What do you value? What’s important to you in life? I can name a few things that are important to me: liberty, peace, respect, human rights. Some people don’t value those things, or at least, they’re lower down on their list of values. Instead they value things like certainty, convenience, and even feeling good, and their own ignorance.
Now a lot of people will say that they value liberty, but once you get into it a little more closely, you can see it’s not quite so true. So let me as k you: did you ever value liberty enough to say “Free Irwin Schiff”, a man who was in prison because of his belief in property rights – his belief that his money and other people’s money, shouldn’t be taken from them by force, and used as collateral to fund central banks, and fund expansive, endless wars.
Did you ever value liberty enough to say – at least just say the words – “Free Ross Ulbricht” – a man who provided a service for hundreds of thousands of people, a man who provided a service that was very much in demand, the service of allowing people to buy and sell drugs on the Internet.
The thing is, if you value certainty over liberty, then you must either value your ignorance, pretending that humans rights abuses don’t happen, because of institutions such as taxation – or, you must value the certainty that human rights abuses are going to happen, because that’s exactly what does happen, when you give people the power to rule over others.
Liberty is dirty; you don’t get any guarantees in liberty. Sometimes liberty is even violent. But you know, liberty also gives you personal responsibility – that’s the thing. That’s the great lie; that’s the great trick. Because what they’ve told you is, by giving up some of your liberty, you’re actually going to limit your personal responsibility, which is something that can never, ever be true. Nobody can ever take that power from you – nobody can ever take the fact that you are captain of your own soul, that you are architect of your own destiny. And any responsibility that you have, for the rest of humanity, can never be delegated to someone else. It cannot.
Whether you choose the certainty of domination, the certainty of people abusing their power, or you choose liberty – that beautiful chaos, that beautiful space that allows the human race to transform, to transcend, to create something new and different – whatever you choose, I advise you to choose. Because people may call you many things. They may call you delusional, a pinko, an idealist, a fool, a warmonger, a violent sociopath. They might even call you a freedom fighter. But, as long as you choose, they will never call you the worst of all insults. They will never call you wishy-washy, they will never call you vague, and they will never call you indecisive.
I originally published this article on our website, The Paradise Paradox. Follow our other account here: @paradise-paradox
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This is a powerful message, and well written to boot!
I guess it comes down to most humans choosing the path of least resistance- whatever's easiest. If it easier to sit on your couch and eat a packet of biscuits, that's where they are. If it's easier to conform to the government's will, that's where they are. I blame evolution for turning humans into lazy, "follow the heard" beings that will always choose whatever's easiest, even if done so subconsciously.
Yes, humans are naturally inclined to conserve energy. Fortunately, occasionally, a determined few decide to make the choice to overcome that inclination and attempt to change the world.
Thanks for the comment @azurejasper
As long as the government is run and manipulated by people there's no certainty due to human's changeable mind. It is possible to change this human with robots? No its not, then that's reality of human lives.
Wow thank you for this post~
There is so much of importance to me that few seem to value and it is nice to be able to share that with others.
Liberty/freedom/self reliance/responsibility are all of the utmost importance to me and go hand in hand. I believe that one cannot live free without also living responsibly. TO me it is responsibility that is the gateway to true freedom!
When I was a kid I was weak, sick, angry, and afraid by the time I was 17 I was so miserable that my one consistent wish was to no longer be alive--for the suffering of life to end and be over. I was hopelessly in despair at the thought of living in this world for another 80 years.
I had to do something, but I didn't know what to do or where to go. Maybe it was bravery that helped me decide to make something of my life, or maybe it was the lack of bravery that kept me from killing myself, or maybe it was just destiny. What I can say is that in a moment of clarity, I made a choice to devote my entire life to finding/creating a life that I had never seen, one that embodied my ideals. To do so, I had to stop compromising and complying with the sad state of the world.
Since then I have transformed and created a life founded upon my ideals and am grateful to be alive! Every day gets better and it is possible to live a life of ideals that compliant compromise!
Here is a post I made highlighting this transformation and the improved life I now am blessed to live!
https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@quinneaker/introduction-and-verification-post-for-quinn-eaker-author-father-speaker-consultant-and-founder-of-the-garden-of-eden-eco
It can be so hard for people to accept that their certainty is anything but certain. Their ignorance tells them that the government provides the certainty of security, and the ignorance can be the hardest part to overcome.
Agreed. It's hard to accept the idea that you might have been bamboozled. But at least we can lead by example, and try to exercise humility whenever possible.
Oh, indeed. That's why I take every possible measure to make sure that everyone around me is absolutely clear that I'm literally the most humble person in the entire world.
You don't get to tell yourself it's okay because everyone else is doing the same. Well written and appreciated!
Thanks @clevecross
Liberty means taking responsibility, but it is important to be reminded that one cannot escape responsibility by giving up liberty. Thank you.
Thanks for this insight. Although I also value liberty highly, I think it's important to remember that liberty goes both ways. Your freedom to drive as fast as you want encroaches on my freedom to feel safe in traffic. Your freedom to do as you see fit with pollutants that come out of your factory can inhibit my freedom to clean air and water. To complicate matters, this diffuse balance of liberty is a compromise settled by a representative electorate. The U.S. is a republic run by representatives (as opposed to a pure democracy). Once these individuals come to power they can really do whatever they want to do and their actions are almost always systemically corrupted by the people with real power - people with means ($, influence etc..). Liberty sounds nice on paper, but its harder to define where the rubber meets the road or how then to steer the vehicle.
Liberty is relative, nobody never had absolutely liberty, it's just a deseption. Even you have money and power you will be a hostage of other external factors. There is only one way to be close to absolutely liberty - to refuse everything you have, but it's impossible in our world.