Individuation. That is, the desire hunger and lust to become insanely different and unique.

Unique in our thoughts, unique in our appearance, unique in our mannerisms and talking, to be genuinely one-of-a-kind.

This is what drives consumerism, that is thinking that buying a certain product or combination of products will make you unique. But we all know that the exterior of it superficial, and the inside interior is what is profound and deep.

Then perhaps what we should be striving towards is making our interior thoughts, actions, and identity different.

And when it comes to our external exterior appearance, choose what is common and plain. A simple, plain Jane exterior, whereas having an insanely complicated and complex and interesting interior.

For example, better to have a sleeper car that is a car that looks stuck and plain from the outside, with an insanely upgraded engine on the interior. This is quite smart, because you can avoid unnecessary attention from thief robbers and cops, while preserving the jewels on the inside.

Why do the insanely rich and really famous and successful people dress like homeless people when they go out?

Funny enough, when you’re on the bottom you want to become famous and known by everybody. But once you’re on the top, do you want to become as anonymous and hidden as possible.

For example, if you’re really really rich famous and successful, you don’t want to be seen by the paparazzi. Therefore you might go out wearing sunglasses, a simple black hat, and baggy tattered clothes to obscure yourself.

Similarly speaking, the really really rich famous and successful people do not want their real purchasing behaviors known. Apparently even Mark Zuckerberg has a whole team and satellite companies to prevent others from knowing what he is ordering or using.

Being unique as a sign of pride

The question at hand: do you want to become more similar to others, or more dissimilar to others?

If you want to become more similar to others, you are probably addicted to social media and keeping up with trends and fads. To be wearing always the trendy clothes that are deemed as “cool“ by others. you’re probably a slave to following the opinions of “influencers“. And you’re deathly afraid of wearing what is “uncool“.

If you want to become more dissimilar to others, isolation and creative isolation is the path. Spending less time on your phone, less time communicating to the outside world, and more time thinking, contemplating, and fleshing out your own unique thoughts. almost like becoming a secular Zen monk. For example, Kendrick Lamar able to take a four year hiatus, not use social media, and still remain on top. Compare him to other rappers who are constantly striving for the attention of others. A saying from Nasim Taleb which is quite wise:

You know you’re influential when others notice your absence more than your presence.