Owning Yourself: Group-Think Vs Individualism

Contributing writer for Wake Up World

In this day and age as the energies intensify, many of us are called to get out of our comfort zone, question consensus reality and the world we live in. We look for answers to deeper life questions, our individual purpose and role as we embark on the process of seeking truth within and without. Once you take the “red pill” it can become a lonely road at times and it is harder to relate to people we used to be around who don’t question what we’ve been told and taught via official cult-ure. The more we de-program ourselves from cultural, social, and religious conditioning, the less we “fit in” with the sleeping masses. We experience break-downs and separations of relationships and friendships. This is normal in light of the process of awakening.

At the same time we naturally yearn to connect with like-minded people. Many of us look for communities, groups or movements we can be part of – our “tribe”. In our quest of seeking truth we also come across authors and researchers that help us give insights and knowledge about the topics we’re interested in. Naturally we also tend to look up to people who have been on the path for much longer since we can learn from them. In general, many people have the need to follow some “figurehead”, be it a government ‘personality’, medical professional, researcher, or spiritual guru.

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It is important to keep in mind that the process of awakening entails becoming our own personal leaders and internal authorities, learning to trust ourselves and our own power in the process, instead of giving it away to anyone else; therein lies the development of true spiritual sovereignty. Individuals oftentimes get sucked into the ‘celebrity matrix’ and latch onto authors and researchers they admire as well, blindly following what they say without doing their own fact-checking or listening to their bodily intuition. There is a big difference between getting inspired by people who put out work that resonates with us (and from whom we can learn new points of view) and putting those same folks on a pedestal, living only by the content of what they publish without questioning it at all, and projecting absolute authority onto them, whether it’s done consciously or not.

The latter situation is how we wind up getting cut off from our own inner knowing intuition guidance system – the ‘network’ which holds our personal truth that is unique to us, and which lights up our individual path and illuminates our life lessons. When we abdicate personal accountability to sovereign thought and deed, it puts us into a tunnel vision situation which actually disconnects us from our divine nature and innate wisdom. It is about simultaneously recognizing and honoring both our individuality and our inter-connectedness, relating with others and striving for community but not getting lost in self-limiting group/hive mind thinking.

Seeking truth and gaining knowledge – no matter if it involves topics which lie “outside” of our current comprehension, especially with regards to self-understanding – is an individual journey. Never take what anyone else says as “gospel”. Emotional maturity, embodiment, compassion and empathy are just as important as intellectual insight, if not more-so. In this day and age, it’s easy to lose the connection to our bodies, which houses our intuition and deeper emotions as well as our inner knowing, our ‘compass’. It’s hard to stay grounded within ourselves when we are glued to the computer screens, cell phones, and plasma TVs.

I’ve seen many “great minds” – people who do amazing work in their particular field – engage in clever intellectual sophistry, cut off from their bodies; even though they “appear” wise, something feels very off – oftentimes, this was due to the fact that the emotional intelligence was missing. In the past, I would frequently ignore this intuitive download because I assumed they must “know better”, putting them onto a pedestal due to my authoritarian programming.

Always think for yourself, never follow anyone blindly, and never fall into an unquestioning mindset, no matter how charismatic or “wise” your heroes may appear to be. Never give in to group and peer pressure if it contradicts your own experience, intuition, and research. Part of the “problem” is also that most of us yearn to “belong”, the instinctual tribal identification. AS mentioned above, many of us look for a group, movement, political party, community, religious/spiritual collective to identify with and belong to. We are social creatures, after all, and that desire for bonding is natural and instinctual.

There is also nothing wrong with these kind of groups/movements per se, and obviously we need to connect, network and create community in order to create an alternative to the isolation/distraction/division tactics of the parasitic elements which currently rule human interactions. However, if it’s at the expense of personal sovereign identity, and group-think overwhelms and replaces individual thought, creativity and expression – especially since everyone is very different and unique – then it actually becomes a reflection of the NWO’s globalist agenda, which is to make everyone the “same”, even if it’s more subtle and not by force alone. This is the disease of homogenization – the “cookie cutter” compliant consumerist virus.

Another human trait is the drive to be loved and accepted. Many of us diminish ourselves (mostly unconsciously) in order to belong and be accepted by our chosen “tribe”. This can result in suppression of intuition and one’s own inner knowing, one’s “own personal truth” and voice in terms of what one’s unique soul is here to do and learn. Under the strain of group/peer pressure situations, we can lose (or not trust in) our personal inner guidance, simply because we don’t want to be rejected and abandoned. This is also the basis of the thought processes for authoritarian followers in cult-like circumstances (including political party affiliation), grown adults who still need “Mom” and/or “Dad” to tell them what to do, what to think, etc.

