ACT NORMAL!
Who is it that gets together in mobs and hunts down, tortures andkills people who are different from them? Who is it that teaches modesty,courtesy, and generosity but lives in depravity, rudeness, and greed? Whois it that can gather together the time, energy and money to murdermillions and destroy cities, for the sake of a flag, deity or economicsystem? Not weirdos, not kooks or cranks or nuts. It's the "Normal"people who do those things.
It's the "Normal" people who believe there's only one "real world"and it's the one THEY'RE living in. It's the "Normal" people who killeach other over differences in that reality, and if someone can't trickthemselves into ignoring the millions of inconsistencies or can't glossover the gaping flaws in that reality-construct, or can't even pretendconvincingly that they believe that flimsy and self-contradictory world isALL TRUE, rather than have their own illusory stability undermined oraccept that other ways of thinking and seeing might be valid, the "Normal"people imprison those "mentally ill," and experimentally destroy theirpersonalities by use of drugs, electroconvulsion, and brain surgery.
I saw a letter to Ann Landers from a poor couple whose son tooksteroids and later began to think he was JFK. Unusually sensible doctorswouldn't agree with them that it was a Disease called Schizophrenia, andwouldn't keep the fellow locked up and drugged as his loving parentswanted. (They had looked up Schizophrenia in a book and thus knew allabout it.) Their son eventually killed himself, and the parents cautionedall young men against the use of steroids. I felt sorry. Not for theson, who is now free, but for the parents who drove him to final escape bythe continuing refusal of the validity of his primary goal in life, "to goto Washington and help people with their problems." Rather than take thetime to teach their son to use his strange gift, they succumbed to theirfear of the unusual and destroyed the creature they helped create.
It's the "Normal" way of thinking to label things and file themaway so they don't have to be thought about any more. If "idea x" islabeled as "stupid" it can be discarded. All subsequently encounteredideas bearing any resemblance to "idea x" can also be so classified anddiscarded, saving valuable time and energy for watching TV or thinkingabout movie stars. If something new or different comes along, the"Normal" way is to classify it as quickly as possible according to theguidelines set down by reputable authorities so it may be conveniently andsafely filed away. This might not be such a destructive system if it didnot cripple or entirely halt the learning process, but once a "Normal"person learns to use this technique, consideration of new or unusualthings or ideas is only necessary when the classification system itselffails or is too limited in scope to encompass the thing seen or thought.
It is the duty and function of "Normal" people to classify, labeland file the whole of existence and experience. Sadly, a description ofthe nature of the object is frequently taken as a distillation of theessence of the object. In the unwritten sequel to the classic poem "TheBlind Men and the Elephant," we go a thousand years further on the lineartimescale to a world in which vast temple complexes have been built by thefollowers of each of the seven theoreticians and holy war is waged againstall who dispute the fact that an elephant is very like a tree, a wall, ora rope. Even worse, cults arise venerating fans and ropes AS ELEPHANTS,and devotees plant bombs in the automobiles of those who insist that awall is just a wall,and not an elephant at all.
It's the "Normal" way of thinking to believe that we call a thingby a name and classify it as a certain kind of thing because that is whatit IS. Regardless of well-known classical allusions to roses and othernames, "Normal" thinking dictates that name defines nature, that a thingis what you say it is and you say it is what it is because that's WHAT ITIS. "Normal" thinking disregards the fact that two different people canlook at the same object in the same place at the same time, and reach twoentirely different conclusions about the nature of that object: notbecause the object itself is variable or has two or more natures, butbecause each individual bases conclusions and deductions on the whole ofexperience and their likes and dislikes, or physical and emotional stateat any given moment. Thus, one person may glorify as a symbol of thehighest ideals of humanity the image of a man being tortured to death andbrand "obscene" the image of a child with no clothes on, and someone elsemight consider such thought idiotic. Some persons may maintain theirright to hold their own opinion based on their own tastes and experiences,and others might interpret that as a blanket condemnation of all they are,and fear for their lives ever after.
I don't wish it to be thought that "Normal" thinking isessentially a bad thing. Very few people actually require an open mind orthe ability to reason in the course of their everyday lives. A donut-shopcashier does not need to consider the ethics of selling blobs of greasydough, and a philosophical and ethical outlook would be an outrightdetriment to a nuclear warhead assembly plant worker or oil-companylawyer. It is vital for most people to continue to act "Normal." Withoutsuch behavior the wheels of commerce and progress would grind to a halt. The excesses which make life in this modern world so simple for those whoare free from the confining systems of dissatisfaction and complaint wouldsuddenly cease to be. Without the ridiculously expensive and painfullyloud car stereos, the mindless repetition of pop-song lustmongery,elaborate hairdos, huge jewelry and ten-thousand-dollar wristwatchesdangling before the sleepwalking hordes there would be no cheap crummyapartments, discarded art supplies, inexpensive healthfood, or goodsecondhand clothing.
For the most part, the existence of "Normal" behavior is a goodthing for those who require nothing more. But for people who care aboutthings or think about things, who examine their lives and their place inthe world, acting "Normal" is insanity, a trap which leads to constantdissatisfaction and eventual destruction. Acting "Normal" for such peopleis hating, complaining, finding fault, holding grudges, being afraid, andlimiting themselves to the small world of everyday existence, the worldeven "Normal" people pay most of their money to escape from by buyingdistractions, or getting loaded and laid as much as they can before theydie.
When it is possible to choose not to live in the small world ofreaction to stimulus, to act by choice and to choose the good, to seebeauty and find enjoyment anywhere, there is no need to escape, no placeor person to escape from. When emotional and physical states are seen astemporary and subject to will and choice, when the past is seen only as apicture in the mind and the future as a dream not yet dreamed, to live andto enjoy living become, not "Normal" but NATURAL, essential, a part ofeach individual nature.
POSTSCRIPT: This essay was written years before the wide publicparticipation in internet. If it were being rewritten now it wouldcertainly include thoughts to the effect that it is "Normal" people whocritique the grammar or typography of literature which contains ideas theydon't understand. It is "Normal" people who display the height of theirintellectual and crative capacity by using the anonymity of a mailingaddress to take one-line wisecrack potshots at people who actually try toTHINK about things and express those thoughts through imperfect physicalinterface. ...and so on, delineating some of the common ways that stupidintolerant people use to attempt to bring down to their own level anyoneon the net who displays any earnestness or sincerity in the desire to makethe world a better place for everyone.

I want to read this... but dammnnnn it's long!

can you post the readers digest version plz

its in response to a earlier thread

I am sure u are right sweetie,but way to long for me to read

Im forced to agree.

sorry I just read 40 pages about SSI, medicare and how we are all screwed. That post is too long right now for consumption.

i guessed that much

was there

Is it any wonder why Tina's one of the most awesomest babes on here?

Tina I have to agree with the rest.. I'm sure it's good and true and I commend you for posting it but it's too long for tonight.. I'll read it tomorrow...

thanks darling was going to post it in other thread but it diasppeared

Time for a revoultion. Change America into what it should be.

True, very true post

Yes and hopefully so did the OP

i'm bit of speed reader

sheepizens abound

there really is no such thing as normal its just an idea an illusion

Your point in the post was made by the "Normal people" who could get enough attention to read a page of important info.

As am I but at a quarter to 12 after a late night out and long day oh and dealing with a less than forest gump, well I'm spent darlin'...

Soooooooooooooo Rob... I'm waiting...