Living Outside The Box

With today's blog, I am making a turn in the direction of my ruminations. I have talked about how the only way anyone can begin to, "think outside the box" is to discover what their Belief System contains. Not only, I have written, do individuals "think" with their Belief Systems, it controls how they live and how they die, literally.

Today, as my Title indicates, I am planning to begin to ruminate around what it means to be living outside a box, but, also, what it doesn't mean.

For one who has lived a reasonably long life, both inside boxes and outside, it is hard to believe the changes that have occurred in society in this Country. To give you ones, who have not personally experienced how life has changed in our Western World over that time, I offer the following story, which I read somewhere, as an example. Back when, probably in the '50s/'60s, there lived a couple, he was an executive in a large corporation, maybe IBM, ((IBM still exists, but they no longer have anything to do with computers as far as I know.) It was the epitome of Corporate life back then, and she was his wife. One day, she noticed, like a good wife, that a button was missing from one of his shirts, so she sewed another one on. He wore that shirt, (white, of course) the next day, and came home in a rage. The reason for his rage? She had sewn on a button that had only two holes, instead of four, (or visa versa); in any case, it had caused him tremendous embarrassment among his fellow executives, because only two/four-hole buttons were what executives such as he ever wore, no exceptions! As a result of this error on her part, he divorced her!

Given the modern notion of what is, or is not, acceptable business wear, such a state of affairs is hard to imagine, but that is an example of how rigid and powerful the boxes people lived in back then were. Not only was, "keeping up with the Jones'", (in case you don't know/remember, they were the neighbors) an important goal, and what they thought always a consideration, rigid rules were in place as to what one did, or did not do, regarding pretty-much everything, the above story being an extreme example of Middle-class life. This may give you some idea, in case you don't know, of why the Revolution that was the '60's, led by the children of the Middle-class, happened, forever changing social consciousness in this Country.

Unfortunately, while, thankfully, such social rigidity is no longer the norm, individuals living in boxes, constructed with their adopted and Programmed/Indoctrinated Beliefs is still the norm.

Also, unfortunately, it was that Revolution which has resulted in there, seemingly, being no rules or social norms left to rebel against.

Young children, as a rule, misbehave as a way of learning and experiencing boundaries/rules--the boundaries they discover make them feel safe; they will continue to misbehave, pushing and pushing, until stopped. But, now they are not stopped, because their parents are being told that it will damage the self-esteem of the little dears. This is but one product of the confusion about child-rearing, brought about by modern-day purveyors/experts of child-psychology, as well as the fact that current adults are the progeny of the Revolutionaries of the '60's, as well as of nuclear and splintered families. Western Society is now reaping the result, much to our sorrow.

Living and thinking outside the box has nothing to do with the social disintegration we are currently experiencing, where we are exposed to, "reality" TV, and the likes of, "Lady Gaga." It used to be that Madonna was on the leading edge of those who chose to lead the charge against the remnants of propriety. (Bearing the name, "Madonna," suggests that she herself was the product of a parent/s whose goal was to offend the social sensibilities to the max.) The progression being from Madonna, (who, by the way, I have no problem with, even though she is still doing her best to outrage social norms, and titillate her fans) to "Lady Gaga," doing her best to outdo Madonna, and the current pinnacle of the "who's-in" pile.

The seemingly never-ending adolescence of the current crop of self-indulgent, irresponsible, "adults" making up a large share of the current adult population is, also, not what I mean by, "Living outside the box."

Living outside the box has to do with responsibilities to oneself and any self-adopted responsibilities to others, while also being clear about what it is one does, or does not, believe and why. It has to do with acquainting oneself with what those responsibilities are as a first step, as opposed to what you have been Programmed and Indoctrinated to believe they are. It involves questioning "authority" in all its guises.

"Authority" is, essentially, "the power to determine, adjudicate, or otherwise settle issues or disputes; jurisdiction; the right to control, command, or determine," (Dictionary.com). Everyone has been Indoctrinated to believe that those who have such power, have not only the knowledge, but the right, to make you follow their dictates, and accept what they say as absolute Truth.

In one of my bouts of giving myself a dose of, "education" I took a College Course in Social Psychology. In the required text book there was a discussion regarding a previous Government handout, from about the '40s/'50s, on how to raise one's children. There was a picture; it showed a baby in a crib wearing a, "sleeper" which covered the entire body. The sleeper had ribbons attached to the mittens and bootees which, the article stated, were to be tied to the uprights of the crib in order to keep the little one from accidentally touching itself! I kid you not, and it came from the highest authority, our government!

Whenever, you find yourself following what someone in authority has told you, remember this story.

I will continue ruminating on this another time.

Shirley Gallup