“I’m an outsider by choice, but not truly. It’s the unpleasantness of the system that keeps me out. I’d rather be in, in a good system. That’s where my discontent comes from: being forced to choose to stay outside. My advice: Just keep movin’ straight ahead. Every now and then you find yourself in a different place.”
– George Carlin, When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?
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“These men are in prison: that is the Outsider’s verdict. They are quite contented in prison—caged animals who have never known freedom; but it is prison all the same. And the Outsider? He is in prison too: nearly every Outsider in this book has told us so in a different language; but he knows it. His desire is to escape. But a prison-break is not an easy matter; you must know all about your prison, otherwise you might spend years in tunnelling, like the Abbé in The Count of Monte Cristo, and only find yourself in the next cell.”
Colin Wilson, The Outsider
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Is the idea of being an outsider self-indulgent?
Surely there is always more we could do to fit in with everyone else.
But that would require the action of compromise.
And sometimes compromise can be the hardest thing to do because it requires the bypassing of the ego.
A compromise, at its best, is a win-win situation.
“I will compromise to accommodate your needs because in the long run, I benefit too.”
The colorary is, “I’m not going to do that because it makes me look weak.”
Some of us like to exist slightly on the periphery. Happy to not be in the group. The term outsider is a bit strong. It suggests discontent.
I am not an outsider, more of a dreamer. I am happy to be in and amongst others but there is a good chance my mind will drift elsewhere.
I like to spend time roaming in the hinterlands of my curiosity. In my own mind I can be totally alone. But I don’t seek to be lonely.
I can tunnel outside of the world that has been constructed all around me. The expectations of others close and far can be a sort of prison.
I can return in a jiffy.
If I am an outsider it is because I reject the rote conclusions of popular media and society.
Not in a misanthropic way. I am not walking around grumbling, building walls to keep others out.
It’s more of a quiet rejection, that is a movement towards the things I like and the ideas that interest me.
If I get that time away to myself, I am happy to yield to the world. Until it’s time go for a walk, learn and explore again.
Conversations With Quotations 