Imagine, if only for a moment... I wish that I could share the freedom that I know with you. I wish that I could show you just how free a person can be when one chooses not to be trapped. I wish I could make it easy for you to see that there is absolutely nothing holding you back from complete liberation except for your own belief in the lies that you are told. There's another life waiting for you on the far side of normal, where there's no fear of anything or anybody; where you are untouchable, unreachable, unstoppable. A life in which you are truly in control of yourself in a way that most people can't even bring themselves to dare to dream to imagine. Try. Try to imagine, if only for a moment what it would be like if you were the ruler of the world, and you'd delegated all of the responsibility of governing the planet to your servants. They run about you, under orders not to bother you with their tasks, while you stride through a world where you can get away with absolutely anything you want to at any time. You see a fountain which nobody is allowed to step into, on pain of some unknown but horrifying punishment. Grinning, you shuck off your footwear, roll up your pant legs, and step into the water, savoring the coolness of the water, and look about you at the milling throngs of people who would never dare to be so bold. And you get away with what they never could, because the rules which apply to them do not apply to you. This isn't an act of rebellion, it's an act of celebration - an act of one who knows that they enjoy special priveliges and who isn't afraid to make use of them. Now think for a moment. Do you really need to be the ruler of the world to do something like this? What would be the difference between somebody who truly lived this life and somebody who simply chhose to act as though they did? Would such a person actually be harmed by such a decision? Would they be doing any harm to anybody by doing so? Think for a moment! If you decided that you weren't going to allow others to dictate what harmless acts were not to be partaken of, what would it be like each and every time that you decided to act upon the decision to indulge in such whims in such a way that the people who would tell you that you're wrong to do so could see you? How would it feel to prove to them that they can't control you? How would it feel to show them that the things which ruled them had no ability to rule you? How would it feel to see them shake their heads disapprovingly at the fact that you would do something so foolish as to free yourself? Might it not feel... empowering? It would be like prison inmates were laughing at you because you were free to walk the streets. It would be like the blind thinking you their inferior because you could see. It would be like the crippled thinking you their inferior because you could walk. How could you not laugh at such foolishness? How could you not shake your head and go about your business, knowing that you have something that they do not, and that they, in their arrogance, in their blind condescention, will forever deny themselves? It would be like being better than almost everyone you see each and every day. It would be like being the ruler of the world. And what single thing is holding people back from becoming the rulers of each of their own personal worlds? Fear. Fear of being separated from the herd. Fear of the rejection of those who would unwittingly hold them back. Fear of feeling the shame of one who has failed to live up to a set of expectations the believe to be vitally important to their value as human beings. But I say to you: These expectations are false. You might as well feel shame for failing to live up to the expectation to allow your fingernails to grown to three feet in length. You might as well feel ashamed to forget to paint your left hand blue and your right hand orange in the morning. Such expectations could be no more arbitrary and meaningless than those which I'm speaking of. Skip and hop and dance your way down the street. Wade through a public fountain. Carry a huge wooden disk around with you as you walk about downtown, proudly announcing to people that it's the holy symbol of the New Church of Ambiguonus, and that everyone around you are sinners, doomed to a death of slow dehydration for the sin of certainty. Hold on. What? That's stupid. Why would I want to do that last thing? Because you can. And nobody else can, because they won't allow themselves to, and in celebrating that freedom, you establish once and for all that they can't control you. Once you've reached a certain point of distinctiveness, people stop having expectations of you. How could they not? How could they ever know what to expect? They stop applying their rules to you, because you are clearly no longer part of the same system as they are. You're playing a different game than they are. You exist on the outside. You're a separate culture. A culture of one. If a person isn't ashamed to be seen marching around downtown spouting off such insane blatherscythe, how can you possibly hope to criticize them for anything at all? You become above reproach. Not unlike the ruler of the world. With the passage of time, your shame, what remains of it, will fade away entirely, and each act of insanity will become an act of celebration. Rather than fearing the scorn of strangers, you will come to long for it; it is a pleasant reminder of just how free you are. Of just how far you've come. And you will never experience the pangs of shame again. You will never again suffer as a result of humiliation. You will be above reproach, and beyond criticism. Imagine, if only for a moment, the freedom. And the next time you walk past a public fountain, and you have a few minutes to spare, consider hopping in, splasing about, giggling to yourself loudly, whilst shouting "My tax dollars pay for this! My tax dollars pay for this!" over and over again, asking people if they'd care to enjoy the fountain their tax dollars pay for along with you. I guarantee that you'll never forget the feeling you'll feel when the fist person sneers at you, and you realize just who deserves who ought to be sneered at.