Anyone else have a sorta neuro-eccentric social group?

Post Reply New Topic

I never met anyone in real life who believed that truth was preferable to phoniness, who was against relating to people according to their relative place in the pecking order, who didn't feel the need to change me, who liked me the way I am. In other words, be it geek, budhist, artist, rich, poor, bohemian, bourgois, or any other of the counter-streams, I don't get along better with any of them than I do with the mainstream NTs. In fact, I've found more phoniness in the counter-streams (anarchists, theater people, vegans, spirituals, etc.) than in the mainstream. It's well-known that the counter-streams are much more socially-pressuring than the mainstream. As for an individual who is themselves and not flowing along with any stream, I met only one REAL one in my life. The rest, if you scratched the surface and didn't lie to yourself, were as bigoted / herd thinkers / full of "because mom always said" prejudice as anyone else.

I understand what you mean by finding phoniness in counter-streams..I have witnessed the same thing...lots....whenever I tried to find comeradery with any sort of group...(the anarchists immediately spring to mind)...the hypocracy I witnessed nearly drove me mad....

I think the philosophical mindset of my venue tries to transcend that at least a little...We are not perfect but we try...
There are plenty of rugged individualists out there...who can't help but be counter-stream without fitting in to any counter-stream groups....often they either walk alone...or find a little solace among other groups of rugged individualists...who are bonded by the fact that they don't fit in many other places....

That's the kind of person I spent years looking for, and never found one. I gave up a couple years ago, after I had left no stone unturned. I tried everything, and I mean everything. Mind you, poopy, at my age it's extremely rare to find an individual. The fear of old age alone makes even the freest thinkers conform after 40. I know because I went looking, among other things, for those I'd known in my youth, only to find they've become as conformist as they come. I was shocked!

I'm sure there must be others like me around, but it's like finding a needle in a straw pile.

I've been trying to reply to this thread for some time, but my Internet connection keeps cutting out, so I will keep it short.

We need to bear in mind that like chimpanzees, bonobos and gorillas -- but unlike urang-utans -- homo sapiens is one of the so-called "higher primate" species which is by nature social. You are going to struggle to find a true individualist amongst them because for all except for a few genetic outliers, it isn't in their genes.

Much as I may wish to pretend that I am a total existentialist who can climb out of my surroundings and stand alone, making objective and independent decisions, I have to recognise that I am strongly compelled by the nature of my species to want some things which my intellect may not find convenient. And the need to belong is one of them -- even if does not drive my behaviour to the same degree or in the same manner as it would that of a neurotypical person, it remains a reality.