According to Mill (Chapter III of "On Liberty") individuality is the key to achieving total liberty. He says that the free development of individuality depends on the readiness to make deliberate and considered choices between alternative beliefs and patterns of life and in part in the direction and content of such choices. Individuality is opposed to the blind submission of oneself to the customs and traditions of one's society. Integrity based on conviction is an important aspect of individuality. This would enable a person to be on the right side of justice, even against the odds. In fact the important phrase in the previous statement is "even against the odds". It is easy to preserve one's individuality or easy to go by own convictions when things are normal or favouring one's actions as per his/her conviction. It is a herculean task to stuck to one's own conviction and no matter what may come in the way, getting guided by such strong convictions is the real essence of individuality. It is a tough decision one has to make to stand against odds to stuck to convictions as invariably this would put the individual in trouble or deprive him/her of the benefits that one would derive if he/she was guided by the direction in which the wind blows. In real tough situations, one may even have to face suppressions and punishments for sticking to one's own conviction.

The indifference to truth or gaining conviction is majorly due to two negative factors. They are lack of willingness to gain conviction and lack of objectivity in the approach. The unwillingness to gain conviction is fueled by indifference, inability to persevere and put in untiring effort. The need for gaining conviction arises only in a paradoxical and complicated situation. Invariably these situations would be quite messed up or fluid and would be afflicted with lack of free information. In those situations, it is easy to fall prey to the rumours and the general opinion. It is quite safe and comfortable to join the bandwagon under such circumstances. But a person with "individuality" would not be guided by the majority view rather he/she would try to assess the situation in question (be it a person or an incidence) on their own if he/she has to frame their views. They would go about it with an effort to take an objective view of the person or an incidence in question. In this process, the most important quality is not even the investigative ability or judgemental ability but it is the ability to suppress the temptation to form quick opinion and also the open-minded approach. When one has set out himself/herself to gain conviction, they should not have fear and fervour. The fear or fervour would being an element of subjectivity and this can blind the person while trying to gain conviction. In spite of all these, one may not reach or sense the "actual truth" However, as far as the person who is trying to gain conviction is considered, he/she has arrived at the belief about the "truth of a situation/incidence/person" not just based on the available information to them but based on the analysis of those information helped by a through application of mind. This "untiring effort to gain conviction with an open mind" is an important ingredient of the individuality.

Lack of willingness is basically due to the inability to persevere. Perseverance requires patience and untiring effort. As every system would like to be at their low free energy state, so does the human psychology. We would like to pursue the least resistance path. Invariably the path that does not demand effort and hard work is the least resistance path. And also, it is a human psychology to see upfront "what is in it for me?" Also, it is tempting to be guided by hear say especially when the subject in question is very interesting. There is a tremendous will power and effort required to over come the above mentioned temptations and thereafter a disciplined and continuous physical effort is required to search the truth. Most of us are baffled by the mental and physical efforts required and excuse us by saying, "it is nothing to do with me" or by asking "how does it matter to me". It could be something to do with the amendment that the government is bringing in or it could be something to do with the social unrest towards some issues. It could be something to do with a conflict at home or it could be to do with a controversial subject at work place. Many problems at our home or many ills in our society or nation is basically due to this dangerous "indifference" attitude. In other words all our ills are comfortably growing unabated as we as a society collectively lack individuality in our "thinking" and "aligning ourselves" in a given situation. If we believe that we all collectively lack individuality, then there must be something to with our culture, custom, and education which is not allowing us to develop our own individuality.