As a collective world, we have to acknowledge the fact that we are becoming a more individualized society every day. It’s the effect of the cause that we humans have created. Maybe it’s God’s plan or the next stage of evolution, but with continuing technological advancements, the idea of a collective whole is quickly losing steam. Individualism will be the next big “ism” that circulates. It may already be at play with the drastic drop in birth rates. There will be hot takes about whether we can make the world a better place if we are all being selfish and just focusing on ourselves. Theories and opinions will be stated that collectivism is our only hope for a prosperous future. “Two is better than one” is a headline I can envision.
I believe that helping other people is the ultimate goal. I believe in God, mostly based on life experiences, and the mysteriousness that subconsciously plays a part in everyone’s daily life. I think that in order to make God’s ultimate plan come to life, you have to listen to a certain part of yourself. There’s a part of you that God or evolution has programmed within you to become part of his or her puzzle. I have a saying, “we are all pieces to a grand puzzle which none of us know how to put together”. But, if we just focus on our piece then maybe we can let the universe arrange where that piece goes. By focusing on ourselves, the world might unconsciously create a masterpiece.
This can only happen if we allow the program that God installed to run. You know exactly what that program is. You’ve experienced it before. Time goes by in the blink of an eye when running your program. For years, I was waiting for clues, verbal or physical, to tell me what this program was. Deep in my heart, I knew. I was just scared. This program is an unlived life that keeps penetrating your brain but is constantly covered up by fear. A lot of psychology books tell you to do the thing that scares you the most. Fear is a compass for the soul. We need God to help us combat fear, as it relentlessly comes every day. We also need patience and love which, as far as I know, God has most religions teach.
Each program does something beautiful. You’ve seen it with the work of Shakespeare, the brilliance of Albert Einstein, and the magic of Jesus. We wake up with excitement to finally open that program and see what comes of it. Maybe we start to open it, but then timidness comes in the form of self-doubt, or outside noises emphatically telling us to not open that program. These outside noises sound off because they are jealous that you have the courage to open your program, while they chase the idea of opening their program down with alcohol or a Netflix binge. Our program gets battered by instant gratification. I’m not a programmer, but I’d bet most brilliant software isn’t created overnight. There’s pain, battles, persistence, rejection, and patience dripping all over the software.
If we all dared to open our program, maybe there’d be less self-hate in the world, which could lead to less violence. Maybe there’d be more smiles, more compassion, more warmth. Everyone would be proud of each other knowing the mental grit it takes to keep one’s program running for an extended period.
Now is the time to run your program. We live in an age built for individualism, and for everyone’s programs to get at least a test run. Run it for a day and see how you feel afterward. You might become more self-aware of the things that surround you daily but have become numb to them.
I know how this article will be interpreted by some, that I am implying everyone become narcissistic. That is a stretch, even though studies have shown that people who display narcissistic personalities tend to be the happiest. I’m sure you’ve heard the saying that you can’t love someone until you love yourself and the same with helping someone. What I am saying is that I think God gave us all unique abilities. Unique talents to be utilized. When our programs aren’t utilized, the enemy wins. When the enemy wins, you can feel it in every part of your body and your emotions. We have become numb to that feeling because we have suppressed running our programs as soon as we entered kindergarten. We learned how to run societies program instead.
If one is to experience the full capacity of life, I think this is the way. We don’t know how to put the puzzle together, but we do know what our puzzle piece is. We have to put what it is out to the universe no matter the outcome, so the universe can see where it fits. With the right mindset and self-awareness, individualism can ultimately lead to collectivism.