xlr8happyxlr8happy

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the latest creative news from FooBar about art, design and business.

    What's Hot

    What Is the Difference Between Pesto and Chimichurri?

    Let’s Talk: How Much Does an IUD Cost?

    How to Prep for an IUD Insertion

    Facebook Twitter Instagram
    • About
    Facebook Twitter Instagram
    xlr8happy xlr8happy
    Subscribe
    • Homepage
    • EXIST
      • Body
        • How Body Works
          • What Body Is
        • Physical Fitness
          • Health
            • Reseting the Immune System: Quick Fasting
            • Sleep
            • Old Emotions
        • Happy Body
        • Tech
          • Gear
      • Mind
        • How Mind Works
          • What Mind Is
          • Mind Goal
          • Overactive Mind
            • Love: Limited Self
            • Relationships
            • Mind Twists
          • Balanced Mind
        • Mental Fitness
          • Meditation
          • Positive Psychology
          • Reseting the Nervous System: Ice Baths
        • Happy Mind
          • Presence
      • Soul
        • How Soul Works
          • What Soul Is
        • Soul Fitness
          • Motivation
          • Culture
          • Communication
            • Love: Limited Self
            • Relationships
        • Happy Soul
      • Eliminate Stress
        • Limited Identity
          • Attachment to Social Conventions
          • People Attachment
          • Attachment to Things
          • Be Flexible
          • Free from Ego
          • Let Go
          • Life as VR
        • Whole You
      • Exist Goal: Happiness
    • FLOW
      • Using Body
        • Sports: Being in the Zone
        • Yoga
          • Love: Unblocked Mind
      • Using Mind
        • Control of Brain Frequency
          • Abraham Hicks
          • Silva Method
        • Lucid Dreaming
          • Sleep Yoga
          • Herbal Supplements
      • Using Soul
        • Creativity
      • Flow Goal: Bliss
    • TRANSCEND
      • Dream Yoga
      • Dark Retreat
      • Induced Altered States
        • Ayahuasca
      • Thodgal
      • Transcend Goal: Enlightenment
    • Shop
    xlr8happyxlr8happy
    Home » Avoid Being Deceived by Social Conventions
    Attachment to Social Conventions

    Avoid Being Deceived by Social Conventions

    xlr8happBy xlr8happSeptember 13, 2021Updated:November 5, 2022No Comments5 Mins Read
    Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
    avoid social conventions
    avoid social conventions
    Share
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

    This post is from the website www.psychology-spot.com and can be found here. Originally entitled: “We do not free ourselves from conventions by despising them, but avoiding being deceived by them, according to Alan Watts”, the article was written by Jennifer Delgado>

    “To be free from social convention is not to spurn it but not to be deceived by it. It is to be able to use it as an instrument instead of being used by it”, wrote the philosopher Alan Watts.

    We tend to think that the best way to fight against a convention, belief or idea that we do not like or that we find oppressive is to spurn and strongly oppose it, but the truth is that this resistance often generates a similar force in an opposite sense.

    Thus we run the risk of becoming what we fight or, what is even worse, occupying much of our time and energy repudiating something that does not deserve so much attention, getting stuck in that against which we intend to fight. As Thoreau said, we have to make sure “We don’t lend ourselves to the wrong which we condemn.”

    Watts, like many other freethinkers of different ages, proposes a different strategy: go beyond social conventions to strip them of their sacred character. Only then can we really free ourselves from conventions.

    What are social conventions?

    A convention is a set of standards, rules, norms and/or criteria accepted by a social group that are often translated into laws, although in many cases they become implicit, unwritten laws, but of almost “obligatory” tacit acceptance and compliance as long as they are covered with a sacred halo and, therefore, are indisputable.

    In fact, one of the main characteristics of social conventions is their unilateral nature. This means that these are standards, implicit or explicit, that the majority must comply, without being required to agree. The simple fact of being born in a certain culture is assumed as a tacit agreement.

    There are different types of social conventions. Values ​​are an example of social conventions since they are ethical and moral principles shared by social groups. Customs and traditions are also another type of social conventions, as well as fashions as they implies a consensus between what is allowed and what is frowned upon.

    The problem lies precisely in the obligatory and unilateral character of conventions since many of them, since they have been dragging for decades or even centuries, become considered an absolute reality that nobody can question. They become something alien, that is given to us and that we must respect, even if we disagree. That vision of conventions can only lead to dogmatism and conflict.

    The personal revolution leads to true liberation

    Watts believed that the education we receive “Increases rigidity, but not spontaneity” since it is based primarily on transmitting a series of conventions that, while helping us to insert ourselves into society, do not help us to be happier or more authentic.

    “In certain natures, the conflict between social convention and repressed spontaneity is so violent that it manifests itself in crime, insanity, and neurosis, which are the prices we pay for the otherwise undoubted benefits of order”, said Watts, referring to that unresolved conflicts often have a destructive way out, either for the others or for ourselves.

    That is why this philosopher believed that the true revolution must be personal. He pointed out that “Taoism is a way of liberation which never comes by means of revolution, since it is notorious that most revolutions establish worse tyrannies than they destroy.” Any attempt to overthrow an idea to impose another will end up creating the same problems.

    A convention is not overcome with another convention, but realizing that it is only a narrative among many possible, a shared construct with which we can dissent because it is not anything sacred.

