“It is about freedom, intellectual and creative freedom.” – this is very true. When we reach this state of freedom, our life opens up for us. The key is overcoming the fear and letting these creative sides emerge and prosper. I believe the social Internet is empowering to those to embrace it as a tool to understand and live their creativeness.

@Duane – I was raised much like you. I like to think that I hold no prejudices and judge on merit only. However, when I examine my feelings, actions, and words, I find I have a heavy bias toward the working class. I believe there is a part of my subconscious that was programmed quite young to believe that working class people were ‘my people’ and were somehow morally superior. Intellectually I know that is absurd, viscerally it is a reality for me. It is the comfort zone I must break out of. I think it is the juxtaposition of William Deresiewicz’s inability to relate to his plumber.

As I got older, I came to know people from all different social and economic circles. I found that there are smart and “dumb” people in all of them. The ones who irk me the most are those who have extensive education (MBA’s, PHD’s etc.) and no common sense.

You’re right about the world becoming more abundance conscious but, like anything, it doesn’t happen overnight. It will take generations for the majority to finally catch on to the fact that the universe is limitless.

Most people are just too busy doing what they’ve always done to learn how to do anything new or find a way out of the rut they’ve become accustomed to.

Duane

Recognize Your Fears – First, you need to recognize that this is indeed one of the fears you have. If you already accept this particular fear as the absolute truth, then there is no way to face that particular fear and hence no way to overcome it.

Understanding The Root Of Your Fears – With your list of fears that are holding you back, you can now try to figure out where these fears come from. For each item on the list, examine whether this fear is the result of some other fears. Your goal is to consolidate your list to as few fears as possible, so that you can better understand where the root of your all your fears are coming from.

Overcoming Your Fears – Fear, as far as I can tell, is the result of uncertainty about a situation. We fear death because we don’t know what happens after it. We fear losing our jobs because we don’t know if there is another way we’ll be able to support ourselves. We fear asking a person out on a date because we don’t know what the other person’s expectations are and whether they would say yes or no. In all of these instances, fear comes from not knowing what we would do should some particular situation happen.

To get rid of the fear, simply figure out what you will do in each of the possible scenarios. For example, for the fear of asking someone out on a date, figure out what you would do if he/she says yes, he/she says no, he/she says yes with a smile, he/she says no with a smile, he/she throws a glass of water at you, etc. Once you know exactly how to handle every single situation, there is simply nothing to be afraid of anymore.

Sam
Fix My Personal Finance
http://fixmypersonalfinance.com/

In some ways the blogosphere is the same (For example numerous blogs reporting the same movie news and rumours). One advantage the blogosphere has is that “free thinkers” have a low cost medium to express themselves and develop connections to other “free thinkers.” I appreciate the opportunities to absorb views and thoughts divergent from my own.

Cheers