Xtopia
Xtopia is a book that compiles writings that together, encapsulate a personal manifesto.
The subject chosen centers around the merits of self acceptance and living an authentic life.
What is Xtopia?
Throughout life, we are exposed to the idea of Utopia and to the idea of Dystopia. Whether it is heaven, hell, the idealistic manifestos and visions for a future world or the myriad films and novels saturating the market depicting bombed out wastelands, we are fed the idea that there is a way in which we can achieve universal happiness or universal despair.
Likewise, we are saturated with messaging which advocates a universal human experience. We are taught that there is an objectivity and hierarchy inherent to personality and behavior. Though films and certain institutions propagate the merits of authenticity, these encouragements are empty as it is abundantly clear that authenticity is only acceptable if it exists within the constructs of acceptability defined by the culture.
Most transparently in early childhood, the assumption of a universal human experience dominates the way we train children to function in the world of adults. Childhood is where expectations are most rigid, boundaries are most defined, and deviations are most often shunned, fussed over, and pathologized.
However, difference doesn’t always necessitate amelioration. In fact, if there is anything truly universal to the human experience, it is difference. Each individual comes with their own set of experiences, preferences, inclinations, and idiosyncrasies.
There is no definitively correct way to perceive the world around us, and by extension there is no true Utopia.
Instead of trying to reach ideals defined by others, it is wholly necessary to set one’s own ideals in accordance to one’s own sense of truth and sense of self. This is the definition of Xtopia.