It’s a bit of a paradox, because on one hand we all need to network, build community and connect with each other, but at the same time we need to be our own person and live our lives as individualized expressions of a Unified Conscious Awareness. Sometimes we need guidance and feedback from others, since we all have our blind spots; but there are times where others project their shadow onto us (including shame and guilt-tripping, even under the disguise of “for the better good of us”) and group/peer pressure circumstances force us to either conform or break free from “the tyranny of the majority”. Oftentimes, these events also result in a “you are either with us or against us” attitude (prevalent amongst many militant groups and nations), when you are only supported as long as you are a part of the group/movement and fully indoctrinated into their particular ideology.

There is also a hierarchy in groups/movements that can result in hive-mind thinking, where the opinions and proclamations of the founders/leaders within these organizations are accepted without question as “the truth”, and the opinions of group members becomes just a parroted version of those who are higher-up on the “ladder”. This ties also into the “bandwagon fallacy“, “appeal to authority“, “Stockholm Syndrome“, and “political correctness” logical fallacies that are so prevalent in public discourse these days. The parental image, projected onto “leaders” and authority regimes, is part of this Public Relations programming package, where Government is lauded as the ultimate exemplar of the collectively-perceived Daddy/Mommy figure.

No one is perfect, and ultimately, it’s about sovereignty and autonomy – becoming fully-realized individuals and seekers of truth while at the same time striving to connect with others. So, having healthy boundaries is an important part of this process, as well as establishing healthy self-love parameters. None of our ego personalities are without fault, and at times we swing between self-diminishment/low self-esteem and over-inflated narcissistic tendencies. It’s a continuing lesson for all of us, and constant vigilance is required.

This is not an easy journey, because, as children, none of us were taught how to tap into our own inner guidance systems and trust our inner knowing/intuition, and as a result of this disconnection we are all are wounded and conditioned to varying degrees. In fact, most wounded people yearn to belong – to be a part of a group, or identify strongly with a nationalistic or spiritual identity. Sometimes, such desires result in outbreaks of unconscious trauma bonding, where belief in government (or other external authoritarian constructs) generates this unhealthy “connection” pathology on a macro level, the ultimate Stockholm Syndrome.

We are all traumatized/wounded/conditioned to varying degrees, and these psychological states serve to cut us off from our own inner knowing and inner guidance, and even disconnect us from basic critical thinking skills – hence why many people look for guidance outside of their own innate gifts, from someone whose perceived ‘authority’ bestows them with the right to tell them what to do and what to think. People also are programmed to feel safer when there are others who “follow” in the same manner that they do – the ‘herd/pack mentality’ that has contributed to a great deal of suffering on the planet.

The way I perceive the “awakening” concept is that it involves becoming a true Individual, connected to one’s higher self/intuition; a fully embodied sovereign Being who contributes to humanity (in whatever natural form this takes for each individual, based on his/her talents/lessons) and, at the same time, remains a unique personality who can think for him/herself. It’s not a state of feeling constantly “blissful”, but rather it’s about being grounded in this life, whatever the future may bring – understanding that there is a purpose to every existence, as we are engaged in the cosmic play of awakening within the evolutionary dance of individual and collective consciousness.

Related reading:

The Power Of The Sovereign Spirit — by Neil Kramer
Spiritual Sovereignty – Tell The “Lords” of Karma That You Are Sovereign — by Cameron Day

Further reading from Bernhard Guenther:

About the author:

Bernhard Guenther has had a lifelong interest in exploring the mysteries and hidden knowledge surrounding our planet and humanity’s origins, questioning the roots of what constitutes “reality”, and how social (and spiritual) conditioning impacts upon our collective search for the truth in all aspects of life.

His blog “Piercing the Veil of Reality” is a wide-ranging collection of essays, films and interviews, ranging from spirituality, shamanism, psychology, self-work, esotericism, history, to the paranormal and hyperdimensional realities.

Bernhard lives in Topanga Canyon, California, working with individuals from all walks of life, helping them in their path of healing and wellness via Integrative Bodywork and Holistic Coaching. His clients enjoy his intuitive and compassionate approach in person or over Skype.

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