Tapped in the Patterns

"It's no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society" - Jiddu Krishnamurti

How often are we influenced by the societal patterns in our day to day life? If you ask me, I would say most people are working hard to fit into it. Having observed this, I got a little curious to know the reason behind it? While on my pursuit of being inquisitive on this subject matter, I assumed to most part that following a set pattern must have some benefits, otherwise, why would an overwhelming majority of people adopt this line of practice.

With very little study I realized that there was absolutely no benefit in what seemed like a popular practice. The main reason why most choose to follow patterns is because they seem to find a sense of security in doing so. The point is, people value ‘doing a thing’ more than comprehending ‘why it is being done’?

Right from a young age, a person tends to compare himself / herself with someone and concludes on being better or worse at something. Imagine a situation where in there was no comparison made, what would happen? Probably people wouldn’t know who is better or who is not. If people fail to judge every other person, in essence there would be no harm done. However it’s the attribute of the weak to energize themselves through someone else’s weakness. The main problem is that most people have preferred to remain lazy and not question whether the actions they are supposed to take, is logical or not.

There are two main obstacles in the path of evolving from this idea of following patterns. The first one: lack of desire to understand the real purpose behind actions that we take. It's basically a lot of hard work. Ironically, it often takes a calamity to live in present and look for the reason. If things go exactly as prescribed, no one would question existing phenomena. Only when it doesn't work, people seem to look beyond it. The second one: the fear that is induced in our minds and constantly we are made to believe that these are the boundaries we must live within. The idea of fear is often introduced either to control others emotionally or financially. What I have realized of late is, if there is something that doesn't make sense or is too hard to comprehend, either it is a trap with a motivation of to control us or it financially benefits the creator.

At times it seems much easier to get intelligent (read as egoistic) people to change their line of thinking compared to the ignorant. Just by asking a question, "Why should you live by others guidelines?” may do the trick. Otherwise it is almost impossible to overcome these shackles which have been interwoven in several ways over several ages.