Waking Times March 11 2013
The human mind is easily programmed, and human behavior is largely autonomous once the sub-conscious has a suggestion of what to do.
By default, people seem inclined to conform to the ideas, environment and behaviors around them, at least as a means of survival and of fitting in.
Unless an individual takes charge of their own mind and their own behavior, most people are content to follow along with what other people are doing, even if that means doing something self-destructive.
As we grow, we learn how to play and interact with others, and we learn how others react to us. We begin to develop an understanding of which behavior is acceptable and which is not, and if we are paying attention, we realize that there is a subtle system of rewards and punishments involved in social interaction. Adherence to this system is what keeps society together, and depending on what rewards and punishments appeal to us, we choose which ideas and behaviors to conform to and comply with. As a result, different societal roles become open to us.
The new rebel then, the new hero, is someone, anyone, who combats the staleness of a decaying society by looking at the areas in our lives most in need of repair and then, deliberately, does not do what the conformist majority is doing. This is the thoughtful person who applies the knowledge and information we have available today in the pursuit of living in creative ways that defy the herd and defend life and liberty.