If you look at how our society and culture shape personal development,
I believe you will agree with the following conclusion: there is a conspiracy at work in our society aimed at alienating you from your true self. The alienation from your true self begins at birth.
Many well-intentioned parents are encouraged to place their infant on a feeding schedule. The child is fed when the plan dictates, not when the child's biology requires. If a child needs to cry or rage, he or she is often discouraged from such displays because of the parent's social or personal discomfort. At school, the active child must learn to repress his or her excitement and assimilate into the passive learning environment that characterizes most educational approaches today. We are cajoled, manipulated, and sometimes coddled away from our core self in order to fit some idea of what society says we should be. We are conditioned to fit into the social norm, which too often means fragmenting and splitting ourselves into pieces so we can gain social approval. Some social critics have referred to this conditioning as creating a hypnotic trance. We are asleep, dreaming we are awake.
We have contributed to our problem by buying into these myths. We are simultaneously victims and perpetrators of this psychological crime. We disown many important and vital parts of ourselves to fit in and be what we think we should be. We collude with society and our parents and join the fatal conspiracy. We become as much to blame as our parents, well-intentioned caregivers, grandparents, teachers, mentors, lovers, spouses, colleagues, and bosses. We alienate our true self over and over again, often to the point where our true self is unrecognizable. We don't know our self except through the roles that we play.
~Allen Berger, Ph.D.
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