To know oneself should be the main thrust in life and to refuse to be what others impose on us, a self-conforming attitude we accept because of fear of not fitting in, or perhaps we are afraid we will not be loved but ostracised. We fear being somehow outcast, we miss being part or something bigger that can furnish us with meaning.

But perhaps we should stop and question!

That is also true to technology today, not being part in a social network, or not making use of a particular device or platform, being seen or heard online, etc…

To refuse is to question, unfortunately most of us have been told right from our early beginning to shut up and conform. We are given an identity to dress that are not of our own design but rather it has been imprinted on us by our family, friends, by society, by our traditions, beliefs and cultural values etc. Not that we have to reject all that outright but we must find a way to discover our true self inspite of all that.

The proposition of refusing what we are is not a nihilistic one, it is an invitation to courageously journey through our very own self and be brave enough to desconstruct and rebuild in a continual cycle of self discovery.

Refusing what we are may also mean to be opened for what we are to become. It is surely harder to let go of something we have than to embrace something new and unfamiliar as most of us live in prisons of our own making, that familiar dark place becomes soothing and comfortable because it is the only state we know.

Hence, refusing becomes a vital exercise for life embetterment and true transformation, it is a invitation to embrace our very own individual chrysalis that will eventually liberate us to fly away to freedom.

Men who reject the responsibility of thought and reason can only exist as parasites on the thinking of others.

Ayn Rand, The Virtue of Selfishness: A New Concept of Egoism