[Kirism is a contemporary philosophy of life that I’ve developed over the last several decades. It is psychological, philosophical, and existential and takes into account human nature, the human predicament, our contemporary understanding of the world, and our pressing individual and species-wide challenges. I hope that you’ll enjoy learning more about it. In the first four posts of the series, we looked at the idea of absurd rebellion. In these four posts, we look at the issue of individuality, an idea that matters to Kirists. This is the fourth of those four posts. To learn more about Kirism, please take a look at Lighting the Way, in which Kirism is introduced. To be in touch with me about Kirism, please drop me an email to [email protected].]
We use our freedom to step to one side, to gaze into the full-length mirror hanging there, and to make conscious decisions about who we intend to be. We come into the world already somebody, our personality forms, and then we upgrade it.
This is the Kirist journey from personality to personhood. You look at life and you look at yourself and you say, “To honor my individuality and to meet my obligations to myself, I must transform myself into someone much better equipped.”
But even then, you will only be better equipped, not perfectly equipped. You’ll improve your navigation skills as you author your story, but you can’t guarantee sailing to the right country or avoiding a shipwreck when you try to land there.
Where will your individuality take you? To some highly uncomfortable places. Maybe you’ll embark on some quest you can’t explain or name. There you are, wandering about, announcing that you are on a quest but getting nowhere.
Maybe you’ll find yourself pondering the biggest questions and refusing to accept too-simple answers, only to discover that the biggest questions have no satisfactory answers. You were hungry for resolution but all you got was confusion.
Maybe your mandate to do some good got all mixed up with your desire to make a splash and live well. Now you find yourself in a comfortable position in a corner office, doing much less good than you know that you ought to be doing.
That is, challenges will remain. You can feel smug when you do math, since two plus two will equal four forever. But life does not permit you to feel smug about it. We face that and say, “A lone individual has always mattered and always will.”
A lone individual can stand up to a row of tanks, with the whole world watching. The tanks will win but that image of freedom will be seared into the brains of children and may prove pivotal fifty years later, as other tanks are gathering.
A lone individual, sitting on a city council, can provide the tie-breaking vote that keeps the thieves from further thievery or the polluters from making further misery. Or she can sit on a higher bench and save democracy.
A lone individual can tell a quiet story, maybe about a rabbit disappearing down a rabbit hole and the little girl who follows him into Wonderland, that is read by a lot of children, or maybe just a few, and that encourages their individuality.
A lone individual can find a cure, help a child in need, or start a rights’ movement. She may need to be a medical researcher in order to find that cure but she can be a complete amateur and still aid that child or launch that movement.
Lone individuals can also work together. Each, being an individual, may well prove testy, opinionated and difficult. But testy, opinionated and difficult individuals, as long as they are not inflexible, can change hearts and move mountains.
Gatherings of individuals, as for instance at a Continental Congress, can prove momentous. Each will have his or her own agenda, but if they happen to be a gathering of Kirists you might get a wall torn down or new rights for everyone.
The world is better off in each of these instances. It is not changed; it is not transformed; it is not saved. But it is better off than if that lone individual had not existed. That “better off” is the epitome of Kirist modesty and Kirist excellence.
The world is better off in each of these instances and Kirists know it. They might wish that a lone individual could do more and they might wish that they themselves could do more. But they do not characterize what they can do as nothing.
On a given day, you may find yourself with no particular chance to assert your individuality and no particular reason to assert your individuality. There may be many quiet days of sharing, joining, fitting in, helping and accommodating.
But on another day, maybe even the very next day, you may be called on. On that day, you shake your head a little and murmur, “Here we go again.” Self-obligation and self-authorship demand that murmur and the action that follows.
Fighting to retain your individuality may have made you cranky and morose. As a new Kirist, feel reinvigorated instead. You have been reminded that individuality is not fruitless, quixotic stubbornness but rather exactly what is required of you.
Suppressing your individuality may have made you ill and despairing. As a new Kirist, open the window, lean out, and say a little something. You don’t have to shout, not at first. Just hum a tune of freedom and feel the sun on your face.
It would be lovely if our efforts produced the results we craved. But life is not a romance. We opt for value, not rewards, we stand up, we assert our individuality, and we serve the good. If we’re also rewarded, we smile wryly.
Be the individual that you are. You could certainly choose safety instead; and on some days, you likely ought to choose safety. But on those many other days, venturing out alone, say what needs to be said and do what needs to be done.
To learn more about Kirism, please take a look at Lighting the Way, in which Kirism is introduced.
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This Post is republished on Medium.
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Photo credit: iStock
