Each hobby or interest is an attempt to find an outlet for an individual’s unique creative expression. We are all unique and each one of us holds a unique method for exhibiting our unique gift for creative expression. Many claim that their lives would be less fulfilling without their hobby. A hobby can allow us to transcend generic behavioural conformance and expression. Generic behaviour whilst considered to be ‘normal’ behaviour is rarely an individual’s unique method of creative expression. Conformance is expected and sometimes demanded by ‘society’.
When recruiting for a job the candidates are compared and judged. The criterion for judgement of a job applicant is conformance with the requirements of the job. Judgement of one by another is based upon making comparisons with ‘expectations’. Many believe that without a hobby there is nothing ‘of them’ or ‘for them’ in their experience. To conform is to surrender to normality. Normality is to do the same things that others do. When you conform you are seeking to create and sustain a desired perception in the ‘minds’ of others. We conform to avoid ‘judgement’.
We conform in order to share in the limited opportunities that are made available by the other participants that sustain what are fairly limited ‘existential parameters’. To behave as expected by others requires an individual to place conditions and controls upon their expressed behaviour. These behavioural controls are placed upon the behaviours that will or may be observed by others. The tolerance of society is limited to certain behavioural parameters. When we control our behaviour we are not fully engaged in our behavioural activities.
Conscious effort requires an individual to force behaviour. Forced behaviour is never ‘natural’ behaviour. The drills of conscripted soldiers demonstrate that conscious programming through repetition will eventually result in soldiers automatically responding to various commands. But when you are not fully conscious you are not fully present. It is difficult for an individual to do what they do not enjoy. We can only repeat unnatural behaviour by consciously ‘checking out’. Behavioural repetition creates unconscious resources that program repetitive generic behavioural responses.
Another common example is the process that some go through when learning to drive a car. We condition our responses with personal beliefs which ensure that we can participate in a life of generic behavioural expression. This is a life of limitation. Our minds have developed the ability to switch off whilst our unconsciously controlled behaviour is engaged in generic activities that limit or inhibit our unique personal expression. So we daydream of another life whilst compliantly exhibiting what is perceived to be normal generic behaviour that conforms to the expectations of others.
Paradoxically, unconscious mind conditioning requires conscious programming. It is this conditioning that programmes and sustains behavioural conformance. The conditioning of our minds is what prevents our unique creative expression. Normality is what the majority does. After a period of consciously repeating our behaviour it can become an unconscious response to people, situations and other stimulus. This creates unconscious conditioned responses such as driving a car, anger or violence. When we are not fully conscious of our behaviour it is because ‘we’ are not conscious.
When we are conditioned to respond we are not fully present. A conditioned response is not a unique experience. A conditioned response is an ‘addiction’ installed through behavioural repetition or instantly acquired after a deeply traumatic, painful or fearful experience. The software for that behaviour is the personal beliefs. Behavioural repetition can become a habit. If we are unable to stop repeating the habitual behaviour it is because we have become addicted. Addiction can prevent freedom of unique or natural expression which is a form of ‘self-incarceration’.
Globalisation is the generic term used to describe the spread of generic behaviours beyond the borders of the source of their origin. The majority of mankind repeats the same thoughts and behaviours over and over again. We cannot change our experience, unless we change our thoughts and behaviour. We cannot change our current behaviour unless we stop worshipping our current beliefs as absolute truth. A hobby is an opportunity to allow our desire and/or curiosity to guide us and to experiment with how certain new experiences ‘feel’.
When we do not express natural behaviour and feelings it is because our mind has been conditioned. A hobby can provide a temporary escape from conformance.
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