Outlier

2025, August, Issue 163

With an eye on reality,

We see this illusion has much to teach,

We see that everything is a teaching,

We see Dharma at last,

and we see this embroiled mob fighting

for the sake of fighting,

for the sake of delusion and division,

for the sake of an ever-changing crowd

that does not exist;

We see that we can’t win,

if we remain engaged,

constantly embroiled

with such deluded beings;

Curmudgeonly attitudes springing forth,

as a Spiritual Practitioner

Appears

with great courage

Ready

to face so many demons,

Ready

to awaken

this outlier holds fast,

this outlier stands firm

in this conviction

to discover reality at last,

rejecting all constraints,

facing terrible obstructions,

many demons preventing us,

standing in the way of our

true awakening,

preventing reality itself from revealing

even a glimpse, as our conviction

manifests;

All these deluded dimwits,

mindless automatons

perpetuating their own demise

insisting that we must remain in darkness,

insisting

that every nuance of this perpetual stupidity

must continue,

no matter what;

Such fools are simply guardians

of their own demise,

without the slightest bit of courage

or freedom

or originality

in their lives,

as they wander forever in

complete confusion and misery;

Remain steadfast!

When we aspire to awaken,

we must become the outlier,

we must leave our homeland

forever.

A poem by Robert Aho © 2025

When we take an interest in the Dharma, which really means becoming committed to discovering what is Ultimately Real, we are taking an interest in something that defies convention. We must prepare ourselves for the inevitable outcries against us for taking a nuanced approach to existence, as we investigate everything. We might have problems with nearly everyone we encounter, even other practitioners of the Dharma, because people are looking for reassurance and confirmation of each and every assumption about an untested reality. We are asked to behave precisely in accordance with that. It is regulated.

Every Spiritual Path is unique. What we need on that Path is very specific. You will likely never encounter another individual anywhere who agrees with you about reality, at least not until you finally awaken; and, then at that point, it really doesn’t matter. Awakening is beyond belief.

If you wish to awaken, you must be prepared for becoming an outlier—this is quite obvious. We all know that there will be trouble if we don’t agree completely with the people around us. Look at any organization and you will see that it is the yes-men and not the original thinkers who rise to the top. People who are genuine, creative, original, inventive, or truth-sayers who are concerned about reality, all become outcasts. They must live as outliers, living on the edge of a world that has always been insane. Nothing worthwhile ever comes from this idea of conforming with the norm, even though most people insist upon it.

Becoming an outlier means that you must develop your inner strength. It means that you must persevere and not be bothered by ‘group-think’. You must develop a cool attitude, remaining unaffected by social pressures and societal norms. You must look within and remain firm in your convictions to awaken. It is rare to encounter another individual who will support you when you have such convictions. You must be ready by anticipating that many people will want nothing to do with you; and, this will seem daunting, because the motivations of anyone on a Spiritual Path are always about wishing the best for everyone. People choose delusion over reality, and they’re not afraid to defend their delusions. Even people close to you may turn you into an outcast, simply because you are determined to awaken. Be prepared for this.

This world wants you to conform to their delusions, their assumed and unexamined beliefs about this or that, all the nuances of behavior and thought. They may even require specific expressions on your face, certain ways to comb your hair, various inflections in your voice, the look in your eyes, and even the way your body appears, maybe not too fat, not too thin, your posture, the way you walk, the way you eat, the way you nuance your way through life, all of this must conform or you will be utterly and completely cast aside as an outlier.

Conforming is an act of futility, because what follows this is social hierarchy, a pecking order where everybody picks on everybody. You might as well just go all out and not belong, push your luck at every encounter, simply be yourself, say inappropriate things without the slightest regard for social backlash, or oppressive constraints of others pushing you around or knocking you down.

It is said that a Bodhisattva must leave their homeland. It does not seem to me that this necessarily means that we must physically go somewhere else. It seems that it really means that we must let go of social constraints that are holding us back, letting go of the conventional ways that people keep us from our Spiritual Path. A Bodhisattva is a Spiritual Practitioner who is committed to living altruistically, living in each moment so that people can awaken. People don’t like that. It doesn’t conform. Prepare to be cast out if you do what you must—awaken!

Blessings in Light,

Robert Aho