I first became interested in this idea of the average person when I read the book Irrational Man by Carl Jung. And like the World War 2 cockpits, Jung highlighted that there is no such thing as the average person. Average is only an abstract concept that no person actually fits. So anything designed for that average will not really fit anyone…perfectly.
In the Civil War, they moved from hand building each soldier’s uniform to mass producing uniforms, which got us to something a little different than averages – small, medium, large.
So now we have averages of smaller groups but as anyone who has ever gone jean shopping, this helps a little, but not very much (and yet I hear over and over again that people don’t want to take something they just bought to a tailor because it should just fit me…right?!?). The legs are the wrong length, it gaps at the waistline, the lower part fits but the upper part doesn’t. Its really a mess. So sizes, really averages of smaller groups, was a move in the right direction, but its still just averages.
So why do we put up with this average mentality? Is that part of the conditioning of our society? Could it be that we accept average spirituality because our society has trained us to accept averages in all parts of our lives??
I don’t know about you but i’m on the lookout for anything made for the average. I don’t want to put up with averages anymore! But especially not in my spirituality. One-size-fits-all spirituality is dead to me. Long live the “Custom Suited” spirituality that is a perfect fit for the uniquely “sized” me!!!: <grin>
Check out more on the rise of the Average in the 99% Invisible Podcast
I think we accept averages in our spiritual lives because more often than not just like clothing it is what we are offered. Also we are creatures of habit and going out of our way to try new things is not always our first inclination. If every time you buy pants you go to Costco its very unlikely you are going to a tailor, if you spent your whole life going to a traditional church you are probably unlikely to step out of that tradition.
And for those who deliver average spirituality their motivation lives in the ability to control the spiritual experience and to maintain dogma to specific religious beliefs. If every did everything to custom fit their beliefs why would you need century old dogma and more importantly the people who in charge whose sole purpose is enforcing that belief system.
Systems and individuality rarely go hand in hand.
I agree totally! Well said!