Take A Break From Reality

Come­dian Lily Tom­lin once said, “Real­ity was invented as a prim­i­tive form of crowd con­trol.” She hit it right on the head. We began imi­tat­ing each other early and then cre­ated all sorts of rules as we went along. Worse yet, we learned to cre­ate power forces to enforce adher­ence. The rule book gets thicker. Before today is over, you will break one or more offi­cial laws and vio­late dozens of social norms. Per­son­ally, I kind of enjoy doing so. When the speed limit is fifty-five, I drive fifty-six (and often more), just to thumb my nose at another bit of Mickey Mouse over-conformity (and have paid some tick­ets over it too).

Com­mon real­ity reads some­thing like the Pharisee’s man­ual of right­eous­ness. There is no way to learn all of the rules — much less fol­low them. Also, why would any­one in his or her right mind want to do so? Talk about dull! Being a robot with a giant con­science is just not my cup of tea. I am, by nature, a crea­ture that defies bound­aries. I have not held up a bank lately. All in all, that is not what comes to mind when I think about defy­ing bound­aries. What comes to mind has to do with whether or not I will take on the men­tal load of some­one else’s over­grown con­science. So far, I am bat­ting zero on that one.

My heroes are peo­ple that broke (or con­tinue to break) with real­ity. My list includes: Noah, Abra­ham, Moses, Socrates, Steve Mar­tin, my lit­tle brother (always on the social edge but con­form­ing just enough to really cash in), Jesus, the Apos­tles, Fran­cis of Assisi, Sandy Veal, and a host of oth­ers that nod to the rules of real­ity enough to make a house pay­ment occa­sion­ally. I think the angels shout with joy when they see a human being step away from the “wide paths” of con­for­mity and search for a lit­tle cre­ativ­ity. I also have a weird the­ory that God for­gives any­thing that is truly funny.

I agree with Lily Tomlin’s def­i­n­i­tion, but I add a lit­tle to it. I think that real­ity is just the back­drop to the play. My job is to write a per­sonal life script that adds sig­nif­i­cantly to the human drama. Blend­ing into the back­ground does not take an ounce of courage. Being anti­so­cial takes no brains. It is about liv­ing a cre­ative con­trast. Pick and choose what you con­sider valid and be will­ing to pay the price. Prodi­gals expe­ri­ence God with some depth. Over-conformists dull them­selves right out of the story. The next time some­one hands you a list of the rules of real­ity, hand it back. Write your own. Be lov­ing. Be original.