WE SEE the world, if we see it at all, through our own perception.

Some see that as a Prison. Perhaps, for them, it is. But they are blaming the wrong thing. It isn't their perception that is a prison, but their worldview, which is quite different.

It has been a struggle for me to "open my eyes." I suppose it is for everyone who has ever really tried. Unlearning suburbanism and its values—materialism, nihilism, solipsism, consumption, fundamentalism, selfishness ... that's all pretty damn Difficult. It is a challenge to move from being a consumer to being an appreciator. It has been difficult to stop thinking within the framework of industrialization and the standard bell curve to that of "the weird," as Seth Godin puts it. Society's brainwashing is powerful and pernicious. It takes time and energy to see things differently and for increasingly long periods.

People aren't truly interested in changing, no matter what they say. It's why athletic clubs and gyms see a dramatic drop-off at the beginning of each February. Those New Years' resolutions to get back in shape are, in effect, totally worthless and weren't taken with the seriousness they deserved.

The diet is forgotten, and so is that commitment to read more, or that promise to be a better dad or boyfriend or whatever. A month or two or three later, they'll admit their failure to their family and acquaintances, who'll laugh and admit theirs. It's not only socially acceptable to fail, but socially unacceptable notto. People who truly change ... well, they're presumptuous, arrogant fucks, now aren't they? Who do they think they are?

Change does happen, and progress does occur, but it's very slow and halting. Many times it's two steps back for every step forward. The reason why is elucidated above. True changemakers, either on a personal or societal level, are few and far between. And they are so because they are unliked and unwanted by the herd. It takes courage and great inner strength to go it alone, to frame the world in a different way than those in the corral you just left behind.