Conventional wisdom is wrong. You know, the whole "listen to the weatherman before going out" or "buying a home is better than renting," "watching the television news is important," "to be successful you have to earn a lot of money."
Conventional wisdom is the body of ideas or explanations generally accepted as true by the public or by experts in a field. Such ideas or explanations, though widely held, are unexamined.
All of that is wrong and in my opinion (a very strong opinion) just stupid. I have never been the conventional type of person. I have always thought quite differently from my peers. I have often suspected people judging me based on my lifestyle. For example, I don't give into the material temptations that many of my peers do. I do allow myself to be hooked to a cell phone (while I own one, I don't take it outside of the house -- I hate having to be "connected" at all times. One of my friends writes a blog about Facebook and (a)social networking as he calls it and I must say, I agree with him there as well. I gave mine up. All that stuff is senseless. Conventional wisdom is senseless.
People are upset when they try to live a life that they don't necessarily want to live. People think that they need a big house and a certain lifestyle to go with it. They think they need to earn a certain amount of money and do certain things in life. They think that if their life is not the "television life" or the life in the magazine ads, than they have failed as people. I think this is a silly way to look at the world. There are many types of lives one can live. I would not want the life that is toted as the "great life" in magazines or on television. Those lives are empty, dare I say "Godless" lives. Materialism is not the center of existence, nor should it be. There has to be something more than just trying to get something bigger materially. What does it benefit a person if he dies with all the material possessions in the world?
It's not that I am against having money. I am against conventional wisdom that says you have to live a certain life. Why should one buy into a lifestyle that they would not want? I wonder how many people who spend their lives obtaining that lifestyle actually find happiness. I tend to think that people give something up a lot of times to live a life that "conventional wisdom" says they should live.
Conventional wisdom has failed me, and I am glad I am understanding that while I am still young.
Conventional wisdom is the body of ideas or explanations generally accepted as true by the public or by experts in a field. Such ideas or explanations, though widely held, are unexamined.
All of that is wrong and in my opinion (a very strong opinion) just stupid. I have never been the conventional type of person. I have always thought quite differently from my peers. I have often suspected people judging me based on my lifestyle. For example, I don't give into the material temptations that many of my peers do. I do allow myself to be hooked to a cell phone (while I own one, I don't take it outside of the house -- I hate having to be "connected" at all times. One of my friends writes a blog about Facebook and (a)social networking as he calls it and I must say, I agree with him there as well. I gave mine up. All that stuff is senseless. Conventional wisdom is senseless.
People are upset when they try to live a life that they don't necessarily want to live. People think that they need a big house and a certain lifestyle to go with it. They think they need to earn a certain amount of money and do certain things in life. They think that if their life is not the "television life" or the life in the magazine ads, than they have failed as people. I think this is a silly way to look at the world. There are many types of lives one can live. I would not want the life that is toted as the "great life" in magazines or on television. Those lives are empty, dare I say "Godless" lives. Materialism is not the center of existence, nor should it be. There has to be something more than just trying to get something bigger materially. What does it benefit a person if he dies with all the material possessions in the world?
It's not that I am against having money. I am against conventional wisdom that says you have to live a certain life. Why should one buy into a lifestyle that they would not want? I wonder how many people who spend their lives obtaining that lifestyle actually find happiness. I tend to think that people give something up a lot of times to live a life that "conventional wisdom" says they should live.
Conventional wisdom has failed me, and I am glad I am understanding that while I am still young.
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