Unique Counterfeit: Contradictory

Unique is a reasoned individual contribution in the context of the larger culture. Maslow states that these individuals resisted enculturation. In clarifying Maslow’s meaning, I focus more on the action of the individual contribution rather than the resistance. Think first of your responsibility to yourself, then reason your contribution to society. Our collective needs and donations provide the pull and push that powers culture.

The counterfeit of uniqueness is contradictory. As a contradictory individual, you state contradictions to the brainstorms of others as the devil’s advocate. You quote common contradictions to accepted culture. You are active in your intention to present yourself as free from the influences of culture, yet your contribution is often cliché or otherwise trite. You want the group to focus on you and your supposed uniqueness, but your contradictions only serve to cause spectacle and frustrate group innovation.

You want to contribute to the group discussion, but you do not evidence the reasoning and foundation of information that would support your pretend wisdom. You possess the boldness and the agency that are characteristic of uniqueness, but you lack the thoughtfulness and the defensible knowledge base. You erroneously think that innovation means denying that the decisions of the past have worth. Because of this missed learning opportunity, you often suggest repeating past failures under new names.

To be truly unique is to actively contribute to the creation of culture with a reasoned approach to supporting or redirecting individual and collective actions. Uniqueness is based in knowledge of self, the contribution of others, the mechanism of culture, and the impact of culture on behavior. Unique individuals are able to experiment with new inputs to the mechanism and model the resultant behaviors in ways that articulate interrelatedness and options for the group.