Our authenticity has been hijacked says neurodivergent advocate Natasha van Zyl (BA Psych [Hons]). But she’s here to remind us that each one of us is part of an extraordinary design, to encourage us to explore outside of our comfort zones … to be free, to be you. Unapologetically.
What is natural for the monkey is unnatural for the fish, right? It’s a pretty reasonable statement. Yet we don’t follow the same logic when it comes to humans, to the cultures, the values, and the lifestyles we choose.
Because we’ve put our trust in a system that sells us joy in a plastic wrapper
This is the system that demands we be happy with two free days at the end of the week. It sells to us that our bodies are the highest expression of what we are capable of. That our feelings are irrelevant, even though all of our economy is based on human behaviour and the feelings elicited by politicians or the corporate world.
Humans seem to have become involved with compensating for their vulnerabilities by playing a game of superiority and avoidance. We compete for the illusion of being the “best” at something. Yet our assessment for the “best” is fragile and inconsistent. It is myopic in the variables it considers and leaves us ignoring our own blind spots.
Our authentic contribution has been hijacked
And so, all those other things that are not concerned with competition, superiority, and deception, are hardly given attention to. Curiosities and passions are romantic notions, our personal interests and passions are dismissed as not having anything of value to contribute to the system.
Our authentic contribution has been hijacked, validation has become an addiction, and attention has become an addiction that marketing companies love to exploit.
So why is our collective behaviour directed by hiding our truth?
We lie to the young ones, and argue that we are doing it to protect them. But to protect them from what? What we become as adults? Why is all our collective behaviour directed by shame and hiding our truth? Why are we teaching children to be honest when they have to accept our own omissions and deceit?
These are the thoughts that run through my brain in the early hours of the morning, when the world of humans is silent, and nature is preparing for a new day.
But the truth is that we are extraordinary, every single one of us
I remember the first time I wanted to shout a realisation from the top of the mountain – Table Mountain in this instance – I wanted to shout out to humans that we are part of some extraordinary design, that we have somehow stopped exploring outside of our comfort zones, that we are spending all our time trying to make our limited comfort zones better … but better only in a way that deepens our participation in more idle deception.
But when I tried to say this to people, they looked at me with contempt, maybe because on some level, they already know this. Maybe it’s because we are so very, very different. It took me a long time to accept and embrace that even though we all have human bodies, we don’t all experience life the same.
And then I started a quest to find out how we are all so different
My adventures took me to different countries, where I lived amongst different cultures and met people with different perspectives on life. And everywhere I found that the misconceptions we hold onto in life, we hold onto like they are universal truths.
I have felt the pain of loss, of being rejected and punished for not being the version of someone else’s idea of who I should be. I have lived outside the protocols and rules of different societies, in different places.
I have been driven out of places, kicked out of homes, and humiliated by people I have trusted. I have fought back, I have stood up for my nature, I have pushed back and reclaimed my expression space. I have a love for life that is bigger than my ego has the capacity to sabotage.
So let’s discover the unknown
I have something share with the rest of you, and I share it with a heart filled in the belief that we can connect and become aware of our collective abilities. Anybody that has been in a loving relationship knows that when we connect with another person, we become braver to explore and discover unknown things.
Imagine what we could do if we connected with each other through different cultures, if we connected with each other through different religions. What could be accomplished as a collective of humans if we were even aware of the things we are directed to do in this unconscious collective we are operating in.
We are so distracted by trying to ‘better’ our individual avatars
We’re oblivious about how each one of us is used to participate in cultural and religious ideologies that govern our choices in life. We live in our comfort zones, we live habituated, and we never explore the vast unknown opportunities available to us. Because fear has been embellished to the point where it governs most of our choices.
But what has become a threat to some is the truth, is transparency, is authenticity. And I’m passionate about sharing my authentic experiences and discoveries, even if it might rock the foundations a bit. Because I want to contribute on a level where humanity is put first.
So dare to break even your own rules
Yes, dare to bend the rules, dare to break them, even if those rules are your own. Explore the world outside of your comfort zones, deepen your participation of this extraordinary design that we are all part of. Beyond the fake plastic-wrapped joy, beyond the illusion of separation and superiority, beyond validation and attention, beyond all that, is you.
Be brave enough to do what truly, deeply, authentically is natural to you. Be brave enough to reclaim your own precious expression space … and explore every wondrous corner of all those vast unknown opportunities.
