An OUTSIDER is a person who feels like a stranger in the society of Normal People.
In a socially acceptable form, he is an introvert. In a less acceptable form, a hermit. He tends to self-isolate. He sees the world too clearly and too painfully. He cannot dissolve into the daily routine. He asks radical questions about life, death, purpose. He wants to go beyond the trivial. He suffers from a sense of meaninglessness. And perhaps, most of all, he suffers not from his abnormality, but from his inability to fit into modern society.
“He knows he is sick in a society that does not know it is sick.”
- Colin Wilson, The Outsider (1956).
The Outsider Cycle
In The Outsider (1956), Colin Wilson describes the cycle a typical outsider goes through:
The tragic path of The Outsider
The path of the outsider is tragic and difficult. It so happens that, because of my profession (I am a weird psychologist who believes more in the power of philosophy and books than in trauma processing and medication), I know many people who feel that they do not fit with the norms of modern society.
You do not have to look far. Anyone who reads more than 1 book a month already looks suspicious. Anyone who has even some kind of intellectual life is, at the very least, weird. Anyone who decides to leave a corporate career, change profession, and live on 20% of their previous income… well, this person is not merely suspicious and weird. This person is DEFINITELY unwell.
Are you trying to tell me you have some kind of inner life? That you have some complicated thoughts? That you are constantly searching for some meaning, cannot calm down and live normally, like all normal people? No, no, that’s too intense.
And in response, those who feel nauseated by toxic positivity and superficial networking, those for whom it does not work to be constantly available, productive, light, cheerful, social, resourceful, they do begin to feel defective.
Because modern society demands that we not only live our lives the best way we can, but that we constantly enjoy ourselves, look for pleasure, consume, be fast, be busy, be adaptive, be simpler. Be normal..
But what if you simply cannot not? What if you still have Big Questions? What if you cannot enjoy what you are supposed to enjoy? What if you do not want to participate in the endless rat race for experiences, high status, perfect body, income, travel, personal brand, and the right version of yourself (“right” from the point of view of money-making, of course)? What if you do not want to optimize life, but to understand and deepen it?
What if you do not want to consume, but to create?
Are you sure you want to be normal?
I believe in the power of books much more than I believe in the power of psychotherapeutic techniques, and there is one book that in my humble opinion has a wonderfully healing effect: The Revolt of the Masses by José Ortega y Gasset (1930).
This is not a motivational book about how you need to believe that you are chosen, a superhuman, or a special snowflake. This book simply shows an alternative scenario. It describes The Normal Person and what will become of our society if The Outsiders keep crawling back into their caves and spend their lives simply reading books.
A Normal Person is not necessarily a bad person. The mass man can be very successful, intelligent, kind, wealthy, well-integrated, and highly functional. The main differences lie elsewhere: this person has almost no interest beyond pleasure and survival, he has no cultural or intellectual life, he has no demands towards himself, he does not feel an inner obligation to grow deeper. He does not feel the urge to create. He accepts himself as the measure of all things. He is not tormented by any questions and looks for digestible, quick, ready-made answers. The goal of his life is comfort, stability, and safety.
And in the name of this, he will destroy anyone who dares to remind him that life can be something more than comfortable survival. He will despise and exclude anyone whose very existence violates the collective agreement that being normal is enough.
The choir does not like soloists. If this is the alternative, are you absolutely sure you want to keep suffering because you are different? Are you sure you would prefer to be an insider, to be Normal? And if not, what good can you make of it (see points 4 and 5 of the cycle based on Colin Wilson’s book)?
What to read next
In a socially acceptable form, he is an introvert. In a less acceptable form, a hermit. He tends to self-isolate. He sees the world too clearly and too painfully. He cannot dissolve into the daily routine. He asks radical questions about life, death, purpose. He wants to go beyond the trivial. He suffers from a sense of meaninglessness. And perhaps, most of all, he suffers not from his abnormality, but from his inability to fit into modern society.
“He knows he is sick in a society that does not know it is sick.”
- Colin Wilson, The Outsider (1956).
The Outsider Cycle
In The Outsider (1956), Colin Wilson describes the cycle a typical outsider goes through:
- Be “normal” - he wants to stop being an outsider, wears masks, mimics The Normal People, formally accepts the rules of the game and the system.
