About
My SD
Events
Wellness
Calendar Shop Log in / Sign up ☰

Isolation vs all that society brings

  1. Forms ›
  2. The Self ›
  3. Isolation vs all that society brings
Previous / Next

The Self
Part 16 - Isolation vs all that society brings

Imagine you end up washed ashore on an island with no other human inhabitant. You are in total, splendid isolation. To help you survive and thrive on this island, you are likely to need all of these things:

Your capacity to think
Your capacity to feel
Your capacity to do things
Your organismic self (from your cells to your organs to your nerves and your senses)
Your survival instinct

You will be marooned on this island for ten years, after which you will be rescued…
Now imagine you have ended up back in the same place you lived in before you took your ill-fated adventure across the seas. You are now surrounded by lots of inhabitants.

To help you survive and thrive in this society, you are likely to need pretty much all of the things you needed on the island. But it’s quite likely you will also need or need to be aware of most of the things from the list below.

MoralityEconomicsLaw
DutyEducationHealth services
ObedienceWarSocial services
NormalityConflictArmed forces
Governance OpinionsValues
IdentityPoliticsBeliefs
PowerDrugsRace
ControlPatriotismRacism
JusticeIntelligenceSex
InjusticeAdvertisementsSexism
PunishmentThe mediaNorms
FamilyWorkAuthority
FriendshipCrimeBigotry
MoneyPoliceRelationships
ParentingRecyclingInequality
Popular cultureViolenceReligion
HousingVotingFamine
AlcoholElectionsTruth
EnvironmentSexualityFreedom
PollutionGenderPrison
What a minefield to have to navigate through! And no doubt that is just the start of all the things you will be expected to get your head around in the name of social conditioning, the definition of which is: society training its citizens to act in a way that is generally considered to be agreeable and acceptable. This is sometimes referred to as conformity.
So how are you going to cope with all of this stuff, having lived alone on an island for years? Are you going to be able to re-learn the teaching of your society?

What if you can’t be conditioned, because you have become too wild, too much your own unique, individual person? What do you think would happen next? Would you fail? Fall on hard times? Get arrested? Would you become isolated from your own kind? Would you wish you were back on the island again, even though you were so lonesome there?
Q: What are the main conditions that your society demands of you?
Q: How much of yourself is governed by your society?

Continue reading

This interactive workbook and many more are avaliable free at My Self Detective:

Log in / Sign up / Go back

Previous / Next
  1. My SD ›
  2. The Self ›
  3. Isolation vs all that society brings