The Battle For Conformity

To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting. — EE Cummings

Cummings learned from high modernists like Joyce and Eliot to distrust the hierarchical in every aspect of life, beginning with his own being. In his poetry, “I” becomes “i.”

Do you agree with Cummings on this point? Have you ever felt pressured to conform? I wonder why we make it so hard to let people be who they are.

Discrimination can be nothing but not so subtle pressure to conform. Meditation and prayer are two powerful weapons in the battle Cummings describes. It allows us to shut out the world and gather ourselves.

Prayer has the added benefit of the opportunity to speak to our God who made you who you are and will give you the tools to remain the unique and special person he intended.

Ask yourself in the quietness of your special place — Who am I? You might be surprised with the answer or not, but I can assure you that God and you will like the answer.

 

 

About the author

Webb Hubbell is the former Associate Attorney General of The United States. His novels, When Men Betray, Ginger Snaps, A Game of Inches, The Eighteenth Green, and The East End are published by Beaufort Books and are available online or at your local bookstore. When Men Betray won one of the IndieFab awards for best novel in 2014. Ginger Snaps and The Eighteenth Green won the IPPY Awards Gold Medal for best suspense/thriller. His latest, “Light of Day” will be on the bookstands soon.

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