Lazy Vs. Different

To publish part of a recent conversation with an artist-new-friend:
I asked "Many people desire to be/think different. I hear it a lot, to the level of cliche. You do not seem cliche to me. So, explain, if you so kindly would, what being different means to you and why you desire it:"

He wrote:

"Thinking the way I do: Once I was old enough to realize most people were a bore, it caused me to question why and who didn't fit that category. It's really laziness. We don't need to labor all day just for our food in this society. Most just give up beyond what they have to do succombing to the disease of complacent normality. They won't give energy to creativity, thought, physical activity, skills, crafts, or talents. They just sit there. That's very sad, but I decided I'd do two things about it. First, know that I can't change others, so I'd merely hope to inpire them by example. Second, I can make a lot of money off these uninteligent consumers of everything they don't need. Not really, I just love to entertain and excite people.

Being different takes more energy. It explores areas of life and expression that most will never know. It's sad. Like going through life with wings in your back you never knew you had because of all the time you spend sitting in a chair, sleeping, or engaged in mundane activities using 2% of their brain. I want to really be alive in the time I have. I am also bored with conventional thinking. A home is square because a square is the most COST effective way to build. Cost. That's it. After a while, people actually think they prefer to live in square rooms. Wake up. You live in a shoe box because it's cheap. (Not you, I'm just yelling into the air). You've lived a discount shape for so long that you've made it desirable as a society. Now the guy that works harder and lives in an interesting structure is a freak and less desireable. How backwards this is. You only look down on it because you don't want to put the effort into anything other than putting the recliner back and lifting the remote.

I know I'm making incorrect generalizations, but you get my point?"

I wrote:

"Re: Laziness...

I've been writing like words are as important as oxygen for me lately. One of my most recent journal entries was about laziness, and my fear of it. I know, however, I have a very strong tendancy toward it - but it does not manifest itself in the way you decry... (Decry - is that really a word? I like it anyhow.) I've been jelous of the attention TV gets from the time I was little. Not that I think *I* should necessarily be the one getting attention instead - but that the imagination, brain, conversation, people in general should. My laziness is not one of imagination. Your comments about square houses remind me of when I was walking on Hawthorne last night. I was walking. Why walk? Everyone walks. I decided to run. Usually I hate running - for runnings' sake. But I wanted to run because I could... like that urge children get to run the second they get the chance.... I ran - and it made me giggle.

I flow constantly from one creative output to another. Create music. Create poems, stories, plays. Create action. Create dance. Create connection. Create crafts (macrame, beadwork, etc). Photographs. New tastes - food combinations. Recently - my first performance art piece. Create groups of people. Create events. I can't NOT create. My imagination is not lazy, and for this I am thankful.

But lately, I've been a lazy consumer. I know I shouldn't spend, I can't afford it. But discipline I don't have right now. I think it each time I touch my wallet. Don't spend. Lazy me says Don't wait.

I love to think deeply, explore ideas. But getting to a conclusion - something final - something I definetly believe in, is unusual. I've been afraid these past few weeks that I believe in the church out of laziness. I've been seriously contemplating it. I DO believe perfection is possible (though a process, not a static result) and I DO strive for it - at times harder than others. But it's easier for me to be good when I do what's taught at church. Laziness? The most saint-like person I know is not a member of any church. He's striving for perfection constantly. I look at my actions, and I think I'm lazy. Whoa to he that is at ease in Zion!

But in my quest to be creative, to be a positive contributor to society, to inspire, to share - I don't think of myself as different. The more I explore others, the more people I find that are like me. The more "different" philosophies I study, the more all things seem the same to me. Are "people" really so different? Yes, your points are all good. Generalizations certainly serve a purpose. Perhaps I just have a hang-up with the word different. I love words. It comes down to little - simple things."