The Cage

There used to be a show hosted by Art Linkletter called 'Kids Say the Darnedest Things". We all had a good laugh at the silly things the kids would say. But what if the things they were saying was the real deal, our true nature as a species? What if we thought they were silly because we were looking at them through our social 'masks'? What if we are the ones who are actually silly for buying into the the years of social conditioning? Conditioning that has turned us into nothing more than shells of our real selves.

We live in a cage we call "society". Most don't even realize they are in a cage. Some do see the bars, but they want to be there, it makes them feel secure. Some just want to break free of the cage and be free. The kids? They haven't been put in the cage yet.

If you look at the different societies scattered across the planet you will find that what is taboo in one society is considered normal in another. For example, here in America tattoos still have a social stigma attached to them, but in other cultures tattoos are considered normal, a basic component of society. In Samoa there are three recognized genders with no stigmas attached to any of them, they believe that people are what they are.

What if all that we believe about right and wrong when it comes to society, and culture is bullshit? What if by our trying to fit in to what is considered normal is actually the root of our negative feelings? That most of what ails our society is the repression of our most basic needs? We have piled on so many rules of behavior and thought that it would be amazing to find anyone without feelings of guilt or shame.

At our core, we as humans have two elemental needs; self preservation and reproduction. But it seems that those two needs are the ones we put the most restrictions on. We set up complex rules so sex can only be acceptable under the strictest conditions as dictated by our society. We must repress our sexual desires because others tell us to act on them is wrong. Why? We tell our young that they must sacrifice themselves in the name of god or country. That they must give up their need of self preservation so others may preserve theirs. Why?

We spend most of our lives with these feelings of guilt and shame, If someone is not willing to die for god or country they are called cowards. If someone has sex outside of what society says is acceptable, they are called whores, sluts, or adulterers.We try and suppress our needs, our feelings, our desires, even die because that is what society says we have to do. We base our thoughts and actions on what long dead people have dictated is the way we should feel or act. We let our lives be driven by what was written in ancient texts by people that have no connection to us what so ever.

What if we were able to get past this, evolve, or better yet devolve into acting on our real nature?  Why should we have to suppress our thoughts, our desires, because they are not considered normal in our society, when those same thoughts and desires are accepted in another society? I envy those who are able to break free of their social bonds, break free of the cage, and live their lives the way they see fit, those that are happy with what they are and celebrate the fact.

Wouldn't we all be so much better off if we felt we could be ourselves, be accepted for what makes us happy? No guilt or shame because we want to be free of this cage we call society? In other words be like those kids we all laugh at for being so silly.