either... normal or.... abnormal?

Thought-experiment….. just mixing options on the palette of choice.

What would the canvas of life look like if there was a deep taboo on openly expressing highly giftedness?

I being ‘so’ in public, would not only be met with a raised eyebrow here and there, but leads inevitably to a wide palette of capital crime repercussions like: exile, mutilation, silencing……?

A highly gifted person who likes to be ‘alive'  and desires to play a part in society with a great deal of freedom, has not many options left but to tuck those 'gifts' away, in private.
Expresing them? Underground! ….. So nobody knows. Or maybe (really maybe....) just a few confidants.
Pretending ‘not-to-be-so’ in the outside world, hiding it, masking it, cloaking it.

Being normal, is the norm.
Being less-capable-in-something-than- ‘most-people’ is safe and can safely be openly expressed.
Being abnormal, by being much better in something than most people…. is a shocking discovery, very dangerous to show in public.

Understandable……

Just extending this thought experiment.

What if, every person on this earth has at least one very special talent. More likely even...... a few?
Stands ‘way’ out from the crowd on excelling in that ability, is highly gifted on some terrain or another?
And…. is hugely attracted to playing with those talents too!

Whoops! !!!!

Simple logic would then indicate that being ‘so’, would be equal to ‘being human’.

But if openly expressing your unique human talents is a capital crime, a huge cultural taboo, best to be avoided or quickly masked with signs of unabliity…..then all that does get shown in public is: what we all have in common.

What we then all would have in common, would at least be the fear of openly expressing the best of who we really are, of being ‘ busted’ for openly expressing our unique abilities of being..... human.

We would all be driven by a constant fear, on an existential level (of being human) , of being harmed by a strong predator that wants to silence us, rob us, mutilate us…..

Strong existential fear brings up only one palette of choice: fight or flight.

The older parts of our brain structures ‘kick in’, the animal instincts,  when there is a major life threatening situation at hand.

Which gives you the top-‘level-security, that at least, you will show normal behaviour and not use your unique human talents in public. You can be ‘happy’ because you are ‘safe' and safely showing the type of behaviour everybody is showing.

Or…… not?

Can a human being be truly happy when the best (s)he has to offer needs to be hidden and masked?
Can a society really make significant progress in battle mode against humanity?

I can pretend not to know.
I can pretend not to see that this might be what we are doing to ourselves and each other right now.
I can pretend that this is ‘ just’ a thought experiment that has nothing to do with what is actually going on on the canvas of life, as we speak.

I can link here to a story I once read on this very topic.
It is harmless. It speaks of animals, not of human beings.
It is safe to read it. Most people you know, can read and don't mind doing that in public.