99 steps to reclaiming your individuality Step #37

Retracing the manufacturing process:

Since we grew ourselves from a single cell, we should know how to be perfectly healthy, right? Although coined playfully, there is still a lot of truth in that statement. After-all it was both the foundational bedrock of psychoanalytical reasoning, and the catalyst that launched the modern era of psychiatry. At the point in time that we turned the page on readily receiving instruction, for some, a false sense of inherent accountability manifested and took its place. This is not to be confused with, maturity, responsibility, or the normal progression of accountability that is both expected and admired as we age. The false sense that we refer to here is, and is sadly often an errant falsity propagated in society, that age and age alone is somehow capable of advancing an individual socially and psychologically. This is simply not true and we owe the cementing of it in the construct of society primarily because; we are a society of rules and laws, and these can not be easily applied universally to the maturity of a group of individuals so the only other option was to apply it to the physical nature of the individual. We deviated there just to affirm the position, that age really has very little to do with maturity, and maturity has everything to do with recognizing and acquiring authority of the individual nature.

With the above being assented, does it not then seem logical to retrace our steps introspectively to understand just how we came to manufacture the self that we now consciously claim to be us? If we were to just simplistically retrace our experience backwards using a very banal criteria, and by banal we mean just to condition us into the exercise, and if so desired we could then willingly delve into it far more intricately. But for now let us just focus on three criteria (1) conscious decision making (2) personal accountability (3) self justification.

It is true of us all that at one point in our lives, we took that crucial leap off the side of the nest, and in an exhilarating free fall we experienced our first flight. What we hope to do in this exercise is to get as close consciously to that moment as possible or as memory permits. The purpose is not to delve into specifics, but to comfortably and nostalgically reminisce these experiences. Our first thoughts of independence, our first interactions with authoritative entities, absent of our parents. Some of our first crucial agreements either in school, sports or business. And finally friendships formed through joint ventures, or like interests. It is also true that these experiences would also have, on occasion, been cause for some of our first conflicts, so without slipping errantly into either justification or remorse, let us be vigilant observers and focus solely on reflection.

If we can be diligent and honest , we should at this time be willing to compare our motives then, and our motives now. How do they compare? Our interactions then, and now? Our conflict resolutions then and now? our sense of independence then and now. Now that we have established the base line, and the present,. we can now progress or regress in each way through each experience and find a wealth of experience as to how we became the individual we are, and also how we conditioned our behaviors. The key to success here is honesty. This is your own personal journey, you are the only person keeping tabs, and there is no score card. Take time to isolate a trait you are curious about,and then traverse that corridor of your mind. You will be amazed at what you discover. And then you will also concur "that since you formed your individuality, you can be certain of reclaiming it.