I have asked for a dialogue on how we might free ourselves from our masters. I am looking for a strategy, an approach, a movement, a sound, an action, a universal word, that can be adopted by all slaves to set ourselves free.
The problem is, of course, that most slaves do not recognize their bondage. Most believe they are free because, in fact, as workers, they have the freedom to move from one slave master to the next. Many find the idea of slavery too frightening to really understand. Many wish to climb the slavery ladder to achieve a higher status as slave, that is, a position of greater power and wealth. So two conditions must occur before we can consider the road to freedom: The first is to recognize our slavery. The second is a desire to be free of it.
Gerry Spence's Blog 
Perfect. Short, sweet and to the point. Dead on.
Love it,
As always…
Carpe Diem Senator,
I urge you to pay attention to the social disruption occurring in our country at this current time. These are your constituents, the people whom you speak for in our governmental system. Let’s state and agree upon the obvious: Our system is broken. You know it, & I know it. It is undeniable. No one person can take responsibility for the mess and no one person is capable of fixing it. What can be done, however, is SOMETHING…ANYTHING different. I am not here to tell you exactly what that is. I do not assume that I could ever fully understand all the in & outs of our governmental processes by reading books & articles.
What I do know is that YOU are all in a position to affect progress & change and YOU were meant to be in such a position at this precarious time. THAT is also undeniable, no matter what path you took to get there. I implore each of you to recognize your responsibility to DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT in an attempt to transform our country into the land of the free it was originally intended to be. I appeal to the individual inside of you that yearns for a government that attempts to provide social order without infringing upon our individual freedoms. So I am asking you to set aside all the voices of influence in your decision-making that scare you into believing everything needs to be done as it has always been done. There is NO progress to be found in that strategy.
I am also asking you to set aside any feelings of pride you may carry for having accomplished what you have in life. There is no denying that “success” is based on our individual efforts and abilities but it is also based largely on our individual settings from birth onward & the people we have relationships with along the way, and accepting THAT fact forces us to recognize how we are ALL, each and every one of us, EQUAL individuals to God, no matter our behaviors or titles. I compel you to risk the security of your position in your quest to get this country back on track, as how can a person really look out for other people’s interests when his own individual interest is the priority? In fact, maybe that’s where the change needs to begin…with the representatives of the people viewing their position not as a mission accomplished or a status earned or a nice addition to the resume, but instead as an incredibly important responsibility which requires the individual to set aside personal motives in order to even hear the voice of the people and then properly represent them.
And who am I to make such a request? On paper, I am a 33-year-old college educated, suburban stay-at-home mother. To myself, I am a child of God with hopes & responsibilities, just like every other person I come into contact with, including you. I really do NOT prefer to raise my 2 small children in such a fear-charged, money-driven environment. I whole-heartedly take ownership of my responsibility in guiding and influencing them, but why does it appear that the government’s responsibility in their education, in Texas at least, is reflected in the reduction of funding for creative arts and the laying off of teachers.
With some government programs, such as Social Security or the Penal system, I see excessive over-taxing justified by the government’s claim that they can provide some sort of guarantee of security in this life, as if it were possible, in return for our money. Let me tell you something… CHANGE is the only guarantee we have in this world. Guarantees, promises, contracts, laws, etc…whatever their original intention, MUST be altered over time to adapt to the changes that take place.
Another government program I take issue with is the War on Drugs. Families being separated and permanently traumatized in order for non-violent drug offenders to be incarcerated in an already overpopulated prison system, with the American tax dollar footing the bill. Also, as a child of the 80’s, I can tell you that the campaign slogan for drug use prevention in this country of “Don’t do drugs” is translated as “Don’t do them, all drugs will lead your life to ruin, and you should be ashamed if you feel the need to ask questions about the types or effects of each drug.” This fear-inducing, emotion-provoking message delivered without any factual education, borders on propaganda, in my opinion. When we influence our children to submit their will to conformity and suppress any thoughts or feelings on the subject, we are telling them to stop trusting themselves and to start trusting others, whom they believe can satisfy their need for validation, as they have been repeatedly told not to rely on themselves for it. Also, for an individual to be told by law what they can and cannot do with their own body, uninvolving any other person, is a violation of personal freedom and identity. When we are not given the chance to invoke our own discernment, you can bet it will be reflected in a reduction of personal accountability overall.
I believe the most alarming, immediate issue in our government today is the lack of separation between Corporation & State. Somehow along the way, probably while most were distracted splitting hairs over separation of Church & State, the FDA and the pharmaceutical corporations concocted and enacted into law practices that ensure maximum profits AND the suppression of any new medical technology developed that the corporations themselves are unable to patent and profit from. People actually lose their lives while the government puts new medical discoveries on hold in order to put them through an approval process that can take years. Also, what percentage of the lobbyists in Washington D.C. are receiving their paycheck from corporations as they attempt to influence law making in their favor? While the rest of us are going about our daily lives, expecting our government is looking out for us & protecting us, lobbyists are getting actual face time with lawmakers and they are clearly not working for the interests of the people. Also, what kind of freedom of responsibility can an elected official really work from when corporate campaign contributions put him into office?
So, I’ve briefly explained some of the practices that I personally take issue with. They matter to me because of experiences I’ve personally had or been witness to and my views, while my own, have been greatly influenced by my origin of birth and the relationships I’ve had with people along the way, including the joyous and the painful. What about you? I have got to believe that you also are an individual with hopes and responsibilities. I also believe that choosing to become a representative of the people was a path you were compelled upon to some degree by your passion for this country and its mission of origin: To provide some security and structure while maintaining every individuals’ God-given right to live their lives with the freedom of personal discernment.
So, please, I implore you…search deep within yourself, quiet any influence in your decision making that is based on fear, and just try…try to HELP US by doing something…anything DIFFERENT.
For your consideration: “The problems of the world cannot possibly be solved by skeptics or cynics whose horizons are limited by the obvious realities. We need men who can dream of things that never were.” – JFK
What the hell? We all have something to say, but why? We want people to listen. Not many will listen to a 3 page response even if it contains the answer. Life is more complicated than it needs to be already.
NAVY SEALS!!
Hello Gerry, I don’t have the answers to this puzzle, but I can think of a couple pieces that may help.
1. First, get out of debit, and live not only within our means, but below our means. It is easier to be free when we have savings and are not living hand to mouth.
2. Reduce our television viewing time, so we are not enamored with all the latest pricy items we think we need, live simpler, read, walk, bicycle, garden, sing, visit neighbors and friends, but do things that do not require great expense.
3. Sell the boat, atv, motorcycle, and all the other stuff that society teaches us is required for happiness and be happy with less. Downsize the home size and recycle the clutter within.
4. Find an alternate news source, like this blog you are writing, so that we are not indoctrinated by the parroting of major news media. The media all say the same thing, we need to dig a little deeper.
