Wyrd Stoic
Tomorrow’s events:
Collective Presencing. Every Tuesday @ 2:00 AM ET. RSVP here. 90 mins.
Collective Journaling. Daily @ 8:00 AM ET. Patreon event. 90 mins.
The Aesthetic of the Meta-Aesthetic: The Meaning Nexus Between Memeplexes w/ Andrés Gómez Emilsson. January 25th @ 6:00 PM ET. RSVP here.
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January 24th, 2022
Weird. A dictionary definition: unusual or strange. We can contrast this to normal: adhering to norms.
These polar opposites have representatives: weirdos and normies. A weirdo is somebody who is temperamentally inclined to operate outside of norms. A normie is someone who is temperamentally inclined to operate inside of them.
Normies are needed to maintain order, co-creating a “consensus reality” so people can function, survive and ideally thrive together. Weirdos are needed for norms to be refactored, refurbished, and redesigned towards a new world, ideally one that is good, true, and beautiful.
Normies feel threatened by weirdos. Weirdos feel resentment towards normies. They do not like each other, playing the shame game towards one another. They operate in different ontologies. Normie ontology has an experience of security and comfort. Weirdo ontology has an experience of adventure and expansiveness. Too much of the former and you feel stuck. Too much of the latter and you feel crazy.
The less foolish game is to see that they need each other, especially during Game In-Between. People will have certain roles and temperaments that will incline them towards being a normie or weirdo during the game between the games. That is okay. What is not okay is the shame game being played between the two. That needs to stop. Normies shame those who operate outside the norms and weirdos shame those who operate inside of them.
Weirdos are the ones that have the capacity to stop the shame game, as they have the capacity to change the norms - when you change the norms you change the game. The norms in the current game are coated in shame, and what you shame stays the same.
If shamed, the move here is to love thy shame, not play it forward. It is easier (and more fun) than you might think - stay with the shame, then love the shame, responding from loved shame, not reacting from unloved shame. Our shame educator has a lot to say about this.
Normies and weirdos are trapped in their own “polarity spell,” hence Stoics might be needed, especially the weird ones, as Weird Stoics are the ones who have the capacity to break spells. Breaking spells allows for less foolish games to be played, such as the code-switching metagame: play the normie when a norm game is wise to play, and play the weirdo when a norm game is wise not to play. With social alchemy, you can appear to play both at the same time, so nobody is the wiser.
If you slip up and show too much weird for the normie to bear, two things can happen - you will be shamed and you can cause a “break.” The former is a gift - being shamed is an opportunity to love. The latter requires compassion - if a break happens too quickly, “ontological shock” will occur. This is the shock that happens when one is disabused of one’s worldview too quickly. An ontological shock absent of proper onboarding to the new game is counterproductive towards the new game emerging.
Changing norms with care are needed to bring about a new game. You can do this transparently, without anyone noticing. This is how one “steals” a culture: one changes fate, breaking the spell, then casting a new one. The word weird comes from the word “wyrd” after all. A definition: fate personified.
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