Talented and amazing psychic and medium Maria Last - who recently twice appeared on The 7PM Project on Channel 10 here in Australia - commented on my article Love Is Truth posted on March 10, saying that we all have to ‘create our own tribe.’
Separating ourselves from the tribe, so that we are then free to create our own tribe, is one of the hardest things we will ever do. If we listen to our educators, our bosses, the media - to say nothing of the water cooler/locker room/cocktail or dinner party chat - the most important thing we do in life will be what we achieve in our careers as a crucial indicator of how much money and social status we will be able to acquire, and thus how ‘successful’ we can consider ourselves to be. Tough that this all is, it pales in comparison to marching to the beat of your own drum.
When you are out there in the ‘dog-eat-dog’ world of material success you may have a few qualms, a few moments of unease when you wonder if you’re on the right track. But everywhere you turn, everything you read, watch and listen to will provide succour and comfort, reassuring you that material wealth and accomplishment are the pinnacle of a well-lived and successful life. If these are your goals, you will never be alone.
When all else fails, in your moments of deepest self-doubt and anxiety, those worrisome thoughts at the edge of your mind that you may not be ‘on purpose’ - that magical place where mere fate is transformed into its wondrous and miraculous alter ego, destiny - you can rest assured that just about everyone you know thinks you’re doing the right thing.
Not for the person who walks apart from the tribe. About 10 years ago I remember seeing a book which had on its front cover a picture of nine rubber ducks. Eight of them were yellow, facing to the left. The ninth, in the middle, was red and facing to the right. At the time I very much felt like the red duck captured me and my life.
Rudyard Kipling articulates the problem of swimming against the tide, and tribe:
**The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. To be your own man is hard business. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. **
When you know your own truth you are constantly surrounded by people, ideas, ad campaigns, products, habits, traditions, rules and mores that do not reflect your truth. At times you wonder if you are at all normal, whether you are truly human, and you are constantly searching for ways to narrow the deep chasm that exists between you and everyone else.
There are times of enormous loneliness, depression, and even times when you would happily end it all now. What is the point of it all? What does this separation and isolation achieve? What’s it all for, you ask, usually on your knees - figuratively if not literally.
But the impetus to be our true selves is an unquenchable force within us. It will not be ignored, it will not be silenced forever. And, at the end of it all, as Kipling so profoundly and elegantly states it, ‘owning yourself’ is worth it.
It is worth it because owning yourself, knowing who you are, why you are here and what you’re meant to be doing is the point of life. Finding your own truth, learning to articulate it, and staying true to it in the face of different and opposing forces, conditions and people - ie your tribe - who are intent on getting you to conform to their rules, is one aspect of our divine purpose.
Finding truth in non-truth is the work of the master and genius of life, the ultimate art work. It is creation and creativity in their highest forms. And it leads to the finest and purest joy possible: love.