5. Save enough of this planet for future generations. See resources as they will be, not as they are today.
6. Once we find the answers, help others discover the way out too.
Gerry, just watched today’s Oprah bout the 1961 Freedom Ride in the south. She had 176 souls that were in the ride….. Their stories were “recognizing their slavery” first and then “a desire to be free of it!” Pretty Damn Heavy!
(do note that on May 16th PBS is airing a special on the Freedom Walk)
The corporations cannot survive without money. Boycotting them stops the stream of money. Mass boycotts by investors and consumers would cause them to collapse. We have the power with how we spend our money and by encouraging others about how to spend their money. It gets difficult when we need to buy the necessities of life from them, but not impossible.
Gerry, my wife and i just watched today’s OPRAH show detailing the May 1961 FREEDOM RIDE thru the south. Oprah had 176 of the original 400+ riders on stage with her. PRETTY POWERFUL IMAGES… POWERFUL WORDS ALL BOUT STORY THE ROAD TO FREEDOM!
“So two conditions must occur before we can consider the road to freedom: The first is to recognize our slavery. The second is a desire to be free of it.”
Both of these conditions were found in each of their stories SPEAKING DIRECTLY TO WHAT YOU ARE SPEAKING BOUT!!!
(Note: May 16th PBS is airing a special on THE FREEDOM ROAD)
“Untamed Reclamation”
Gerry, I think one of the keys for each of us is recognizing what we’re valuing so much that we lose track of our being a slave. Is it the goal of making a lot of money? Is it status?
Then we need to really know deep inside that our freedom is more important than whatever we’re selling ourselves as slaves for. This doesn’t mean we must give up wanting a good income. But if we’ve been focusing on that so much that we’ve lost track of the fact that we’re slaves, that focus needs to first change to freedom.
The transformation from slave to free person may involve something akin to a religious conversion. It has to be something that changes me at my core. Not just nicer platitudes.
dialogue from the film Alien:
“Ripley: How do we kill it Ash? There’s gotta be a way of killing it. How? How do we do it?
Ash: You can’t.
Parker: That’s bull****.
Ash: You still don’t understand what you’re dealing with, do you? Perfect organism. Its structural perfection is matched only by its hostility. “
Gerry,
Excellent topic. Freedom from slavery depends upon one’s definition of “freedom” and “slavery.” A study of religions enlightened me that slavery has a desirable benefit – freedom from responsibility for decisions or circumstances. Freedom is a prohibitive word, with responsibilities, rewards, and decision making.
Aren’t we all slaves to one thing out of necessity simply to stay alive, ie. enough food to survive, shelter and clothing to protect us from the elements?
Therefore some type of ” work” – even if simply physical – is necessary to provide these essentials for ourselves to live.
Maybe the TOP SLAVES or MASTERS, (ie. the ones who crave and obtain WEALTH) desire it for the power of SEXUALITY, consciously or unconsciously?
That would certainly fit in also with what we have observed in the past decades
even of why ORGANIZED RELIGIONS desired power – also equaled SEX POWER.
The above scenario would unfortunately tell us WHY we have SIX (6) MILLION actually born infants, babies and children DYING EVERY YEAR world-wide by the AGE OF FIVE (5) from H-U-N-G-E-R……….and it still is allowed to continued.
To stop it would mean MANS CULTS could no longer put their phallus BEFORE THEIR CONSCIENCE.
Power = Sex.
And WHY man is probably doomed.
Better go shopping now or something since your blogs do a JOB on ones BLOOD PRESSURE!
LOL
The third is to live free. But what does that mean? How does one live free?
The Garden of Eden was our freedom and God will eventually free us from our bondage again and set up his kingdom on this earth and then we will be truly free from sin/corruption and all things of the night.
Married with 13 thirteen grandkids! Now is not the time for regret. It is the part you played that gives you freedom. Do not under rate your successes.
I’ve studied this for 30 years. Short answer:
The job system is the major brake on progress. The job system = mental fatigue. Computers, robots can easily be the new slaves. The work ethic as we have known it is the ball and chain of the left. Trauma seems attracted to trauma– the work ethic as we have known it traces back through propaganda to Johnny Calvin himself, who was a serial killer (burning women) and sexual predator (Pearce, 2002)– a very sick man physically and mentally. Besides preaching– and practicing capital punishment for disobedient children, he passed the torch of torture especially to fathers, who got their children physically and emotionally traumatized early– The damned, (the majority) said Calvin, must police each other. Word to chant: GLI. Guaranteed Livable Income.
Very recent studies show the enlarged amygdala in the brains of conservatives, and a larger anterior cingulate cortex in liberals. Joseph Chilton Pearce explained to us that blood flow in the fetus of an anxious pregnant mother goes to the hind-brain, in a happy mother to the forebrain. Happy pregnancy = liberal values, anxious or disturbed mother = blood flow to hind-brain, connected to fear, flight/fight.
The way to freedom, and a better world? Make pregnancy happy for women– this means, of course, relieve them of the number one concern, money problems; and let the first eight years at least of a child’s life optimize the parent (caretaker)-child bond. After than, avoid mass compulsion schooling. Then you will have the architects of a new world.
Pearce YouTube:
My anti-wage-slavery, pro-freedom blog:
http://jacksatu.blogspot.com/
Highly recommended: Gerry Spence’s Give Me Liberty.
Many thanks, Gerry.
–Jack
Just moved to summer camp so will ponder your thoughts and reply in writing. Just a quick thought, BURY THEM IN BULLSHIT as we
have been.
I would rather be dead than a slave ever again.
Gerry, I think the hardest part is recognizing that one is a slave. Consider all the people born into the world’s religions, who from birth, are taught to obey, under penalty of “fire and brimstone” what men have decreed are “God’s laws”.
The hardest transition I ever made in my life was leaving the Mormon church, and looking back, I can not believe that I actually “believed”…. But then, If a slave doesn’t know he is a slave, does it really matter? Take care…..Art
Thanks, Art.
What if a doctor said, “If my patient doesn’t know he is sick, does it really matter?”
gerry
It seems to me that in order to be truly FREE, one has to first master himself….easier said than done.
Louie, you are right. It is frightening to be free. We do not want to be afraid, or alone, or all shook up.
Gerry
FREEDOM RIDERS:
Thank you for this, Louie.
Gerry
Pick a fight and a state to fight it in, e.g., healthcare in Vermont. Make that state a showcase for the cause you espouse. I donated to the Vermont Democratic Party to help Gov. Shumlin get elected. Already the Republicans are spreading the lies, in preparation for 2012. It takes money to counter the lies. It is easier to win a governorship than the presidency, but a well-run state sooner or later sets the example for the whole country.
Dear Gerry,
As I flew across the country yesterday I was treated in every airport lobby to nonstop Bin Laden propaganda on the TV monitors. A 15% awareness is not even in the cards yet due to this powerful propaganda medium. If and when the alternative media is able to break this 15% level then we can move to general strikes and peaceful resistance as Gandhi did. Until then, it appears we will remain slaves.
