resist the herd

 Today Seneca tells us in no uncertain terms how he feels about herd mentality. He says, "This is the cause of those great heaps into which men rush till they are piled one upon another. In a great crush of people, when the crowd presses upon itself, no one can fall without drawing someone else down upon him, and those who go before cause the destruction of those who follow them. You may observe the same thing in human life: no one can merely go wrong by himself, but he must become both the cause and adviser of another's wrong doing. It is harmful to follow the march of those who go before us, and since everyone had rather believe another than form his own opinion, we never pass deliberate judgment upon life, but some traditional error always entangles us and brings us to ruin, and we perish because we follow other men's examples: we should be cured of this if we were to disengage ourselves from the herd; but as it is, the mob is ready to fight against reason in defense of its own mistake."

That's so powerful! I never realized that Seneca took this strong a stand against conformity to mob rule. These are ringing truths that we need to reexamine and take to heart today. And keep in mind that the world won't like it when you do. "The mob is ready to fight against REASON in defense of its own mistake." Get ready to fight.

See you tomorrow!