Kindred Spirits

Kindred Spirits
Asher Durand

A person who shares beliefs, attitudes, feelings, or features with another.

The world would surely be a lonelier place if no one else shared our thoughts. Especially those thoughts dealing with life's larger questions of purpose, happiness, courage, compassion, and what is worth striving for. I met two individuals in the last few days, by pure chance I might add, that shared a strong disposition with me not just in thought, but in action. This phenomenon, the natural and almost immediate affinity with another human being is astounding, uplifting, and enlightening. These "kindred spirits" I speak of have asked themselves the big questions and have come up with very similar answers to ourselves. Why? DNA. Certain individuals hold similar views of life's larger questions because they share inherent genetic traits with us. These people tend to inspire us and be inspired by us through sheer psychological magnetism. Perception of this can be overwhelming and wonderful indeed. If you've ever met someone that understood your profound argument so completely and immediately, that you felt compelled to tell them "everything," then you know what's up.

I will summarize the stories of the 2 individuals here, anonymously of course. I'll name them Bill and Ted.

Bill: We met at a bus stop in New York City. Studied psychology in college and loved it. Parents persuaded him to become an investment banker, he did, made some serious dough, and quit a few years later because he felt he had been seriously suppressing his creative and intellectual side. He has now changed course completely and is pursuing his Master's degree in filmmaking. Imagine the resistance. We talked our way through a 5-hour bus ride, jumping around topics from psychology, to religion, to creativity, to travel, to meditation. We shared the same viewpoints on our automatic and unaware repression of our passions in exchange for the "goods" of society such as belonging and acceptance. We didn't just agree on the consequences of this repression, but also on the importance of taking action directly to counter it. Best of luck to you bro.

Ted: We met at a Barnes and Noble in Washington D.C. He had studied computer science in college and was an IT director for a very large health insurance company. He was in the midst of applying to MBA programs abroad and... well, you can imagine where the conversation went from here. Instead of looking at me like an idiot who'd one day be eligible for food stamps, he opened up. Another kindred spirit. We discussed the personal moral sacrifices we make to the corporate world in exchange for money and social neutrality and, guess what, he confessed to have always been a staunch opponent of health insurance companies due to their exorbitant greed and corruption. He is still against them, even while working at one for years. Talk about a moral sacrifice. Whatever decision you make, best of luck to you as well bro. You've inspired me.