ML
Thank you Jerry and all those who have posted. I appreciate the posts – so many heartfelt suggestions. They give me great hope. Here are my 2 cents:
When there’s a need to state the problems, state them then move to solution mode. For instance, people in societies that share equitably are happier and healthier at all levels of society. That’s a solution. As we head in that direction, keep the solution or desire in mind.
Keep the focus on what we are for. Keep the focus on what we want manifest in the world. Celebrate what we have in common with tea party and other so called “opposition” so we can work together for greater good. Hook their emotions to get them on our side and see that we are not each others’ enemies. Strengthen bonds with people and organizations that are heading in the same direction, especially young people.
In the quest for truth, transparency, democracy, it’s important to out the propaganda machine for what it is. Let’s find ways to restore the equal time rule and Fairness Doctrine. Many Americans don’t even realize that they are no longer effect. Keep an eye on The Lincoln Group. Use and/or out their methods. Pull back the screen behind which their propaganda machine is hiding.
Use 198 Methods of Nonviolent Action: http://www.aeinstein.org/organizations103a.html Keep to the path of moral ground as did Gandhi and his movement.
Take back the monetary system as presented in John Perkins’ book, Hoodwinked. The second half of the book tells what we can do. Also his book, Shapeshifting: Shamanic Techniques for Global and Personal Transformation, tells how to change corporations from within. In the meantime, do “banking” with credit unions and community or state banks.
As Viktor Frankl said, in Man’s Search for Meaning (and I paraphrase), no matter what happens, we can still have control over our own thoughts and emotions.
I would love to know how to set us free, whether it be a word, strategy, different approach…whatever. I am willing to try. The desire to be free is definitly winning, unfortunately the need for money to live is keeping me still, at least I have recognized I am a slave and so tired of it all. You get no where at times in jobs.
I hear you, Kristen.
Millions of Americans feel the same way.
gerry
Gerry Spence for President !!! After reading your book ” 7 steps to personal freedom” years ago, I struggle with becoming free everyday. How to do it? Of all books available to our young children…..this should be mandatory reading starting at elementary school age. Educating the youth on this subject might be our only hope for a Free America.
We have 535 paid elected servants. They have failed and sold out Americans and America grossly in the last 50 years. They are to blame for the State of the Union today. First we must remove the career politicians. All of them. We must have term limits (2yr), no retirement benefits, same healthcare as the general population etc. Next! in order to push this agenda majority of Americans must stand united (the movement) to demand and takeover the congress and house. The American Party or The Freedom Party. We have 300 billion people in the usa and 535 paid elected servants. If half of the population stood together for freedom from the master we would be free.
Mr. Spence there are a handful of like minded person’s like you in this country and in my opinion no one better than you. I believe we need Attorney’s to start this movement because we will have to remove or change some laws, rules etc. “7 steps to personal freedom” is my bible. America needs Gerry Spence For President.
I thought this was an interesting article. Not the solution but a step in the right direction.
http://blogs.forbes.com/alibrown/2011/05/03/are-women-less-tolerant-of-the-bullshit-that-comes-with-success/
If one has a desire to be free, one has to be free of fear before anything else – free from fear of the master, fear of reprimand, fear of punishment, fear of consequences of desiring to be free. The free from fear can never be enslaved.
Aftab:
Thank you. But fear is our motivator. Why wouldn’t we fear slavery most of all?
Many Africans were afraid, but many ran away and faced the whip and even death as punishment. Many ended up fighting with the Union aarmy for their freedom. All soldiers are afraid. Without fear there is no courage. I never walk into a courtroom without feeling fear.
Gerry
gerry
Mat 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
His Kingdom is at Common Law rather than under Contract, or Admiralty ect. Get out of debt, look to God rather than Uncle Sam to tend to your every need you are too lazy or iresponsible to tend to.
Php 2:14 Do all things without murmurings and disputings:
Php 2:15 That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;
Seek Peace through forgiveness and your own righteousness rather than requiring it of others. War is no way to demand Peace from others, create it your self.
Very well said, Gerry!
Do I see a new book in this? FROM SLAVERY TO FREEDOM
DJ
Well, DJ, Hello. Love you a lot.
gerry
How do we even reach our fellow slaves when they refuse to recognize their bondage? The cognoscenti have us quarrelling over their tablescraps.They have effectively diverted attention from the man behind the curtain. I am tired of being neutered by the lack of sensible leadership. Worst of all is that my lack of an explanation for my 18 year old son seems to undermine everything I have tried to teach him. Sooner or later every child learns the truth about Santa.
Gerry, you said “But fear is our motivator. Why wouldn’t we fear slavery most of all?”
I think we slaves are most afraid of no longer being slaves. We have bought slavery’s lie that it’s protecting us from insecurities and dangers that would devour us.
“Young women today often have very little appreciation for the real battles that took place to get women where they are today in this country. I don’t know how much history young woman today know about those battles.”
Corporate America’s Biggest Enemy with Gerry, Sandra Day O’connor
(ie. Freedom from any form of slavery is a never-ending battle?)
The mechanics of freedom come about through revolution. It’s not easy to incite a revolution when the sheep are being fed. To answer your question, John Lennon had it right in “Revolution”. Free your mind instead.
ECONOMIC FREEDOM:
Catherine Austin Fitts WHO’S YOUR FARMER, WHO’S YOUR BANKER, WHERE’S YOUR MONEY?
Catherine Austin Fitts offers a unique perspective on the global financial system and on the political economy. Her background includes Managing Director and member of the Board of Wall Street investment bank Dillon Read & Co. Inc., Assistant Secretary of Housing – Federal Housing Commissioner in the first Bush Administration and President of Hamilton Securities Group, a Washington DC investment bank. Catherine has designed and closed over $25 billion of transactions and investments to-date, has led portfolio strategy for $300 billion of financial assets and liabilities and has participated in the private and public workout and turn around of billions in mortgage, real estate and banking fraud.
“Long ago, I made a promise that I would never act against the best interests or the excellence of my own people—that I would do my best to ensure that we were worthy of the stewardship of our world and that we did our best to leave a better world for generations yet to come. To make and keep such a promise is to understand that money and position are tools, not goals, and that death is not the worst thing that can happen. Some would probably accuse me of ‘fighting the tape’ and not being ‘good at the game.’ I would tell those people that now is not the time in the history of our people for a failure of imagination.”
Further thoughts from pondering last few days working in garden at
summer camp. Spoke with Rudy on his opinions on the 5th. He had some guests just fresh out of prison and upon their arrival home, he played his one and only Dwight Yokum CD too loud and the cops were
called on him for a second time. He is not allowed to celebrate good friends coming home with loud music in a HUD subsidized overpriced rental unit. Oh well.
On your question…..after my first thoughts a few days ago which you
published, thank you, after that, do as I do. Re-Read Emerson and
rewatch the movies, The Razor’s Edge with Bill Murray and Dreamer
about some folks with a race horse that the middle east elites invested.
My TB mare, Shades of Shamrock was taken from me years ago….but she was a Dreamer with me.
