Question for everyone who doesn't think they are sheep-like?

Question

I think most people are sheep-like. There are very few people that don't follow an existing path. You may say you follow your own unique path, but if you are a member of society...then you most likely are following an existing path. You may choose to follow a path that is not often traveled, but you are still following something. If you go to school to be educated in a field, you are following an existing path. If you choose to live by the Bible, you are following an existing path. If you choose to be an atheist, you are following an existing path. See, we are all sheep, just have different shepards.

If you truly believe that you are not a sheep, and you do not follow anyone or anything. What is your unique path that makes you a non-sheep?

alioop32: It would probably be more accurate to say you are a sheep if you are following a shepard. Without a shepard, I think sheep would just wander with no direction.

deedee: That is pretty damn hilarious. No I don't watch Dr. Phil, but I did just check out the episode guide after you said that, here is a snippet from it.
"meet Jason who is anti-society and has a laundry list of judgments, including the belief that 90 percent of people are idiots and mindless sheep"

Weird huh. Sure you don't believe me though...oh well.

Dave A: Sounds like you may have actually trailblazed a new path. Would you care to share it?

Sapient: I doubt you came up with the idea that going to college is a good idea. High schools breed this thought, high school has become prep schools for college. It is a good idea to you because others have gone and have said it was a good idea for them. There is nothing wrong with that, it is very good advice...but you deciding to go to college does not make you unique...it makes you just like everyone else who goes to college. Again, not a bad thing...but don't lie to yourself...you are doing it because it is a known and proven path to take.

just_jack_baby: I am not saying that every path has been walked, just the majority of people, including me, walk an existing path. Off the top of my head, here are a few people in history that I can think of creating their own unique path...
Jesus(whether you believe in him or not, his path was unique in his day), Julius Ceasar, DaVinci, Newton, Tesla, Hitler(a very bad new path, but a new one all the same), Einstein....there are many others..but just to give you an idea.

Sapient: You still followed an existing path. It is not a bad thing. You didn't go into college not having a pre existing assumption of what college would do for you. Again, it is not a bad thing...it doesn't make you less intelligent...you choose the best path that you saw. It doesn't take away that is still an existing path.

Chris: Where am I saying following an existing path is a bad thing to do? We are not all DaVinci or Tesla...that is just a fact. Majority of people, including me, or not blazing new trails...we simply follow the proven ones. The evidence of the success of the path is the shepard we choose to follow.

Joe F: I believe that you did research. I believe you made up your mind to agree with some research and disagree with other research. I don't believe you created the research yourself, thus it was an existing path.

Chris H: The path I am talking about is not that physical course you take to work...but the fact that you are going to work is the path I am talking about.

bagalaga: First of all, I want my hat back.
But who's definition of the sheep analogy are you talking of? Christians use it to say that the Lord is their shepard, because he will lead them into good and protect them. Atheist use it to say that Christians follow blindly. I am using the most simple definition of a sheep follows a shepard. A sheep follows a path that the shepard knows is proven and predictable.

Answer 1

It is interesting that most people interpret "sheep" with "dumb animals"; I would be more inclined to point out that all people follow someone. Sheep are a herd animal that attach themselves to known caretakers. A "dumb animal" would be more aptly described as one that wonders off alone.

Proud to be a sheep; the untraveled path usually is untraveled for a reason, i.e. off a cliff..........

Answer 2

What do they say, “there is nothing new under the sun”.

Once we had an original experience that we’re pretty sure nobody else ever did or has done since. We caught an iguana on our fishing rod out of the Bow river in Canmore Canada. Must have been somebody’s escaped pet. Any ways that is our unique experience.

We are more of a wagon jumper then a wagon burner.

Another way to look at it is that whole goal oriented thing. It’s like when we climb a mountain. We don’t look for a path we just pick a mountain and start climbing. More often then not along the way up we come across a path to the top. Others had the same goal and made the way easier for those that fallowed. We’re not afraid to blaze our own trail but if you look you’ll almost always find a path making it easier.

Why re-invent the wheel?

A good leader only leads as a last resort.

Answer 3

i am an atheist but i dont think im following a set path as you say, no-body told me, nor did i read a book to say, that god etc doesnt exist and in order for me to be an atheist i have to believe that fact. Its just i dont believe in such things and there is a word to describe people with my belief/non-belief.

Just because there are other people with the same opinion it does not mean we are all following the same path and therefore sheep-like. I make my own decisions each day based on what is presented to me and what i think is the best way to go about the task in hand usually justified by experience or just logic. I think this is how a lot of people live their lives day to day and depending on their choices this is what makes everyone individual.
For example, i may walk to work the same way as a lot of other people but all the factors which make up my journey to work makes me different from the next person, the time i get up, how i get up, what order i put my clothes on, what i have for breakfast, the time i leave my house, which side of the path i walk on, how fast im walking, which shortcut i choose, the point in the road where i decide to cross, which door i use to get into work, how many steps i take to get to work, the direction i take to get to my desk, whether i stop off to get a paper or some cash or cigarettes, the list is endless and because of this my path will never be the same as anyone elses. (this applies to everything in life, not just going to work)

Answer 4

I think the sheep analogy is more for people doing things without having any good reason, just following a leader, with no real idea of what's going on. If you really believe in your path, and you came to the decision yourself then it's "joining" with others on the same path, not really following; if peer or social pressure gets you doing something you don't like or don't really understand, that's sheep like following.

