Creating Your Space: Individual Expression and Society
The essential role of personal expression in shaping societal values.
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Understanding the Inner Conflict
When a person doesn’t feel they can express themselves through the mediums present in their society, this energy gets pent up inside of them. This can occur because the correct mediums don’t exist, haven’t been found, their style is too different from what exists, or they have neglected the need to express themselves, choosing instead to repress these parts of themselves.
Over time, as the person interacts with society, frustration increases as they feel the pressure of their individuality building up within them. They attempt to seek comfort in others but feel like no one can truly understand them. They don’t even understand themselves, but all they know is that they cannot find themselves in what already exists. They cannot dispose of this energy as they please but must figure out what allows them to do that. It eats them from the inside, and their fear leaves them paralyzed, becoming an empty shell of a human being within society. They try to keep doing what others say should make them happy, but nothing helps.
They cannot simply listen to their favorite songs, read books, watch movies, etc., and feel seen through them. They cannot find anyone who has already put into words or music what they feel inside themselves.
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They are forced to stand apart from the crowd, but they don’t want to be alone. They are afraid of what that would mean for them. They are anxious about doing something that hasn’t already been done. They have no footsteps to follow. They are afraid of being criticized because they realize there is no pre-existing space into which they can grow; instead, they have to create that space themselves.
They want nothing more than to belong to a group, but this side of them doesn’t let them rest. The more they ignore it, the bigger this monster becomes. They are afraid to act but also dying on the inside because of their failure to do so.
Generally, in society, such a person keeps themselves as busy as possible, distracted by their peers and what life has to offer them. Others try to express themselves through their children, so the energy is somehow carved out of them.
Most people end up keeping themselves occupied until the end of their lives, and then they are forced to face this monster. By that point, they are already beaten up by life and no longer have the strength to fight back and express themselves anymore.
This is one’s Will to Power, a concept found within the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche. It is an energy within all living things that seeks to be different and to express itself.
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The more an individual interacts with the world, the more they recognize themselves as different, increasing the tension that builds up the energy. They want to see themselves reflected back through the world, but little do they know that their fate is to be forever tormented by this pursuit.
The individual must often learn in his life that so-called “disposable” energies are not his to dispose […] Psychic energy is a very fastidious thing which insists on fulfilment of its own conditions. pg 83–84
~Carl Jung’s book ‘Two Essays on Analytical Psychology’ (Chapter 1)
It is easy to assume that society determines what gives meaning to our existence, i.e., what are appropriate receptacles for our pent-up energies.
But everything that society understands and cherishes is a product of the expression of past individuals. Society never creates values but simply holds on to them and expands on them through culture and tradition.
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Perils of Standing Apart to Create New Values
In Nietzsche’s “Three Metamorphoses” from the book Thus Spoke Zarathustra, he talks about the development of man through figurative phases of Camel, Lion, and Child.
The Camel represents the phase of the individual burdened to follow what society dictates. However, the Lion seeks to create a space for itself to exist.
What is the great dragon which the spirit is no longer inclined to call Lord and God? “Thou-shalt,” is the great dragon called. But the spirit of the lion saith, “I will.”
“Thou-shalt,” lieth in its path, sparkling with gold- a scale-covered beast; and on every scale glittereth golden, “Thou shalt!”
The values of a thousand years glitter on those scales, and thus speaketh the mightiest of all dragons: “All the values of things- glitter on me.
All values have already been created, and all created values- do I represent. Verily, there shall be no ‘I will’ any more. Thus speaketh the dragon.
My brethren, wherefore is there need of the lion in the spirit? Why sufficeth not the beast of burden, which renounceth and is reverent?
It is commendable when someone can stand apart from the crowd and create new values. However, this is no easy task.
It is understandable that this worries many, especially those who seek to be different, because the vast majority of people who attempt to do so will pursue something highly likely to end their life abruptly (as they are venturing out to do something others have not), endanger others, turn themselves into hermits or social outcasts for life, be punished for doing something that wasn’t approved by society, and probably completely lose their mind and be out-of-touch with reality, which lands them in a mental hospital or out on the streets.
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Everyone has a system of morals built into our minds by society, religion, culture, parents, teachers, and peers. Depending on how successful they were with instilling fear into our minds, most people will avoid trying to express themselves outside of what has already been done. This is the great ancient dragon in Nietzsche’s story that has the scales that say “Thou Shalt,” which is the system of morals passed on to us from our ancestors or the social contract that we unconsciously abide by.
As mentioned earlier, it is a mistake to assume that just because society carries this book of laws, i.e., morality, into the future from prior generations, that society created these rules. Each one of these rules was instead created by individuals who sought to express themselves. Society’s role is to inhibit the actions of individuals while they attempt to make new rules for society to abide by.
“All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.”
~Arthur Schopenhauer
Usually, by the time a person is willing to act on disposing of their energy, they are overflowing with it and often willing to sacrifice themselves in an attempt to express themselves. From their perspective, they are only alive if they are capable of doing so. This energy is not a self-preserving instinct at all. Society usually later interprets this as a sacrifice for the greater good, but it is really just all in the name of expressing oneself.
There is only one thing that guides the individual’s expression outside the bubble of society, and that is nature. Nature is the oldest teacher, and everything we know and that which has made itself into the book of laws is one way or another derived from nature. Life itself is a never-ending dance between the Will to Power and Nature.
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Society’s Response to Unconventional Expressions in Music and Art
But what about art, music, poetry, etc., that doesn’t have utility in nature? What keeps these fresh in society?
It is tempting here again to say that society determines what is valuable, but again, society never creates values; it just carries them.
These forms of expression are found more in the center of the bubble of society, where people are allowed to more freely express themselves because it is out of reach from nature’s claws.
Art or music becomes a vehicle of the person’s expression. The more different you are from what already exists, the more you need to seek other means to become popular because you cannot rely on people liking it right away.
For example, it is about what people are familiar with. The opposite is also true — the more foreign and unique your expression appears to them, the more it invokes fear in them, and the more likely they are to dislike you. This is society acting through its members because society always seeks to inhibit deviant behaviors and promote accepted norms.
Repetitiveness increases familiarity (as long as it’s positive interactions), which increases feelings of comfort, builds trust, and reduces fear, especially with increased length of time. And just like the stages through which truth passes, that which was foreign before becomes accepted as the norm.
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There are also many other strategies, like promoting positive associations — like playing one’s music during social events where people are creating positive memories with loved ones and friends. Another example is playing the numbers game, i.e., trying to reach a wider market with one’s music by sharing it online to reach an international audience or by producing a lot more songs in hopes that one or two will strike gold. Or paying to be included in mainstream sources, paying people to act as fans (again, because society hates those who stand alone), using women to market products, etc.
Or if one doesn’t want to take that much of a chance, one can titrate the risk by partially catering to the audience by creating material that is similar to what already exists or having lyrics that are repetitive or easier to sing along with.
This is what makes up the pulp of what is considered propaganda, public relations, or social marketing through the use of subliminal messages.
Even then, you rarely get any kind of majority. One can easily see this by looking at the number of music bands, styles of art, or the various categories within both fiction and non-fiction books.
Society, i.e., the audience, is not what creates the value. The audience was created for the type of music instead. It’s easier to sell to a market that already exists than to create a market for something new, but this doesn’t imply that the market creates the value for the music.
Of course, this discussion pertains to things that do not have a self-evident utility in society, but rather those which have value created by individuals.
Once society has been seduced to love the artist’s form of expression, the rest of society merges with it and becomes inseparable from it. The expression becomes another “Thou Shalt.”
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