Gerry, it’s been a while since I was here, so I hope my thoughts will be welcome. As to your question, it is my belief that the answer lies in your book “Seven Simple Steps to Personal Freedom,” specifically in the phrase “the union of one.” I had to get the book out, but here’s the quote that I think explains it best: “…a union of one–one man, one woman, one worker with special skills, an inquiring mind, an independent attitude, with creativity intact and love of life blooming.” That says it all, for me anyway.
Another quote which resonated with me was: “She may have acquired one great and always-growing skill, as in the case of those enamored of electronics.” Last year, I began independently studying what I feel is both a trade and an art, and I’ve discovered it is something I truly love to do. I have become able to not only make some things but fix some as well, which over time will allow me to become “the union of one” to any workplace I inquire at, although I’m not quite there yet.
So that is what I believe is the key, which you already laid out. Each of us should teach ourselves a trade, an art, or a skill, something we love to do, and doing that will allow each individual to become free, and not slaves at the so-called “mercy” of employers. Just my thoughts, of course. Best wishes, and thanks so much for writing that book. It has set ME free, and I have no doubt it will do the same for others wise enough to read it.
On a lighter note, this is the only way I know how to do this. Google Youtube, Moody Blues Everyboy Derserves Favor. Side Bar has song MY SONG. Choose it. It is the answer. Most all the music and written word is what we are trying to say today. Pick up the other music also. Think yiu will like it. Speakers high>
When I was a kid I was interested in trapping. Beaver, when trapped, will dive into the water as far as the chain on the trap will allow and drown.
Gerry
How could anyone with a conscience today spend their time selfishly thinking about some “After life Heaven” for THEMSELVES when we have close to SEVEN (7) MILLION BABIES AND CHILDREN DYING BY THE AGE of FIVE (5) from HUNGER – AROUND THE WORLD EVERY SINGLE YEAR!!
Forget some selfish next life; use common sense and STOP CAUSING SUFFERING IN THIS ONE!
Someone has to speak for the dying and dead already born children and that is what they would say to you.
As you know, Mr. Spence, slaves are usually not aware of their own slavery. THE QUESTION to ask ourselves is: “How am I locked into slavery?”
I got locked into slavery when I bought my first car. I was totally unaware. But now I know that economic slavery begins with a new car purchase; debt, insurance, maintenance, registration, gasoline, etc.
Question #2. “How did slavery begin for you/me?”
This is one question we need to ask ourselves in order to save our children.
#3. “What was the need inside of me to become a victim of slavery?” or “Why did I feel the need to create my own specific form of slavery?
i.e. Need for approval, confirmation, fit in, peer pressure, etc.?
#4. “Who would I be without the trappings of slavery; i.e. new car, latest products, cell phone, shoes, coffee, etc.?”
Hope this helps you. WRITING is the one significant way we can discover the information that our emotions have to give us. Our emotions remain hidden unless we take the time to WRITE then out.
Our brains have nothing new to give us. Just the same old tapes going around and around. However, by writing out these questions, we give our emotions permission to speak up and tells us the information our minds try to block out. (See PRH on google about this writing technique)
This technique ask the following 4 Questions:
“REGARDING my issue of being a slave to (sex, cars, kids, spouse, social media gadgets, etc.)
WHERE is that in my body (locate the feeling inside),
To What extent (0-9)?
and
WHAT am I being called to?” (This last question gives permission to your emotions to share with you all the hidden information is wants to give you.)
Thank you for asking this very important question to your followers. God Bless Us All, Renee
“Men are whipped oftenest who are whipped easiest.” This is attributed to Frederick Douglass. He was sent to be “broken,” and ended up fighting the feared man who was to break him. No one else was around, so who would know he was beaten or not? He would, Douglass realized, & he would have to live w/ that forever. So he fought. And he knew that he would never again be a slave.
So it is on each of us to work on ourselves, no matter who is or isn’t watching. Fight for what is right, no matter who is or isn’t watching, no matter what the consequences are. A lot of the work is internal, but we also want to support each other with attention, love and truth.
The issue you raise assumes that your definition – and only your definition – of freedom and slavery matters. But what is your definition of a slave/free man, and why is your definition, and not how the man views his own position in life, what matters? In my opinion, these questions cannot be separated. They are intertwined. The definition of a slave/free man is relative to the man – and how the man sees himself is all that matters.
Personally, I see myself as a slave. I often go to work yearning for the day that I can start my own law firm. Others might see me as free. I can pay my bills, put food on the table, etc. But why should the ‘others’ definition matter to me? It does not. Why is the other’s definition of freedom correct? It is not from my perspective. In that sense, “freedom” and “slavery” are relative to the individual, and quite malleable.
Along the same line, I define slavery and freedom simply as feelings/emotions. If you feel free, you are free, regardless of your position in life. If you feel like a slave, you are a slave. We all know these “feelings.” They cannot be defined. Even if there is an objective definition of freedom and slavery, I can’t “reason” my way into feeling free. Or could I?
A sick man is sick whether he knows it or not. A man is a slave only if he believes himself to be a slave. If he feels free, he is.
Seems to me, freedom has way more to do with one’s state of mind, then anything out there is society that may be used an an excuse for being un-free. The state must not cling to false addictions, like freedom from want or bad health or any of the difficulties of life. There is no freedom from life. All is in how we react to those difficulties, find a way, your way, overcome, be proud of accomplishments, think for yourself, question authority, that is freedom.
I once met a homeless man, who claimed that he was free…..he owned nothing, paid for nothing, impressed no one, and didn’t care that he impressed no one….was he free?
Right after reading from your excellent blog and then this request for a dialogue, I came upon a post by Ralph Nader entitled “From Charity to Justice” at counterpunch.com. It contains more than one idea on to how to become free or freer. The link to that piece is: http://www.counterpunch.com/nader05092011.html
I think it’s worth looking at directly. Perhaps a discussion here can follow.
Thank you for everything, Gerry.
Unless one can be at peace with oneself there can be no freedom from slavery. One who is truly at peace with oneself knows it. Quotes from supposed higher sources of intelect or spirituality do not free anyone. Though we have to function in the slave world in which we live, and act as slaves in order to survive, some of us are not really slaves in a spiritual sense … Native American medicine men may have understood and lived this sense of peace and freedom better than most.
I propose, and have been for years now, an international week of work stoppage. Everyone in the world just refuses to go to work, refuses to go to the store, refuses to drive their cars, simply Stops. We could start w/a day a week, increase that to 1 week p/month. Hurt the corporations in their pocket books – it’s the only way I can see. (Oh, and support Wikileaks and other such dissidents.)
Funny, by helping my wife to run for the Board of Trustees of the University of Kentucky, I just underwent my first election campaign in America. Over many decades the board evolved into a sports-themed country club for the connected and the fortunate, and now a seat on the board is probably the most plum “public” post in Kentucky, typically reserved for multi-millionaires appointed by the governor of the state.
