Herd Mentality (ritual, spiritual)

[Lightkeeper]

Does herd mentality keep us from making more scientific, medical, social and spiritual advances? Do we have people who have answers, but are afraid of being different and being laughed at? Leonardo DiVinci was ahead of his time. Was he laughed at? Why were some of his ideas developed several hundred years later?

[jewscout]

I think sometimes being a part of a herd mentality can impede our ability to create and to advance for fear of persecution or being ostrisized (sp). I mean on a very basic level think back to when you were in high school and may have wanted to try to fit in, of course your going to follow what all the "cool people" did.
Though being a part of a group is our natural inclination as social creatures we shouldn't allow it to blind us.

[Rex]

Someone been reading Nietzsche?

[Lightkeeper]

No, these are my own thoughts,

[Ceridwen018]

Emerson talks a lot about this. We are naturally bound by society, however we can only accomplish things which are truly great when we step outside of the bounds of regularity.

As far as herd mentality goes, mmmooooooooo!

[Scuba Pete]

If you ain't the lead dog, the view never changes.

I believe in being an honest seeker:

Question every paradigm, every assumption, every belief.

Winnow through the chaff and look for new patterns.

Don't let ANYBODY but you define who you are.

Question authority, but don't expect them to know the answers either.

[Lightkeeper]

We talk about being ourselves, but how far out of the box are we willing to step. I think we could have advanced further by now, if we weren't afraid of moving ahead of the crowd. Peer pressure is very powerful.

[cardero]

Lightkeeper writes: We talk about being ourselves, but how far out of the box are we willing to step. I think we could have advanced further by now, if we weren't afraid of moving ahead of the crowd. Peer pressure is very powerful.

I think it is healthy to consider everything at least as a possibility. I think some people have discovered it takes a great deal of effort to think and ponder for themselves, so they have other people do it for them. It is far easier to pack your beliefs into a few boxes and leave them there but eventually that person is going to have to unpack. The old adage "if its not broken, why fix it" comes to mind. This is a poor excuse.

“A mob doesn’t think”-Alfredo to Salvatore from the movie “Cinema Paradiso”

[Scuba Pete]

Many people rant about their freedom of speech without once ever exercising their freedom of rational thought.