Hi, Rick. Actually, I’m a geezer, too; lots of gray hair with post-millennial grandchildren.

I agree that there are greater differences within a herd than between two different herds. Most differences within a herd speak to the polarities within the herd but remain within the acceptable boundaries the herd stays within. Those polarities actually help maintain the energy dynamics of the herd. Being polar opposites they appear to be different herds but they are really two sides of the same coin, so to speak. They are two sides of the same energy dynamic much like two sides of the same magnet.

Those crazy wild horses on the fringe, however, exude a different and dissonant energy pattern to the accepted polarities within the herd dynamic and this brings forth a defensive energy stance from within the herd towards those crazy wild horses, who, despite wanting acceptance of the herd cannot align energetically with it. They stay at the fringes and at some point may actually break free completely.

I, obviously, have failed to break away completely thus far.

I agree with you that one of the enticing things about Medium is all those young voices, most of which are still confined within the energy dynamics of the herd but some of which have moved outwards towards the fringes. They remind me of where I was so many, many years ago and they show me how I have screwed up and remained tied into the group consciousness. Some of them have shown me how I could have done it much better than I did. As with each new succeeding generation there is found shining stars and this makes it worth hanging around on the fringes and makes it harder to fully break away.

This afternoon I came across a pearl of wisdom from a youngster who happens to be the CEO of a major tech startup. He is Yancey Strickler, the CEO of Kickstarter. He said this…..

“I don’t have social media on my phone. The more time I spend in the stream of other people’s thoughts, the more impossible it is to have your own. You need space for yourself.” — Yancy Strickler

Now there is a pretty smart kid. Social media is a collective stream of its users’ thoughts. (The mass herd consciousness I was talking about.) It is a stream easily sucked into and drowned in. Complaining about it is futile and arrogant. It can be more productive to walk away from it; to turn off the stupid phone or the internet on our laptop. That is when we can focus on our own stream of thoughts and become the observer of that stream of thoughts. And then we can eventually turn that stream off, too, and become that observer, that true self, that exists outside the endless stream of our thoughts that we have mistakenly identified ourselves with. That is when we will have gone beyond the herd and beyond the fringes into the infinite.

Or something like that…..