My wife ran for a faculty seat on the board and had to win it twice in one month, both times with 35% margin over her next opponent advocating the status quo (the first time the election results were annulled to please the university administration that wouldn’t like if my wife actually stuck to her program and pushed for accountability at the bloated top.)
Now, that despite all odds she has won the seat, uninvited advice is starting to pour in: “Do nothing radical, work within the system, you’re just one of 20 trustees. Be kind to them and they might be kind to you once in a while. You won’t accomplish much, but, in the end, at least you’d be able to tell your constituency that you’ve accomplished something. Otherwise, the appointees will block everything you push for and you’ll be a dismal failure…”
It’s very easy to succumb to this advice: one needs an effective organization of supporters to push for and sustain any meaningful change within staid systems. Building such an organization is usually very difficult, especially when there is nothing you can give your supporters but toil, sweat and tears (sorry to steal from Churchill.) Moreover, the existing faculty organization that supposed to be of help is actually hampering: apparently, nobody wants competition for spotlight from some upstart… To use Gerry’s metaphor, the slaves normally don’t want you to become free – no, they want you to be as miserable as they are in their “earned” comfortable cages. They want you to be groaning and moaning just like them about the unfairness; they want you to be talking about “hard work” in pushing for change, and rejoicing in self-praise after getting a crumb here or there…
We’ll see what happens at the university, but, having read all the comments to Gerry’s previous post and this one, I see mostly groans and moans, sorry. So I have to wonder if the readers really want to be free. Could it be that they simply want to vent, like most people on social sites for the “progressives” or “regressives”? (To quote my wife: “In place of tyrants, I’d give the people all the Internet and social media they want – they’d just blow off their steam and get addicted to the minutiae of life of Prince William.”)
Apparently, my offer of an approach that can reverse the enslaving paradigm of working life of ordinary people didn’t catch anyone’s attention (it’s posted under Gerry’s previous article.) That’s fine – nothing gained, nothing lost – but it also indicates the passivity of Gerry’s readership, and you can’t do much with the passive bunch, just bitch ad nauseam.
Did I answer your question, Gerry?
Andrei
FallibilityManagement.com
Like Jesus or some old guy said–we have to become like little children. And as adults-unlike children-we don’t need to depend on anyone else for food or warmth. We must seek for this freedom within ourselves. The yoke of “representative democracy” hangs heavy on our necks, individually, and any attempt to free ourselves through its machinations will result in us becoming more hopelessly ensnared, like a cow struggling to free itself from barbed wire. The only way to freedom is to realize we are not really “americans” in a “representative democracy” and we are not “lawyers” or “teachers” or “salespeople.” Every identification seems leads to deeper enslavement. The feeling of degradation increases each time we fight the beast, even if we win. Because by fighting it, we give it power. I don’t have a special Word, if I did, I would share it. The only thing I have heard that works is Question Everything. Who is this voice in my head? What was I before I was born? Things like this, or just to sit still in the woods. Tricky stuff–but I think as I am sure you know Gerry–and have probably wrote about—the slave master is inside us–in our heads–not outside. If we are free of the slave master in our heads–which does not really exist–the one outside has no power over us. Or so I have been told. All of these events, madness, injustice, have been replaying over and over over again since the beginning of time, with no real change, we must change ourselves before we can even begin to worry about the “world.” And of course you know that–at least I have heard you say that before. It all starts with us. Alone, individually. Not collectively. There is no collective, there is no masses. Just individuals. Just one mind in millions of minds.
Hell is paved with good intentions. We could intend good things but are mistaken and cause bad results. Thus, are we slaves whether we are “good” or “bad?” Sometimes we can win a case for our client only to find we were mistaken and bad consequences resulted down the road. I believe we are slaves to imperfection. No one is free, not really.
Jerry
Back in the 70’s I saw you on TV and thought if I ever need a lawyer I would want you and still do!
In my judgment what you are talking about is creating and promoting a new set of cultural values hopefully not a cult because you could. Professional Cult exit councilors exist for instance Steve Hassan there are many others and the ICSA International Cultic Studies Association. To really understand influence, what you do and they study, I recommend Herbert Simon Daniel Kahneman both Nobel price winners one in 1978 and one in 2002 I also recommend Richard Thaler and Robert Cialdini maybe George Lakoff I would love to work with you on some common goal but have no professional qualifications I do have a opinions though.
Do you know these guys work?
From a different point of view I would like to rework Dr. Xavier Amador’s anosognosia and LEAP into a non-medical social change frame.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3157373037314023921#
I imagine that coming at the world from and argument frame is different then coming to the world from a seeking partnership frame. I like the book “Getting to Yes”
Dean
Gerry….
You and I have traded communications on a few occasions…..
My answer to reclaiming personal freedom has been to disconnect with the mainstream. I disconnected from all TV; my wife and I do not even subscribe to it. I have decided not to participate in any groups, or belong to any clubs. We choose what we listen to and read. My wife and I consume ourselves in reading and self education. We tend to surround ourselves with good, like-minded people. I see so many people caught up in the “rat race”; in the charade that is America. We have downsized and paid off most of our assets in the desire to live a simple life. I am now focused on proceeding quietly down life’s path….enjoying each day with the one I love. I have tried to explain my outlook in regards to my thoughts on America to several people in my social circles…..I tell them they first need to realize that they ARE slaves; to the banks, to the government, and in most cases the church. I tell them before you can take on the problem…first the problem must be acknowledged. I love it when people tell me if I am so upset with the state of America….then VOTE; vote these people out of office. In my opinion, this country was bought and sold a long time ago. The problem is larger than I can fathom….so I just chose to disconnect. I think my actions are a start to a higher awareness…
Gerry, you are great man and a tremendous asset to the human condition! Thanks for all that you do! Dr. Brad Schmidt
Gerry:
What you really seem to be focusing on is very similar to Plato’s exploration of the paradox of the human condition through many different dialogues. Of course, you are assuming the truth of normative concepts like “freedom,” “truth,” etc., which many of us viscerally feel to be true but which are at odds with some of our experience(s) and some science. In Plato’s mind, man’s primal urge was to ascertain the “truth” and to climb from the dark cave of common experience, convention, manipulation (by others); Plato’s cave is a metaphor about the human condition, the choice of self-transcendence, and the associated pitfalls.
To the extent that your essays are grounded in something more immediate about the current economic and political realities faced by most of us in the United States, I think Henry David Thoreau’s essay “Economy” was a prescient analysis of what we would become if we didn’t create personal and political firewalls for unchecked capitalistic greed. My personal opinion is that most Americans know of and feel the endemic inequality that exists today, but have no real, well-organized cause or leader(s) to rally around. We are also paradoxical creatures that yearn for change, but fear it, search for truth yet shun it, espouse peace while beating the drums of war….
The reason I chose the path of law over that of a philosophy professor was the idea that we as lawyers could act to incrementally change the world rather than talk about it. The shocking part of now being a lawyer is to see how hard making change really is. It is through the inspiration of people like you, Gerry, that many of us a sustained to continue the march and to guard and tend to the fire.