Answer 5

I would say my path is not 'exactly' like anyone else's but we do all live as members of our species within the constraints of our universe, physical laws, our planet, human laws, societal expectations etc.

Every human has more in common with every other human than they do a worm.

And we as inhabitants of earth likely have more in common with that worm that we would an alien race.


"If you choose to be an atheist, you are following an existing path."

Could you decide right now to stop believing? If not why do you say that 'not believing' is a choice? And even if it were somehow true for every other atheist I didn't choose so clearly it can't be generalized. I'm actually willing to accept that there is a god if given evidence equal to the claim. But only god could present evidence of god. Humans can not.

Answer 6

You seem to be confused on what being sheep-like means. If we were to each choose completely unique paths, we would become completely chaotic and not be able to function as a society. There's nothing wrong with going with the flow or traveling a well-traveled path if we know where it leads and that is where we want to go.

The claim that Christians are sheep-like has more to do with them putting their trust in an unknown source and refusing to think in many important situations where they should. They have faith in a god who is not real and allow self-proclaimed prophets and leaders of this god to lead them throughout their lives. They blindly follow not knowing any better, only trusting in the good will of those who claim to be working for their god.

That is completely different than learning a skill or trade to better oneself in an already functioning society. The freedom to choose, the freedom to decide for oneself, the freedom to analyze and study and reach your own conclusions.... these things help to bring people out of the herd mentality.

You seem to have no understanding of the difference yet insist on preaching your ignorant truth to people on the internet. Shame on you! You're a false prophet, just like the one you follow.

"Blessed are the destroyers of false hope, for they are the true messiahs."

Answer 7

Novelty is not the criterion for being unsheeplike. To take your tortured metaphor, of sheep on a path, to task, the point is not the path but the herding instinct. If you choose to follow the path of your own choice and not because you are following the herd, that is unsheeplike. Remember, the shepherd takes the same path as the sheep. By your criterion, the shepherd is a sheep.

Answer 8

Being a human with the ability to reason is what separates me from sheep.

You conveniently define what you think a sheep is based on your beliefs. Christians follow Christs blindly, unquestioning and believing that is the only way.

Going to school, in my humble opinion, is just a smart thing to do, but many choose not to go to school. Driving down the road on the paved road is just common sense to me, instead of driving around in wooded areas where my car would surely be damaged and seize to run any longer. However, there are those that do it. You're convenient idea of what a "sheep" is, is very different from mine.

More to the 'real' point, my choice to be an atheist was all my own. No one told me to be one, no one pointed me in that direction and there is no one telling me to continue to be one. While I abide by the laws (because in my opinion that is the right thing to do), I follow no one!

If you are proud to be a sheep, more power to you. But I ,sir, am not a sheep. Thank you very much...

Answer 9

I follow parts of existing paths. I am not a sheep in most things. I am a sheep when it comes to the Bible because I will follow where it leads but when it comes to religion, I am NOT a sheep. I don't follow religion, I follow the Bible.

In everyday life, I am not a sheep.(I'm 39 years old) I wear tye-dye dresses, drive in reverse through drive-thru's, Do splash n dash in the summer (stop the car near a sprinkler and tell everyone to dash through it and then get back in the car and drive off... great way to cool off btw) My car has wolf stickers on the hood, claw marks on the back, a fake baseball in the back window, Clown horn for a horn (mine stopped working) that is strapped to my side view mirror, and a woman with wings for a hood ornament. I am Christian, yet I don't celebrate Christmas, I celebrate Hanukkah.

Answer 10

There's a difference between following a path and following other sheep. We have a choice to follow whatever path we choose. We are only sheep when we follow a path just because "everyone else is doing it" and we haven't made an independent choice.

Answer 11

Are you really trying to compare an education to faith?

Sheep-like as it pertains to religion has nothing to do with other facets of society. However, in that specific area, I will answer you question.

My in-laws are Buddhist and catholic. My family is hardcore protestant of some degree. I agree with some of their outlooks, I don't with others. I am agnostic, not that I am confused...when it comes to organized deist religions I am atheist. When it comes to atheism I am agnostic. I do not challenge the possibility of a god, as defined by man. I do not buy into the various faiths with their rigid rules and regulations though. In reality, nobody knows.

All of this came from my own research, not what others have told me. I also don't expect any 2 people to have the same spiritual walk, as we are all byproducts of our experiences. I don't blindly follow anything, therefore I am not a sheep.

If others wish to label me as such, I don't care. If it helps them sleep at night, go for it. I know better, and my opinion of myself means more than theirs of me.