A Message To Anarchists
Ok people, so here's where I vent some steam that's been held back in dealing with statists; and in the process, risk losing half the audience amidst cries of "Now he's gone too far!".
As true freedom advocates (and yes, there is such a distinction to be made, unlike with Scotsmen), we often feel obliged to comfort the statist in order to elicit his assent; appeasing him in his concerns about how we might still have roads, telecommunication, air travel, and various other conveniences of modern living in a free society. Some of us will (rightly) deny him a precise account of how these things may come to pass; assuring him briefly that they can be accomplished by the same people who do them now, via the free market; and noting that these concerns pale in importance when juxtaposed with the imperative moral issues at play. That's all well and good, but I want to take it even a step further...
Here's an answer for you - maybe there won't be no goddam roads! How about that? Maybe there won't be 100-story buildings, satellite communication, multi-billion dollar corporations, mega-cities, planes, trains OR automobiles. And what's more - maybe there shouldn't be. I’m not asserting that there shouldn’t be, I’m saying that it cannot be assumed that there should. For anyone who thinks enlightenment begins and ends with getting rid of government, you're the hare sleeping on the side of the road, halfway through the race. It goes WAY further than that, as many of you understand.
First of all, if something cannot be funded voluntarily, it has no rightful claim to existence - it is an abomination; a thing that should not be. If natural demand is insufficient, then mankind is not ready for it. In addition, just because demand does exist, does not necessarily mean it's a good idea. The demand must be enlightened demand. Some obvious examples arise in discussions surrounding environmental and sustainability issues.
But what if true freedom meant not having roads and cars? Are you willing to make that "sacrifice"? What if it meant you could no longer shoot down to Disneyland for a week and be back in time for work on Monday? What if it meant you'd never see Paris, never have a home with a guest bedroom, never see another TV show for the rest of your life? You good with that?
I don’t merely mean willing to abide that undesirable outcome for a greater good; I mean honestly embracing it AS desirable, understanding that it’s not appropriate or beneficial if it does not arise naturally from living in accord with true principles. In other words, more than just asserting that the moral imperative of anarchy demands any sacrifice, no matter how great, I’m challenging our notions of “normality” and "progress" – our fundamental conception of what life should be. I'm talking about our expectations.
Never forget that we come into the world with a clean slate, and that ALL we now think has been influenced by our culture; based upon the choices we’ve made (or failed to make) in evaluating the ideas presented to us, both explicitly and implicitly. Nearly everything we see around us has been touched by the icy claw of psychological manipulators who want our money, our compliance, and most of all, our attention. All must be made subject for careful review – especially those ideas so thoroughly assumed as to be nearly invisible.
The unbounded accumulation of wealth, promised to continue by the prevailing conception of anarcho-capitalism should not be rendered immune to investigation. Some of you have heard me challenge the very concept of money, the profit motive, the imperative of even-exchange, and even commonly held-beliefs concerning obligatory monogamy, cultural holiday practices, and the psychological implications of our inclination toward violent entertainment.
Acknowledge the likelihood that, in some ways, YOU are acting from insane perspective every day (though you may still be light years ahead of the popular majority). Do you put food or other substances into your body, knowing full well that they diminish your health? When you want to "relax", do you watch TV shows and movies where people are encountering every manner of disastrous circumstance? It's important that we don't give ourselves a free pass on this stuff, as it indicates there yet remains some dysfunction in our thought/emotion/behavior process. It shouldn't be cause for personal feelings of guilt (that would only make things worse), but the realization does prescribe a certain degree of humility and an ongoing commitment to knowing thyself clearer vision.
Remain ever-vigilant, ever-growing, and never believe that the NAP is end-game, or that a society without government – or even physical violence – equates to true freedom. Freedom, to be full, must be a state of absolute, unimpeded authentic expression. This doesn't mean all challenge will cease, as this would cause expansion and growth to end (a condition that can never be), but it does mean that who we are at the most fundamental level can flow freely into the physical universe as we explore and create.
Each new advance in consciousness provides a vantage point from which to view new horizons; and striving toward those horizons is the basis for further expansion. At no point should you feel as though you’ve finally “arrived”, as you never truly will. We must continue to apply rigorous critical examination to every idea or convention in order to sustain our forward advancement. All life is in motion, and if you’re not moving forward, you’re falling behind.
There is much work yet to do, both within and without. Enjoy the journey as best you can, but keep pioneering into new territory via education, introspection, and contributing to the uplift of all. Thank you for indulging my exhortations; I feel honored to keep such earnest company, and I have faith in our ability to champion this movement into man’s next stage of evolution.
Thanks for checking in!
