Outlaw and Borders

Hello all. this is GLORIOUS LEADER! HERO OF REVELATION! BRINGER OF THE LIBERATION! Here to drop some truth and hard medicine. The weak of spirit need not proceed.

All Rules are Optional 

One of the the jobs I took to pay for my post secondary education involved acting as a camp counselor and a summer bible camp. One of the years I worked at the camp, the organization was to be inspected to retain its certification with a governing body of summer camps. The certification was not required to run a summer camp. The certification was extremely important to credibility and marketing for the camp. And so we counsellors were tasked with tidying the woods to remove tripping hazards and otherwise turning a wilderness summer camp into the closest approximation we could manage to Disneyworld. A safe facsimile of a wilderness, with edges sanded down and soft bits stuck on sharp corners. 

My point of interest here though is in the nature of rules and certifications. And I have a conjecture. All rules are optional. Rules apply only the the extent that others are able to convince you to abide by them, or force you to suffer the consequences of violating them. This is at the center of much of the dispute between the political right and left. The political right wishes to impose consequences on other for rules which those others have not agreed to abide by. And the political left feels that the rules have no business being applied by or to anyone in the first place. This is how religions go to war, both screaming heretic. This is how children get into fights. This is people cheat at games and sports. The world will seek to impost rules upon you. It will do this by threatening consequences. The only rules with truly apply to you, however, are the rules you choose to apply to yourself. Even having consequences imposed upon you does not rules to apply if you do not accept it. Your mind is the final arbiter of what rules apply. The outside world can, possibly, impose consequences. But they are not rules until you accept that they are. 

What is the Point?

Why do you get up in the morning? This is a serious question. Why do you get up in the morning? And is your motivation anything other than fear? Are you motivated by bills, and by a fear of official reprimands, and by a fear being fired? Do you fear your credit card balance? Do you march off to a job that you hate, because you are afraid of what will be inflicted upon you if you do not?

And do you think you are free?

Interesting isn’t it?

You are probably thinking, “well then mister smartypants, why should I be getting out of bed?” 

And now we are getting to the heart of the matter. Why indeed? And I can’t answer your question for you. Because I am not you. But I can tell you how to answer the question. A basic principle of self defense is to not run away from the attacker when you flee. Instead, run towards a safe space. If you run away from the attacker, then you could end up anywhere. And you could very likely end up somewhere that you do not want to be if you only run away. And if you get up each morning by running away from the things you fear, you are doin the same thing. And just like the person in a horror movie, running while looking back instead of looking forward, you are likely to end up somewhere in life that you did not wish to end up. So, you must choose to run towards something. Pick a goal, even if that goal is simply a defensible position. So that is the real secret. Your ‘why’ should be something you want, and not something you want to avoid. Aiming for something puts you in control. So when you are dead and gone, how do you want to be remembered? When your corpse is cold, what do you hope to have accomplished? That is your ‘why’. That is your point. That is why you should get up in the morning.

But. 

But, you will likely realize very quickly that what you got up every morning to do when you were guided by fear, does not serve the new why that you have chosen. This is not accidental. We are taught to be driven by fear and aimed in such a way that our fearful flailing leads us to Empire. Our employers and would be lords and master benefit from a populace that is driven by fear. So this is the real challenge. The transition from fear based motivation to purpose driven motivation is a difficult one. Modern life is a feast of fear. We are loaded down with fear from kindergarten onwards. And so ridding yourself of that fear will prove a challenge. And ridding yourself of the shackles that generate that fear, and which drive you back to the salt mines each day, is an even greater challenge. 

And this is not an accident. Empire does not benefit from capable citizens. Empire like a fearful mob. Empire likes to point that mob and say go. Empire does not reward true independence. And so you will have to become a hidden rebel if you wish to be free. And worse, those people who seem to understand you will be composed of a large percentage of lunatics. Many people who seek to escape Empire are far right extremists who wish to build their own miniature empires where they can be kings. Many people who seek to escape Empire are far left extremists who think basic scientific literacy is somehow heretical. You will be surrounded by racists and bigots, anti-vaxxers and sovereign citizens, homeopaths and hippies and cult leaders. I’m not painting an enticing picture. And that’s intentional. This isn’t easy, and you probably don’t have what it takes. I’m trying to scare you away. 

But if you need that feeling of true freedom, if you crave that control and independence, then this is what you must do. 

So find you why. And fight for it.

Sheep get sheared. Wolves get hunted.

Make your choice.