    Negation of negation: A mature way to overcome social conventions

    The law of negation of negation, initially proposed by Hegel, is one of the fundamental laws of dialectic that helps us understand how we can free ourselves from the influence of conventions.

    This law indicates that each phenomenon, carrying in itself the seed of contradiction, also implies its own negation. In each phenomenon and, therefore, in each social convention, there is a permanent struggle between the old and the new. At some point there is a denial of the old, which implies rejecting everything that we disagree with. Most people stop at this point, simply despising the conventions that represent an obstacle for them.

    However, maturity implies going one step further because everything that generates in us a response of anger or rejection, in some way, keeps us subject. The secret consists, not in rejecting the convention itself or destroying it completely but in finding the positive in the negative and the negative in the positive. It implies preserving the positive elements of the old, incorporating elements of the new.

    Thus we manage to go beyond the convention, so that it really stops exerting its influence on us. We do not need to reject it because we are beyond it by not recognizing it any kind of power over us. And that is the real revolution, a revolution that once it begins within us, is unstoppable. And maybe that’s why it’s also the most feared revolution.

    Sources:

    Watts, A. (2010) El camino del Zen. Barcelona: Edhasa.

    Thoreau, H. D. (2012) Desobediencia Civil y otros escritos. Madrid: Alianza Editorial.

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
    xlr8happ
    • Website
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram

    Related Posts

    Release the Grip of the Ego

    September 12, 2021

    All is One. The Entire World Can Be Reduced to this One Thing

    March 17, 2021

    Level Up on Life: So Much More to Life than the Accumulation of Riches

    March 13, 2021
    Add A Comment

    Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the latest creative news from SmartMag about art & design.

    Editors Picks

    Parkland Shooter Gets Life in Prison. Creativity Must Reign in Prevention

    What Is Happiness? Here is a New, More Definitive Answer

    How to Workout Your Soul

    For Long, Lasting Happiness Rely on the Whole, Not the Parts

    Recent Posts
    • What Is the Difference Between Pesto and Chimichurri?
    • Let’s Talk: How Much Does an IUD Cost?
    • How to Prep for an IUD Insertion
    • Buzz With Your Fizz: Does Root Beer Have Caffeine?
    • Hip Dips Surgery: Is It Worth It?
    Top Reviews
    SHOP
    Demo
    Advertisement
    Demo
    Our Picks
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Pinterest
    • Instagram
    • YouTube
    • Vimeo
    Don't Miss
    Uncategorized

    What Is the Difference Between Pesto and Chimichurri?

    By WebJanuary 26, 20230

    Pesto and chimichurri

    Let’s Talk: How Much Does an IUD Cost?

    How to Prep for an IUD Insertion

    Buzz With Your Fizz: Does Root Beer Have Caffeine?

    About Us
    About Us

    XLR8happy is your happiness accelerator. Unlike all others, we get rid of the root cause of your stress and anxiety, as opposed to just helping you cope with and adapt to the current world as it stands. We also own the world's shortest & simplest method to explain long-lasting happiness (and with it, Life itself). We happily share that with you throughout our site.

    And our information organizational skills are also bar none! As Master Synthesizers and lovers of all things happy, we believe that our most valuable contribution to our Planet Inheritors - Millennials, Gen Z and beyond - is to clean up the existing messy overload of happiness information out there, so that you can focus on what's most important to your generation - building the future we can't even imagine yet.

    In other words, XLR8happy completes the picture of true happiness for you, so that you can get to happy... fast.

    Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube LinkedIn
    Popular Posts

    Parkland Shooter Gets Life in Prison. Creativity Must Reign in Prevention

    What Is Happiness? Here is a New, More Definitive Answer

    How to Workout Your Soul

    From Instagram
    • What can Ye do now? He can evolve! To get the most out of life as an artist, it's prob the best. 

#wisdom #conscious #consciousness #why #ye #kanye #evolution #stophate
    • For the madness to end, we will have to work around the status quo. We must get creative and INVENT A NEW WAY! This article dives into an approach we've been experimenting with here @XLR8HAPPY. 

Click on link-in-bio for more! ❤️

#worldpeace #creativity #innovation #xlr8happy #love
    • Confused about what true happiness really is? We explore these themes and more at XLR8HAPPY! Checkout this article on what might make for a more complete definition of happiness which dares to imagine the part that might be missing in the world. Click on link in Bio to READ MORE!! ⭐️❤️

#hapiness #happy #xlr8happy #worldpeace #latte #starbucks
    • Tired with world chaos? READ THIS! To get your creative juices flowing to ideate together on how we can go about changing things for good. 💪

#creativity #worldpeace #happiness #soul #none #xlr8happy
    • Be a cupcake. Save the world! If you have a secret wish for world peace you gotta check this article out, where we dabble in experimental use of crowdsourced wisdom and the power of metaphor! 🧁🧁💕🌍

Click on the link in bio to READ MORE.

#happiness #happy #savethewrold #worldpeace #cupcakes #sweettooth #xl8happy #wisdom
    • I am an analyst, so I love organizing and fiddling with data until it shows me what I am looking for. To me, the reason the world is still not a happy place is actually quite simple. It is a matter of organization of data, of information. Makes sense, right? We face information overload every day, so it's time we organize it! 🤓

🔥Click on Link in Bio to READ MORE🔥

    Follow Me!

    • About
    • Contact
    © 2023 XLR8happy LLC. Designed by Htmlly.com.

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.