Brian Blackwell
Relevant articles supporting a deeper understanding of the ideas presented above may be found here:
If you ask me that way, I can't answer how I felt or thought had I not been touched by cultural influences. There is no natural state outside the state in which I - and my fellow human beings - find myself. There is nothing I can define as my true nature. As soon as I start to want to define it, my statement slips away. We humans are natural beings per se and everything we create or abolish takes place within this framework. Consciousness is creating culture. If we were without this consciousness about ourselves, our species would not exist. We would still be the primates in the forests and savannahs. I mean, I can perceive a longing of people who have an idea of what authenticity looks like, but I would say much, if not most, of it is ideas in our minds that we manifest through the visualization of our ideas.
Modern culture, I see it, gives us two different images of people. One is based on a loss-making image of man, the other on the potential. We are always both diseased and healthy. If you look at people on the basis of their deficits, you tend to treat them thereafter, to accuse them of incompetence. You focus on what they do wrong, what they don't do well. On the other hand, if you look at their potential and focus on being the one who always wants to bring out the best in others, you may learn how to encourage your fellow human beings.
What do I mean by encouragement? Things like sharing my compassion with another person, encouraging him to emphasize that which is cooperative in itself, which signals to him that he is effective. People love other people's self-confidence. They blossom when they experience how another person moves in the world with passion, how he acts in his power.
When people are asked what they love about the other, a cross-cultural answer is that they feel this love most strongly when the other lets his light shine, when he offers clarity, when he is in a fruitful exchange with the world around him, etc. We can all be such people because that is what we expect from others. The energy that comes from those who act in their power is very contagious and inspiring. If you want to, you can find them and try to take an example from them.
We all know that no one will say at someone else's grave: "He worked 60 hours a week. He was a good engineer or graphic designer." We say: "He stood up for others when things became difficult. He showed courage when no one else had that courage. He was devoted to his children."
We love those who served others and didn't get on anyone's nerves if possible. We'd rather hear a clear "no" than a forced and half-hearted "yes".
To be in one's own body and to feel comfortable in it, to love that one "is", to feel the body as nourishing and space taking. How can I love myself when I perceive my body as deficient, not lovable, burdening? Eat well, sleep well and pray (love) well.
This simple formula, which is believed to be easy to follow, is probably one of the most difficult tasks. To eat when you eat, to sleep when you sleep and to pray when you pray.
When I recently said goodbye to an occasional client of mine, he said that he and his wife were including me in their prayers. I rarely hear such things in my culture and it has delighted and touched me beyond measure. In this simple statement, made without much fuss, I realized a truth that I can rarely tell others. I am denied this form of simple language because such a form of expression and language is frowned upon in my culture. I have to find other ways to express my compassion. But if this encounter did not exist and this man had not expressed himself to me in this way, I would probably think less about what such alternatives might look like.
So I think that you and I can always talk to each other in the comment areas of our blogs and that what is going on between us is important. Anyway, we only talk about ourselves, even when we talk about others or "the world".
Thank you. I already had an unbelievable journey in this life and it continues to stay interesting. I am confident in your abilities to life your life to a fulfilling degree.
Though I do not care so much about evolution ;-)
Have a good day, Brian.
Well, yes, we are all deeply affected by cultural influences, but I would suggest that this influence can (and should) be made to serve man by bringing it into alignment with natural reality. Man does have a nature that can be named, and two aspects of that nature are free will and susceptibility to conditioning.
Free will is rooted in the freedom to choose how we direct conscious awareness - where one's attention is placed. The body/mind is like a computer; running programming both genetic and environmental. The world is constantly offering programs, but free will may be employed to choose which programming we run on our systems. This has become very evident lately, as I have met many who appear to intellectually subsist entirely on either FOX or CNN news media, and the whole of their opinions reflect their constant attention on these sources.
The overall culture offers many options for attention - religion, politics, entertainment, etc. - and we largely become the sum total of what we ingest in these regards. Who we are as physical human beings is altered by attention to this "in-formation" (a process by which we are formed within).
Cultural information does not simply arise organically from the masses, but is often seeded by those with the influence to do so. A media mogul makes choices about what to offer, and these choices can be directed to produce one outcome or another. Where on popular television will you ever hear the principles of self-ownership and human rights rooted in natural law? Where will you hear the concept of taxation as theft, or hear the validity of governmental authority challenged? Nearly nowhere. And if you do, it will be with ridicule - perhaps by a fictional character portrayed as abnormal or insane. The representation of these ideas is not commensurate with the reality - there are many sane, lucid individuals who hold these views. But this skewed depiction is by design, as it does not accurately reflect the cultural consciousness as it is, but rather as people in power would like it to be.
In this way, in the U.S., we have moved from a culture who openly discussed these ideas, and even took to arms to repel British oppressors on this basis, to a culture of inane slaves who chastise anyone who brings up such issues in public. In the "land of freedom", the people still fight with the same fervor; though now it is not about the imperative of their natural law rights, but about the preferred style of their own enslavement. This demonstrates how culture can be used by the few to purposefully manipulate the mass consciousness, rather than mass consciousness organically creating the culture.
