exposed to the Westernization of the paternal era. Modernization brought about the paternal era where we felt the dominance of the male sex. God was the Father. Women had subservient roles. Both of these eras have Wisdom like all things have good and bad parts even though there are some tenets that are obviously outdated. Nature is our greatest teacher and that time of worship of our Earth makes a lot of sense. We can take from those rules of learning from nature in our current time and apply them into our code. We can take from the ideas of Confucius with rules for societies to function, but we’re not bound to a God that is a he or women having a submissive role. Women can be CEOs and be a nurturing mother. Men can reach inside and be listeners and supportive to outside direction. We can be anything and have any rule that makes sense to us as a governing idea.
We can choose for ourselves what we believe in and what we love. This is the era of personal choice. We all have a unique fingerprint. We can cater our beliefs like we can cater our diet to how our unique body works. It is different for everyone and we all can be in our own choice whether someone else agrees or not. It’s beautiful what we can now do. This is what we’re supposed to do in my opinion. Take what you love and leave behind what you don’t like. We can do anything we want to as long as it does not intend to hurt another living being. If this concept resonates to you, then that is wonderful and you can take it an apply it. If you find it offensive, then let me have it and do not judge. Live your life according to what makes you happy and what makes sense to you. If someone decides to live differently then do not judge. Allow them to navigate their own way. There are so many ways to get to a destination. We should not mandate one single way. This is preposterous. One single way we are all to do something would be a check sheet that is shallow and cold. It is judgmental and demanding regardless of personal interests, tastes or desires. It would be fascist. This is a beautiful time to live. Such wonderful freedom we can have if we allow ourselves. It is not easy to create your own Path regardless of what others think. Family can be domineering. Peers can be judgmental. Even a best friend and be difficult with your personal choice and freedom. I have felt it.
Unlearning can cause difficulty as we have to question the ground we have always stood on and lose our footing. Finding a new ground is necessary if you were to do this or you will be in an unbalanced state. That freedom we need for this to happen can be hard to find and must be taken, sometimes by force. Walking alone can result if we are not supported. The returns from living by your own code however is a big payoff. The freedom you will receive is worthwhile. The joy of living can be attained. The clarity of thought when you do not question the rules you don’t believe in will be satisfying.
We are given an opportunity now to march to the beat of our own drum. I have long been told I do this. Long before my spiritual awakening, I was doing things very differently from others. It was punk rock and my life as an artist to be unique and authentic and cause others to question and think. Sure, I was also conventional in many ways. We have to follow some rules that our legal system engages us in. We don’t want everyone to choose which way on the street they will drive when they feel like it. We have rules for our safety and we can vote and choose what they are. Luckily, in America and Western styled countries, we have democratic freedom. We may be judged for how we do something, but as long as it doesn’t break a law like killing someone, then we can do it our own weird way.
I encourage you today to consider how you live, what ideas are questionable, how you would want to do things and start marching to your own drumbeat. We have enough people doing it the same way and competing in doing the same thing better than another. Live independently. Be different. This encourages others to do the same when you have the confidence in your own style of living. Be inspiring. Live freely. Be happy. Again, it may take some work to get there, but there is a wonderful outcome waiting for you.
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