this post was submitted on 23 May 2024
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There is a term for this, but I can't remember what it is.
It's a phenomenon where a person goes through their formative years in a given structure, where you are raised by your parents, go to school, and are given set goals for every year - do X and you'll get to Y. This goes all the way up to your early twenties if you go to university, possibly longer if you join a structured company with similar guardrails, or much longer when you join the armed forces and live in a regimented way.
Once people leave these guardrails, some really struggle with the freedom they are granted. No one has a goal to point you towards, no one cares if you fail, and ultimately your life has a degree of freedom you haven't experienced ever.
One thing we're terrible at as a society is either guiding people with no clear path, or supporting those that don't want a clear path and want to find one of their own. Some people really struggle with this, and the freedom of being able to do shit like overindulge on drugs/alcohol/food with no support or community support can ruin lives.
That's why religion unfortunately continues to exist. They are the imaginary guardrails, but towards an imaginary goal that is often taken advantage of.
In my opinion this is a bit of a narrow view. It definitely holds true for many Christians. But I think some religions like Buddhism may actually help you find a way without guard rails.
It certainly did for Hitler!
The problem with the guardrails that actually do work is that they often encompass entire fields of active and progressive study that is constantly evolving, and most people/families/societies ain't have the time or experience to keep up with that. Living without guardrails is simple, it's called evolution.