Some souls go quiet too early

[LightAngel]

I will start by sharing a quote by Aldous Huxley that I agree with:


"The real hopeless victims of mental illness are to be found among those who appear to be most normal.

Many of them are normal because they are so well adjusted to our mode of existence, because their human voice has been silenced so early in their lives, that they do not even struggle or suffer or develop symptoms as the neurotic does.

They are normal not in what may be called the absolute sense of the word; they are normal only in relation to a profoundly abnormal society.

Their perfect adjustment to that abnormal society is a measure of their mental sickness. These millions of abnormally normal people, living without fuss in a society to which, if they were fully human beings, they ought not to be adjusted."


What do you think about this quote?



My personal opinion is that if the culture is unwell, then fitting in perfectly is not a sign of health.

Real health might look like questioning, feeling too much, refusing to go numb.

It might look like being "difficult" because you won't betray your own sense of truth.

In a world that rewards compliance, staying human becomes a quiet act of rebellion.

 

[Freija]

I liked this a lot said as someone that has never been considered "normal" and never will be.

But for the most part when it is necessary, I can play the part, convincingly even at times to the point where I've almost believed it myself for a minute or two. But, nah. I have always been on the fringe and the simple act of my existence is a not so quiet act of rebellion against practically everything we are taught or lead to believe from a young age.

I learned pretty early in life my uniqueness was always going to set me apart but there were no alternatives for me other than to face it (and myself) head on while also reconciling myself to the fact that to function well in society, things worked best if I kept my differences under my hat, so to speak which has always felt like gaming the system as someone an outlier to it.

At times, I have found this quite amusing. At others somewhat frustrating and yet at others, a matter of safety and survival. At the very least, it has kept me on my toes.

As Kermit says...

If ever my "soul" appears to have gone quiet, it's either just an illusion or I am dead.

 

[EndtheMadnessNow]

I agree with your opinion.

When he wrote that in 1958, I think it still fits our current society here and abroad. I also can relate that to Nazi Germany. Conditioning and conformity that over time turns a human into a zombie. Today's high-functioning anxiety and depression where some people excel at work and able to maintain relationships while suffering silently. Some act out while others remain docile. High-functioning non-violent sociopaths are the same and are shaped by environmental trauma inflicting impulsive erratic behavior; whereas psychopaths are biologically wired, not shaped by such trauma and completely devoid of empathy. Success and conformity do not automatically equal mental well-being.

I am or what a psychologist once told me, a borderline high-functioning sociopath. I call it a survival trait and decided I am what I am and declined any psychiatrist as they only put on you drugs.

These days how do you define what is normal? Every generation and every culture of society will have a different definition/opinion. The bottom line IMO is we are a product of our own environment. Human behavior really hasn't changed in thousands of years. Apparently, we were hardwired and can only be manipulated. The powers that should not be know this very well.

“Ironically enough, the only people who can hold up indefinitely under the stress of modern war are psychotics. Individual insanity is immune to the consequences of collective insanity.”
― Aldous Huxley, Brave New World Revisited

"As political and economic freedom diminishes, sexual freedom tends to compensatingly increase and the dictator will do well to encourage that freedom. It will help to reconcile his subjects to the servitude which is their fate."
― Aldous Huxley

“The greatest care is taken to prevent you from loving anyone too much. There’s no such thing as a divided allegiance; you’re so conditioned that you can’t help doing what you ought to do. And what you ought to do is on the whole so pleasant, so many of the natural impulses are allowed free play, that there really aren’t any temptations to resist. And if ever, by some unlucky chance, anything unpleasant should somehow happen, why, there’s always soma to give you a holiday from the facts.”
― Aldous Huxley, Brave New World (1931)

"The chess-board is the world, the pieces are the phenomena of the universe, the rules of the game are what we call the laws of Nature. The player on the other side is hidden from us."
― Thomas Huxley

On Living in a Revolution (1944) by Julian Huxley. The first few chapters says that we're moving into the age of the social man and the social man is a phase of world revolution and the world revolution that is coming is...Brave New World (1932) by Aldous Huxley. The final revolution of all the revolutions back to the French Revolution. Aldous later pointed out at his Berkeley interviews that the audience was too stupid to realize that what he's talking about is not fiction, but in fact a real plan because his brother wrote the plan, the foundation philosophy from UNESCO.

 

[King Phenomenon]

health might look like questioning

^^^THIS^^^