I don't think it's unrealistic, just that we could possibly add more gradations and call it a spectrum, from the normiest of normies that is completely unrecept

I don't think it's unrealistic, just that we could possibly add more gradations and call it a spectrum, from the normiest of normies that is completely unreceptive to anything out of the ordinary to world-alerting thinkers who went against the grain of their time. My personal hypothesis is that these gradations of normie-to-strange are important in that they point to a range of similar behavior between people of the same gradation that goes beyond just intellectual conformity or non-conformity. Perhaps one issue with binary classification is that makes it easier for us to overrate our own ideas on account of placing ourselves automatically in the "good" half since the barrier to entry then becomes so low (i.e. just don't be a normie and you're done) The meditation example is a great one actually. The only discussions I've seen about it that don't cover the Buddhism-for-Westerners angle have to do with CBT/repackaged stoicism or people who enjoy nootropics/LessWrong/split-toe shoes etc. I did have one unusual conversation once with a person who described to me a sort of self-induced bad trip they got from meditation practice (based on what I could find online, that is a known phenomenon). Regarding that last part, I agree I came on a bit strong there in my post, and it was unwarranted. I did that because of past experience and familiarity with the discursive style.