Bill B.
Gerry,
I’d like to invite you to view this brief video about Morgan Freeman and his thoughts on racism. It will set the context for my response to you.
Once we are aware of the bondage we are in, we “stop talking about it”. In doing so, we no longer give it our energy. Instead, we point that energy towards the life that we want for ourselves and others. Bondage comes with many faces as may you know. It could be addictions, it could be obsessions. Regardless of its mask, we turn away from it. I read once that Mother Teresa was asked to march in protest of war. She responded she would only march for peace.
There is already a movement. A spitirual movement. It is TWiG. It is That Which is Good.
http://keepamericaatwork.com/?p=168856
I think the answer requires restoring the balance that I talk about in this article.
Don’t take a bite from the government welfare apple, take your life and make it your own responsibilty, this is to me how you free yourself. Set an example, freedom doesn’t equal easy.
Hello Gerry,
One of the biggest problems my generation faces (I’m 30) is complacency.
I find my generation to be rather cynical, feeling much more secure to just complain (or turn a blind eye) instead of actually doing something. I don’t think they’re unaware that they’re slaves, they just choose not to do anything about it. It doesn’t make them bad people but morally weak. Wow, even I sound cynical about cynicism.
One of my greatest concerns is that my generation is allowing the older generation to dominate the conversation, particularly when it comes to politics and finances. I used to get frustrated about their lack of interest but what I really think it comes down to is, as an individual, knowing which fights are worthing fighting. This rather crude philosophy has the potential to seem apathetic, but I think one may use it to make people focus positive energy on things that have a more direct meaning in their lives. This allows my peers to think their community involvement is their idea and that makes them own it. Anyway, it keeps me from thinking all my peers want to do is drive SUVs, pop babies out and ignore the democratic process.
I hope you won’t think too unkindly of me, Gerry, but I think we also need more country lawyers. The type of lawyer who’s gone through some life and uses the law to help those who are in the most need. Using the law like this isn’t always the best way to make change, but it will always be an important part of changing how things work.
So I guess my answer to your question has two points: convince the younger generations to take more ownership of their communities and get more lawyers? That doesn’t seem like a real good answer, but I believe in community involvement and the work you’ve done.
Insurance of every sort makes modern capitalism possible: both by protecting against the loss of property on one side of the ledger, and by accumulating huge sums of money-for-hire on the other side of the insuring
companies’ ledgers.
Both the act of ‘protecting against loss’ and the act of pooling ‘huge sums of money-for-hire’ enables modern wage-slavery.
‘Protecting against loss’ permits individuals and groups to accumulate and hold more property and moneyed-assets than could be accumulated and controlled in a natural world. Acts of God (fire, wind, flood, and pestilence) and acts of man (arson, theft, ineptitude, and death) gradually reduce the wealth of individuals and groups thus enforcing a leveling of wealth during peace time in a natural world without insurance.
War is a special case. Wars have been driven by secret (banking and corporate) influence since the Seven Years War in Europe in the 1750s, which was driven by profitable world trade, which enrichment created a new class of people who were not of the former moneyed royal class. Banking and corporate wealth depends on large pools of money which must be generated outside of the old monarchical system of quit-rents and nuisance taxes. Enforced insurance purchases (for car and home protection, in the modern system) are a primary and, thus far, reliable means by which corporations maintain a steady supply of investment capitol. And that investment capitol makes possible corporations other most reliable activity, equipping and supplying the business of war.
To end modern western slavery we must break the compulsory insurance claims made by corporations on our lives, income and property. This proposition is most counter-intuitive to the human goal of perfect safety and perfect health, which is why it will be impossible for the present generation to even imagine as rational or reasonable. But the next few generations, as the ‘low-hanging fruit’ of the world’s resources are extinguished, will find themselves living in a diminished world where the possibility of breaking free may seem credible.
I think people with full bellies can’t see the hungry. As long as there are crumbs to fight for- people will be distracted and not see the corporate blood thirsty thieves in their midst. Unless it’s personal-few will be moved to change and we will keep voting for the people that help feed the illusion that we are a democracy. The lyrics of a song, “Democracy is coming to America” frequently play in my head. I wish I had a better answer. When I was younger I believed in my masters. Now, it’s challenging to see the escape. I voted for Obama and I even cried when he was elected. Now, I can only admire the mastery of the deception. The first black president has deported more undocumented workers (no matter how cruel) than any other president, continued unjust wars, kept open the doors of Guantanamo where we can forever imprison people without charging them of a crime and mostly proved his loyalty to those who own most of the wealth by giving them more. Brilliant. Brilliant. Brilliant.
The answer to freeing ourselves lies inside of us, but the dig to the human soul requires not only a full belly, an inquisitive mind, an open heart, but time to do the digging. Time is the catch 22 that keeps us spinning on a hamster’s wheel or perhaps this too is another illusion or distraction designed to keep servants in their place.
Sonia C.
How many times have I heard people say, “It’s got to be true, I saw it on TV. Our children are being taught to THE TEST. What happened to reading, writing and arithmetic? I too, am wondering about an 18 year old, but he’s a grandson, lots of talent, but no sense at all it seems. Leaped into a marriage after basic training a few weeks ago. Now, lots of tech school ahead and how will he concentrate on studies? Doom is looming I fear. Or should I? Maybe it’s his only chance at learning about “real life”. Face fear straight on, and miraculously it disappears. It’s happened for me many times. How to help the timid learn this, I have no idea. Perhaps, they don’t recognize them as fears.
BANKS:
Probably, the first step is to realize that this realm (earth, whatever) is hell. Not the hell that we’re told is hell, but one of the hells anyway.
If you doubt you are in hell, ask yourself any of these questions:
Is anyone hungry?
Does anyone hurt themselves or others?
Is anyone homeless, sick, in need, in fear?
Do selfish agendas exist?
Is everyone valuable?
Well, none of these things could exist anywhere but hell because heaven does not include a single one of them. Once you realize where you are, you can then plot your exit but, not before. A great deal of examination needs to be given to every thought, deed, wish, want, and all things that are in or about our lives. Where are we going when we pass from this hell to “there”. All is fair in the yin and yang of the universe, trickery, illusion, untruthfulness, well, you know. As is said “all is fair in love as so it is in war” and this statement is not meant to be read in literate thought. All deceit is permitted in every realm as we do have free will. The problem with the blessing of free will is that our will is so powerful that we are pitifully manipulated by it. And that we allow “others” wills to integrate into our own.
Mr Spence I sit here wondering free from what slavery. I work for myself. Yes for money to buy things that I mostly do not really need but like. Am I forced to no. Am I programed to yes. But if I quit how will I survive how will I live. Who will feed me. I can not see myself growing all that I need to just sustain my body. What about all those who work for me? I am a master and a slave as you probably are.
I am lost in this thought process.
