I Belong Nowhere

I belong nowhere. I never did and never will. To use Hoffer's terminology, I am a misfit. For some years I have recognized that I am a permanent misfit. When one individuates, one can no longer fit into worldly or religious groups. There is nothing in common at all, and when groupists detect the presence of an individuator, they attack. Instinctively they detect an enemy in their midst that is a threat to group solidarity, a threat to living life of avoidance of  God and God's calling, a breath of fresh air and sunshine, threatening to shatter a web of carefully woven and lived lies.

Those that fit, that fit in, do what the group does, think what the group does, truly believe what the group believes, lie for and cover for group lies, and never advance beyond set group standards of performance. Those that fit in are nonindividuators. They get the rewards of worldly preference for jobs, mates, insider information for making money, social approval and much popular standing and accumulation of much sought-after social capital.

The world changes: social orders and groups are smashed. Those craving group affiliation may succumb to demagogues and alluring mass movements to fit in once again and to belong. These are the true believers, the joiner-Hofferian misfits of much renown.

My kind of misfit is the loner-individuator kind. We are few in number, almost rare.  That is why I carry on the struggle to nudge people to adopt the Mavellonialist lifestyle.  In a society of individuators, all would fit and none would fit, because all are learning, creating, changing, evolving and becoming.

Fitting or misfitting would no longer matter much. What counts is how one is confident, loving, alert, versatile and linked with God; this psychological poise will empower each self-realizer to fit in and fail to fit in at various time to various degrees, while calmly growing and taking it all in stride, with minimal anxiety and upset.