When the bell tolls for thee, will you still refuse individuality?

Question: When the bell tolls for thee, will you still refuse individuality!?
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

I think, with all your questions about our individuality, that you are trying to get at something like this quote:

"We inherit the products of the thought of other men!. We inherit the wheel!. We make a cart!. The cart becomes an automobile!. The automobile becomes an airplane!. But all through the process what we receive from others is only the end product of their thinking!. The moving force is the creative faculty which takes this product as material, uses it and originates the next step!. This creative faculty cannot be given or received, shared or borrowed!. It belongs to single, individual men!. That which it creates is the property of the creator!. Men learn from one another!. But all learning is only the exchange of material!. No man can give another the capacity to think!. Yet that capacity is our only means of survival!."
"The Soul of an Individualist"; "For the New Intellectual"

That was written, of course, by the most ardent proponent of individualism in the 20th century, Ayn Rand!. Had it not been for her, you may not be even thinking about the subject!.

But your vitriol seems to lump everyone together as non-individualists; and you seem to be getting "individualism" confused with the modern desire to see all things "diverse!."

Diversity for the sake of diversity allows for all manner of illogic!. So you don't want to be like your sister or your best friend!? Be something else! It doesn't matter "what else--just be!"

That, my friend, is not individuality!. That is throwing out the baby with the bathwater!. That is not using the capacity "to think," except to think of ways of wasting your time so you don't get caught thinking the same thing as the guy in the next cubicle!.

Who says that guy is wrong!? Obviously you do!. You want us all to choose differently than that guy!.

Individuality is the integrity to say what is logical to you even it mirrors what 100% of everyone else says!.

I would not want to have you on a jury with me, arguing, when your "bell tolls," against the other 11 just for the sake of your "individuality!."Www@QuestionHome@Com

"Ask not for whom the bells toll, they toll for thee" is a quote from shakespeare (IIRC!?) and describes the imminence of death!.

{edit} whoops right era, wrong person!.!.!.!. it was John Donne, not shakespeare

it does not have anything to do with individuality!.

I embrace individuality in many respects in my lifestyle!. I would not refuse it whatever the status of 'the bell'

{latter edit}
I see most of the answers are concentrating on the aspect of 'the bell', death and its inevitability
perhaps yopu may have had a few clearer answers if you hadn't tried to dress up your question like a pretentious tw*tWww@QuestionHome@Com

Individuality is the product of all life experiences!. It cannot be otherwise, for if it were, whence,then, individuality in the first place!? But to account for the fact that, not only brothers and sisters, but also identical twins, formed from the same two sets of genes, have diffrent charachteristics and aptitudes from the very start, the term 'life experiences' has to be taken to mean the experiences gathered in numerous lives, rather than in just one, for before any experiences have been had in any one particular life, the distinctions among individuals are already quite evident!.

Now to renounce this individuality is for us the hardest thing to do, because we take ourselves to BE this individuality, this end result - up to now- of all that we have thought and experienced!. Our opinions, our beliefs, our likes and dislikes - all results of our experiences - to us,taken together, IS what we are, IS us!. But if we go back far enough, there must have been a time when all this had not yet been gathered into us, and yet we WERE, for we cannot be now without not having been before, whether we are able to remember or not - just like we must have been babes and foetuses in the womb for us to be adults now, whether we can remember or not!. Yet, since this individuality is all a product of events that came our way in our wanderings in acquired, temporary, material bodies, this individuality cannot be what we really are!.

To renounce individuality, one must first be ABLE to renounce it, and for that, as far as I can see, two insights are necessary!. First, the realization that all happinness is either mixed with, or later followed by, unhappiness; and,that as long as one desires, the order of things is such that desire will endure and strive to realize itself in proportion to the force given to it!.

As long as the loss of individuality is equated with 'abandoning happinness and desiring' and is seen as 'as good as non-existence', the question of willingly refusing individuality cannot even arise!. When the bell tolls for me, I will opt for this 'non-existence', which is the true existence, rather than individualityWww@QuestionHome@Com

If I am in bed alseep - I will ignore it, that bell any bell even the alarm clock!.
sleep that heavenly sleep !.!.

If I am awake, I may or may not pay attention to the bell!. Never did like to be told where and when to go!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

When the bells toll for me : "I'll go back from whence I came, until the time I can join you all again" Cleverer as I am all ready!. :-)
Peace!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

If the bell meant for me, it takes its toll , without considering my acceptance or refusal, likes and dislikesWww@QuestionHome@Com

Your avatar reminds me of david hasslehoff!Www@QuestionHome@Com

Cannot refuse, one has to accept it!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

depends what drug I am on!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

BONG !!!!!

Oh Sh!t !.!.!.!.!.!!!Www@QuestionHome@Com