I don’t believe in religion so free from that although my sister would tell you that I am going to miss out on an afterlife . I am a slave to the government and have to pay them or I end up in cage, so the freedom from that master is a no win. If I lighten the load which is breaking my back every day I will have to let many on my slaves go and to what another job of slavery. At least I feel I am a kind master. As I said I am lost. Any ideas greatly appreciated.
Best, Del
I think much of our freedom can be reclaimed through simplicity and an awareness of what we really need. Our enslavements derive mostly, I think, from attachment to things that cost money. The recession/depression of 2008 spurred a new frugality and an understanding among many that the corporate grifter class marketed debt to us just like cigarettes–without any regard for how it might hurt us. More and more people are refusing to go into debt, and are finding that stuff is not what life is about. People are cooking more at home. They are bartering and sharing. They are growing more of their own food.
As an example, go here http://urbanhomestead.org/about to find the blog of an offbeat family in Pasadena that grows most of the food it eats on an urban lot, not too far from the interstate. They longed for a spacious place in the country, and finally decided that they should create a homestead where they were, with what they had, rather than counting on a distant dream. They grow thousands of pounds of food every year. They are free I think. They look happy. They help others. Their lives appear to me to have meaning.
I think we are enslaved mostly because the “normal” person is unaware that many perceived “needs” are not really needs. Consumption, and debt, and long hours at work in a cubicle, and “retirement….one day” are not inherent in the human condition–these things have been marketed to us persistently and aggressively until it appears to almost all that car payments and cable tv and student loans and paying someone else to watch your kids, are unalterable facts of life. And so, most stay in unfulfilling jobs for the Corporate Master. Every little thing we buy requires money, which takes time to make, and time, ultimately, is freedom. Most people don’t really know how do a goddamned thing for themselves, because work at a job, and paying others to do routine tasks has become the path of least resistance. It would be an interesting exercise to get all the smart lawyers at your college to try to write out the steps required to perform an oil change. How many could really do it? How would they fare in a country without a complex legal system?
Who is more free: The fat man who drives a Mercedes as proof of his successful toil in the office, or the skinny man who has the legs and lungs ride his bike everywhere he needs to go? What about when gas is $10 a gallon or when it is unavailable at any price–who is more free then? What about when the fat man is on the gurney with an obstructed coronary artery.
The Corporate Master governs with the consent of the governed. Wanna’ be free? Quit buying things you don’t really need, and use your time to do the things you really yearn to do.
This is a least Step 1. Thank you Jeff. Well said.
gerry
I understand what you are saying and often have this discussion with my spouse as we talk about the inability to be free – I pay taxes on my property, so I don’t own it. I pay taxes on my income, so I don’t earn it. But, large arguments aside, I wonder if in some way we all are, and truly must be, slaves to something. I have two children. I am a slave to them. I must do things in order to fulfill my obligations. So, do obligations and responsibilities simply mean slavery?
13th Ammendment works for me… and I wrote an Artilcle of Family asserting all rights and powers not given to the state, and the federal in the Constitution are reserved to the people to self govern.. and signed and dated it, and regist…ered it at the county recorder’s office… as an affadavit. and until the state ” makes nothing but gold and silver as payment for debt” then we should reserve the right to withhold payment for taxes. ( No taxation without representation in money and men… ” no involuntary servitude ” and since all state taxes fund ” compulsory education, that usurps the family ( extended family )… as the proper steward of child’s time.. that works for me… I am 13 generation family roots america.. and my families lived and died for freedom, faith and we have no new lands to go to , so it is with fortitude we must stand.. one person at a time, one nation under God….
The Buddha spoke about the manner in which ignorance (of the true nature of conditions) and attachment (to those things which were not of an essential nature) were the drivers of our enslavement in suffering.
He took the idea that we do not often recognize our bondage to new extremes in the lessons he taught. His thoughts motivate us to seek a higher level of mindfulness when it comes to assessing the nature of freedom and a lack thereof.
I think it really comes down to a matter of expectation. As Americans, when we look around the world, it’s easy to observe that our circumstance is far superior to those living in many other countries, such that, relatively speaking, we seemingly enjoy quite a bit of freedom. Moreover, our citizenry has been conditioned to believe that as “the best country on earth”, well, what’s not to like? In my judgment, not until people truly understand and believe in the power that they possess will they ever be truly free. This lack of understanding and belief is, by and large, a matter of education. The powers that be certainly wouldn’t welcome a truly enlightened populace as that would, no doubt, signal the end of their dominance. Our unenlightened willingness to be satisfied with the status quo becomes the real shackle on our freedom.
Slavery is not all it’s whipped up to be.
If we weren’t slaves would we be any different?
Humanity is, by nature, greedy and selfish.
I wear my ghost shirt always, every day is a good day to dream.
This is an idea that is rapidly gaining popularity:
The 26th amendment (granting the right to vote for 18
year-olds) took only 3 months & 8 days to be ratified! Why? Simple!
The people demanded it. That was in 1971…before computers, before e-mail, before cell phones, etc.
Of the 27 amendments to the Constitution, seven (7) took
1 year or less to become the law of the land…all because of public pressure.
Congressional Reform Act of 2011
1. Term Limits.
12 years only, one of the possible options below.
A. Two Six-year Senate terms
B. Six Two-year House terms
C. One Six-year Senate term and three Two-Year House
terms
2. No Tenure / No Pension.
A Congressman collects a salary while in office and
receives no pay when they are out of office.
3. Congress (past, present & future) participates in
Social Security.
All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to
the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people.
4. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just
as all Americans do.
5. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise.
Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.
6. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.
7. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose
on the American people.
8. All contracts with past and present Congressmen are
void effective 1/1/12.
The American people did not make this contract with
Congressmen. Congressmen made all these contracts for themselves.
Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The
Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work.
If each person contacts a minimum of twenty people then it will only take three days for most people (in the U.S. ) to receive the message. It is time.
@Louie Cocroft, Please reconsider term limits. If you study carefully, you’ll see that term limits limit us yet empower lobbyists and their corporate “sponsors.” It takes several terms for legislators to learn the ropes and to gain appointments to important committees. Citizens have every right to keep in office those who serve us well. We reserve the option to vote legislators out of office. I’d rather see term limits on lobbyists, or better yet, on corporations. Also, I think we’ll have better government of, for, and by the people when we get a grip on the corporate money that goes into buying elections.
Citizens of Vermont will most likely continue to send Bernie Sanders to the US Senate. If you elected Gerry Spence to office, would you prefer term limits or the right to keep him in office for as long as he serves admirably?
Gerry,
The only way to really become free, IMHO is to recognize our inherent connection to the creator, reflected in the natural law, and codified into this nations republican law through concepts like self determination, self ownership, and right to life, liberty and property. Unfortunately, no sooner did Jefferson build a blueprint for maximum ordered liberty, than the money interests and old school aristocrats seek to undermine Jefferson’s notion of a nation full of yeoman farmer artisan warriors, and begin enslaving everyone into a network of commerce where the majority must serve the minority to survive.