Now, we must acknowledge and make known our deficiencies, but you are correct in stating that we must not unduly focus upon them. Once the problem is diagnosed, the cure should be the whole of our focus. But if the disease is false belief, then is necessary to demonstrate its falsehood in order to encourage its abandonment. And it must be abandoned in order to free up space for true knowledge, as a full cup cannot take on any water. So the work becomes showing people their error, which seems to contradict our intention to focus upon solutions, even though it IS part of the solution itself. Do you see the problem here? How do we not focus on the negative, when ignorance of the negative is the very problem?
I have thought many times, "Perhaps we can just uplift people, and false beliefs will fall away" but in practice, we have many kind, well-intentioned, intelligent and spiritual people who still support the invalid authority of government oppressors, believing that by doing so, they are being responsible and benevolent. They want to feed the poor, and aid the elderly; they want justice for victims, and security for their families. And so they go out and vote to have their neighbors robbed under threat of violence in order to meet these aims. They "support the troops" who are overseas causing immoral chaos, believing they are heroes.
In the movie "The Green Mile" the simpleton prisoner laments, "They kill them with their love", and this is the state of the world - a handful of miscreants using the people's love and kindness to fuel evil.
The "evolution" I speak of is not growth in the common sense, but progress by way of regression. It's about removing what's false in us, and returning to what's at our core. It is the journey from "minus ten" back to "zero". There is nothing we need to gain, as we already are all that we need to be. But as long as we mistake what that is, we are not fulfilling our potential or embracing the beautiful implied promise of conscious existence.
I cannot tell. Maybe your country is lost for you personally. You seem to suffer a great deal from all that politics and media. From where do you get strength and guidance then?
Move? Leave the country? Surround yourself with a different framework? If the "we" is not "you" how can you make it to be? I have no idea whether you push it a little too strong or you could actually be more active to have a sense of effectiveness.
Do you have to act more or to let it go more?
Or is my impression wrong that it gives you stress?
You see, you speak a lot in terms of "we". What you say in your last paragraph seems to be the way to go. But as you know, this cannot be pushed for others. If the fate of a mass of people already has gained momentum than maybe nothing can stop it. That also is something to take into account. It's easy to have peace in mind and peace in heart when circumstances are supporting fulfillment and a sense of meaning. If not, the road is hard to walk and self guidance has to be renewed and repeated several times a day...
I am a seeker myself and what is true for me sounds in many cases true for you. There are lots of people like us. This does give me some consolation. How about you?
edit: I could say that for myself as I see a great senselessness for my country as well. When I step back and see it more from a distant perspective and take history into account, I could say: My fellow human beings will become extinct in their way of life one day. They maybe will be overtaken by stronger forces as the force within the individualist is just too weak to be taken seriously, even by himself.
Maybe this is my struggle and pain. I neither want to take on a fatalistic or pessimistic nor an aggressive position in that. That's the reason I write and want to get in touch with people. I guess, for you counts the same. Which course then to take? Really difficult.
Well, I used to be politically active and found that it made me quite angry and frustrated. I then shifted my focus to spirituality and limited my view to my own direct subjective experience and was quite happy. Now, I have returned to worldly affairs, but with the knowledge and experience gained by spiritual study and find that I am agitated again, though in a different way.
Rather than seeking to change the world by way of the power structure, or seeking personal contentment through willful ignorance, I seek only to discover the truth and share what I find. And yes, there is one single truth to be discovered - this is defined by events that actually take place, and the cause-and-effect processes that create them. There is also my subjective experience of that reality, which I have some measure of control over.
Right now, I am not exercising that latter power with great effect. I am trying to adjust, but I am indignant at people's unwillingness to value truth; preferring their illusions. Other people are a relevant factor. This world we experience is a co-creation. I am not wholly in control of what happens here, though I can choose to handle it better. I am mildly consoled by others demonstrating their commitment to truth, but their numbers are paltry, and I see more cause for frustration than hope.
It may be true (and I suspect that it is) that we are on a course than cannot be reversed. However, suspicion is not knowledge, and so I must account for the possibility that I am wrong in this evaluation. I have a duty to share truth, as I believe this is how mankind grows into its full potential and authentic expression - by cooperative effort. We stand on the shoulders of others to reach new heights. We pull each other up from the depths of falsehood, confusion, and depravity. No man is an island, and if we are co-creating together, I would have my contribution be fervently in favor of authenticity; bringing my thoughts and actions into alignment with our true nature and the nature of this universe.
So I believe I need to both act more and let it go. Work diligently in wisdom, while being released from the outcome. This balance has not yet been achieved, but I'm working on it!
Overall, I believe that the collective consciousness of man cannot be stopped from reaching its natural potential. However, we may suffer 1,000 years of the most hellish conditions imaginable en route to that inevitability. I would seek to avoid this, as I do not know it to be necessary. If I thought it was necessary, I would run off to the woods and seek to find my own happiness; but as it stands now, I must try to avert this disaster until such time as I know it to be unavoidable.