Anarchism / Voluntaryism / Loneliness
5/4/15

 

 

It’s a lonely path to walk in the beginning of a change.  It requires a tremendous amount of mental fortitude to remain sane, courage of the heart to stand up to the status quo and friends alike, as well as a very particular brand of conviction.  These things are found in minds and hearts that are truly free or on the path to being so; a path which begins exclusively as your own and one founded by your choice to stray in an attempt to find any truth.  Of course this is true when you begin to find little contradictions or conflicts with the philosophy taught to you by those in power over you, your parents, politicians, and police.

 

Seeing this truth isn't about making a better world; it's about making a better you.  A side effect of this is often loneliness.  It’s nasty, terrible, and contains the seeds of doubt and fear that tempt us back to any collective for resolution.  Unfortunately that collective is not a foundation conducive to making your only true sanctuary impregnable, your mind.  But when enough of us are honest and vigilant in the means we employ for the purpose of self improvement and come to this understanding of voluntaryism / anarchism, then another side effect will be making a better world through the rejection of unwarranted violence and coercion.  Ultimately this happens when enough people can find solace in their own minds without needing to be part of a collective, thus allowing the collective of those who do control their own minds to greater empower what they already have through one another.

 

Take a look at government empowerment.  Where government begins is the very encouragement of those seeds of doubt and fear to grow.  People who support the collective of government plant these seeds in their own minds and maintain them as justifications to ward off the absolutely inevitable possibilities of ‘what if.’  They take solace in one another’s echoing of fears before attempting to quell them in their minds first.  Who will build roads, protect us, prevent fraud, and educate the children.  These fears and doubts that others will or will not do ‘X’ with their liberty is the outside portion of the problem.

 

The foundation of this problem is rooted in the fear of what others are capable of but not guaranteed to do.  The actual problem is how people handle such fears.  Do they try to fight fear with fear, rule of law which is just a warped understanding of morality justifying unnecessary coercion?  Or do they fight fear with enlightenment which seeks to understand the foundation of that fear and correct it by applying the appropriate wisdom?

 

Fighting fear with fear is nothing short of making others afraid of what the collective they are a part of is capable of doing to them if they do not comply.  This is the power behind law enforcement which does not fear the lone individual, as they know they will be vindicated by superior numbers which sadly include the apathetic.  That is the illusion of fear being controlled with fear, not an actual solution.  In fact, this particular means is nothing short of creating additional and unnecessary fear.  As noble as it may seem through the crafty language of protection which often invokes the innocence of chidlren, it is an attempt to control your fear, if you support government for any of the means stated previously, concerning whom, what, or how something will be done.

 

Government is merely a symptom of the inability of many to directly challenge their fears and be mindful of the means in which they do this, so as not to unwarrantedly intervene in the lives of others.  It is one in which people use their fears to justify the subjugation of others to coerce their conformity to produce what they believe will be a better means to achieving some kind of grand idea; and they get lost in the noble intent of such, failing to see that they are becoming the very monsters in which they fear others are capable of becoming.

 

This is in stark contrast to the challenging of one’s fears by seeking to understand them.  This is what voluntaryism / anarchism are supposed to be all about.  By challenging your own fears and choosing to only voluntarily interact with others is just one of the first steps.  It is not an easy step because it is a lonely step.