- Alienation - feels exhausted from trying to be normal, isolates himself, feels lonely. He bitterly realizes that the strategy of mimicry is not sustainable in the long term.
- Crisis - experiences his otherness as a personal tragedy, balancing between despair and destruction: should he still force himself to be normal, or accept exile and loneliness? At this point he has 3 life strategies to choose from:
- He can choose self-destruction and become a “superfluous man,” incapable of finding his place in the world. He does not want to live like everyone else, but also cannot create his own path.
- He can choose to force himself to fit in even harder, but the price will be depression and burnout.
- He can stop bargaining with reality and accept it. If so, he gets a chance (but not a guarantee) to move to the next stage.
- Rebellion and search - a new, creative, and unique view of life is born. He gains the ability to turn suffering into strength, loneliness into a source of insight and inspiration. Out of rebellion comes creativity: art, philosophy, new projects and communities. “Life as a project” starts forming, one that is based on self-expression and personal meaning.
- Return to the world - he stops victimizing himself and becomes a Prophet. He goes beyond the trivial and the mass. He takes pride in his otherness. He understands that being an outsider is not only a tragedy, but also a possibility. He becomes visible.
The tragic path of The Outsider
The path of the outsider is tragic and difficult. It so happens that, because of my profession (I am a weird psychologist who believes more in the power of philosophy and books than in trauma processing and medication), I know many people who feel that they do not fit with the norms of modern society.
You do not have to look far. Anyone who reads more than 1 book a month already looks suspicious. Anyone who has even some kind of intellectual life is, at the very least, weird. Anyone who decides to leave a corporate career, change profession, and live on 20% of their previous income… well, this person is not merely suspicious and weird. This person is DEFINITELY unwell.
Are you trying to tell me you have some kind of inner life? That you have some complicated thoughts? That you are constantly searching for some meaning, cannot calm down and live normally, like all normal people? No, no, that’s too intense.
And in response, those who feel nauseated by toxic positivity and superficial networking, those for whom it does not work to be constantly available, productive, light, cheerful, social, resourceful, they do begin to feel defective.
Because modern society demands that we not only live our lives the best way we can, but that we constantly enjoy ourselves, look for pleasure, consume, be fast, be busy, be adaptive, be simpler. Be normal..
But what if you simply cannot not? What if you still have Big Questions? What if you cannot enjoy what you are supposed to enjoy? What if you do not want to participate in the endless rat race for experiences, high status, perfect body, income, travel, personal brand, and the right version of yourself (“right” from the point of view of money-making, of course)? What if you do not want to optimize life, but to understand and deepen it?
What if you do not want to consume, but to create?
Are you sure you want to be normal?
I believe in the power of books much more than I believe in the power of psychotherapeutic techniques, and there is one book that in my humble opinion has a wonderfully healing effect: The Revolt of the Masses by José Ortega y Gasset (1930).
This is not a motivational book about how you need to believe that you are chosen, a superhuman, or a special snowflake. This book simply shows an alternative scenario. It describes The Normal Person and what will become of our society if The Outsiders keep crawling back into their caves and spend their lives simply reading books.
A Normal Person is not necessarily a bad person. The mass man can be very successful, intelligent, kind, wealthy, well-integrated, and highly functional. The main differences lie elsewhere: this person has almost no interest beyond pleasure and survival, he has no cultural or intellectual life, he has no demands towards himself, he does not feel an inner obligation to grow deeper. He does not feel the urge to create. He accepts himself as the measure of all things. He is not tormented by any questions and looks for digestible, quick, ready-made answers. The goal of his life is comfort, stability, and safety.
And in the name of this, he will destroy anyone who dares to remind him that life can be something more than comfortable survival. He will despise and exclude anyone whose very existence violates the collective agreement that being normal is enough.
The choir does not like soloists. If this is the alternative, are you absolutely sure you want to keep suffering because you are different? Are you sure you would prefer to be an insider, to be Normal? And if not, what good can you make of it (see points 4 and 5 of the cycle based on Colin Wilson’s book)?
What to read next
- Colin Wilson - The Outsider
- José Ortega y Gasset - The Revolt of the Masses
- John Fowles - The Collector