Most people mistake the narrative imposed on them by society as their own thoughts.  The machinery of collective influence thrives on manipulation, dressing itself in the guise of truth.  It is rooted in the homogenization of thought, fostering conformity under the banner of “progress.” The result is a docile, malleable mass, primed for exploitation by those who wield power.  True individuality, the kind that springs from introspection and self-awareness, is systematically suppressed.  It can’t coexist with the tyranny of collective ideology.

As Nietzsche often emphasized:

The individual has always had to struggle to resist being overwhelmed by the tribe.  To attempt this is to invite loneliness and fear, yet no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning oneself.

This struggle is central to the preservation of individuality against the pressures of conformity.  The modern world replaces this struggle with complacency, offering the illusion of freedom while binding the spirit to the whims of the state.  The individual, stripped of their soul, becomes a mere cog in the grand machinery of control.

This spiritual erosion manifests as blind faith in institutions.  The state has become the new deity, its decrees regarded as sacred texts.  The process of domestication—the conditioning of individuals to prioritize obedience over critical thought—has rendered the masses weak and pliable.  They seek leaders to venerate, turning a blind eye to their flaws, despite the lessons of history, which repeatedly exposes the fallibility and corruption of those in power.

Science, once the great liberator, is now often wielded as a tool of subjugation.  Misapplied, it reduces human beings to data points, denying their complexity and agency.  The belief that human behavior can be fully understood and controlled through formulas and models is a dangerous fallacy.  Science progresses not through consensus but through dissent—through the courage of the few, or even the one, who dares to challenge prevailing dogmas.

The heart of the matter is spiritual decay.  In a world robbed of meaning, people cling to political ideologies as substitutes for religion, turning their chosen leaders into idols.  These totalitarian ideologies, whether overt or disguised, undermine the foundations of genuine spirituality.  They demand allegiance and conformity, branding dissenters as heretics.  This is statism: a religion of control, its dogma enforced with zeal and its heresies punished with scorn.

To reclaim individuality, one must resist the allure of the collective mind.  True liberation comes not from submission to the crowd but from the courage to think and act independently.  It requires rejecting the idols of the modern age and seeking meaning beyond the confines of imposed narratives.  Without this rebellion of the spirit, humanity risks becoming little more than a shadow of its potential—a homogeneous mass, devoid of the vitality that springs from true individuality.

Reference

Carl Jung; The Undiscovered Self