Being free is risky. You dont get freedom by socializing problems like hunger, healthcare and transportation. You get freedom via decentralization, deregulation and decollectivisation. The key is to take it far enough that the banksters, the robber barrons, the monopolists, and all the other rent seekers who hope to steal from the poor through the force of government dont have enough to gain to make it worth the effort of seeking rent from the government in the first place.
So long as we look to big brother to solve our ills on any level beyond the most basic, we will always be slaves to someone, being a slave to the group is no less harmful than being a slave to a king.
Peace.
I suggest this text:
Wine making and its export became the economic basis of the Roman Empire. With the collapse of the empire, religious institutions, particularly the monasteries, became the source of brewing and wine making techniques. It was not until the 19th century that the production of beer, wine and distilled beverages became efficient and cheap enough to supply inexpensive alcohol to the masses.
Throughout the 19th century and into the early 1900s, alcohol and various drugs – notably morphine, cocaine and chloral hydrate – were used in various combinations as medicines. These “patent” medicines were highly addictive; alcohol content was as high as 95 percent. By the mid-1800s, the problem of addiction was major and growing. A physician from Battle Creek, Michigan, traveled extensively and used charts to show the effects of alcohol, drugs and nicotine on the body. Today, you would most likely recognize him as the founder of Corn Flakes. His name was Dr. John Harvey Kellogg.
Read more: http://addictionrecoveryreality.com/history-addiction.html#ixzz1NAlUdlkX
The theme that this draws to my mind, in response to your most provocative question, is that we are slaves to desire. Desire in the most emphatic; or the most subtle sense of the word. We want… We must have… We wish…We crave; and so on.
We are slaves; but to desires that are implanted, inculcated, induced, imposed, suggested, marketed; however, the profit motive which is the only real amoral/moral code of corporations; chooses to grow itself through the legal devices at hand. Profits are the goal, and the means are enslavement in legal and profitable ways. We fear, so we are engulfed in a war machine; we fear, so we are engulfed in a commercial machine; we fear so we brush, rinse, suck on mints, buy shampoos that do nothing; dress with the fashion; or, basically whatever we are told will allow us to be part of a relationship with anyone or any thing (imagine that!).
Carried to the extreme from the alternative of banishment or isolation: now we facebook/skype or interface with strangers exposing our most private parts; the blog, however, is the beginning , however, of the counter revolution that come from actually talking to each other; the blog or the ability to communicate with anyone; or, everyone about anything however novel or revolutionary; is the first step at understanding that what was spoon fed to us, was not good for us. It was toxic, but delivered with sugar coating; and highly addictive.
I suggest, dear Gerry, that we identify desire; and, it’s roots in history, like the wars over opium; and consequences in our children today who are playing “back ops” like it matters; as a start to determining why we desire whatever we desire; the road to freedom is the understanding and control of desire.
By the way, we met in Santa Rosa on two occasions; and I now live in Manila.
But that is another story.
Cordially,
Billy
Dear Gerry, Finding what is free? Here is a start, Service, Love, Kindness, Knowledge, being Virtuous and Caring, having Self Control and giving up Control of others is all Free. These give us flight, they put a song in your heart a jump in our step, a smile on a face and hope for the Planet. (So goes the people! so goes the world) When we the people change! Then and only then can we eliminate th Corporations. Thank for all the books Gerry! I cherish them. Tom
While we are moderating, Gerry, let me go on.
The point is that we are enslaved by our desires; and, that our desires are increasingly those which we have because they are imposed on us by all of “them”, who are our masters.
Our desire to be fed means we are told to eat billions of burgers, from cows fed on million of acres of grass; grown on land denuded of trees; at the cost of the forest; so the meat can be sold with the addictive combination of salt, fat and sugar, to people who get bigger and bigger; and more and more unhealthy; to the point of needing medical rehab; and promoted on reality shows about the biggest loser; to make the pendulum swing back to being thin, and then who start over and over again; so the doctors can prescribe medications sold by the chemical/medical/insurance complex of interconnected companies; who share the profits on the stock indexes, holding companies, charitable organizations; all driven by the tax power of the self serving masters…do you get this yet? OK; so enough, already.
How to be free? I suggest that desire is a pawn in a zero sum game. There are only so many who can share in fulfillment. There are only so many who can be fed, or medicated, or taxed; and so on. So, “where is my share”, is the mantra of entitlement; driven by the fear that it won’t be there when I need it?
It can also be the mantra of the diminishing return on the diminishing amount of re- investment in humanity. “My share” can mean also, this is all I really need.
“My share” can mean ‘My share is enough to share with you; so you can share with him; so he can share with me; so we can share with them, and they can share with the others who are just learning; so we can teach them to share with us.”
The notion, if you will, is that the antidote to the poison of desire, must be something like sharing. Here is how it works:
We are gathered together for a moment, and it is time to eat. There is no food. No kitchen, no cook, no meal. Will we starve? Will we panic? He said, take our whatever you have; and put it in a pile; and everyone started to empty their pockets, sacks, stashes, etc., until the “loaves and the fishes” were piled high. The story is biblical, but no matter. You get the idea.
What do you think?
Cordially,
Billy
Well, Billy, let me tell you a story:
I once said to Imaging, my darling wife, “We have more than our share. Let’s give all but our share away.”
She said, “All right. I will go with you.”
I looked at her. She was serious. Then I realized I would give up our comfortable home, our second car, our kids education, and on and on. And I said, “Oh, Honey, I was just joking.”
gerry
Since hundred of millions of adults STILL bring babies into the world today KNOWING they do NOT have the resources to care for these babies (food, clean water, medical care, a roof over their heads, etc.) and…….
ALMOST 7 MILLION of these babies and children are DEAD by the age of 5 from HUNGER, and one can double those death numbers from disease…….
WHY would anyone give money – UNTIL THERE WAS AN AGREEMENT TO STOP THIS ACTIVITY?
It would make the GIVER feel guilty for making the problem WORSE!
And why Bill Gates is now working on supplying WORLD-WIDE vaccinations for poor babies and children already born, in an attempt to KEEP THEM ALIVE UNTIL ADULTHOOD.
He’s thought it out.
Support Anonymous, Wikileaks, Cryptome and whatever/whomever is supporting the People – be vocal in your support, write letters of support showing the correlation between Free Speech and such groups and/or individuals;
Have The People take one day per month off work – on the same day – to stay at home & do nothing other than help themselves or their neighbors. Buy nothing, don’t drive, stop supporting any corporation in any way, do it on corporate time using a bennie like sick-leave if at all possible. If We shut it down for 1 day, we can shut it down for 2, if we shut it down for 2, we can shut it down for a week;
Buy as little as we can from any corporation – use instead homegrown, homemade, locally produced;
Buy all of our clothing from 2nd hand stores or locally made clothiers using locally grown & produced fabrics;
Help your neighbors, let them help you – whether it be growing a garden or building a home;
Start a cooperative endeavor;
No matter what the issue, tell the truth;
Support no one or no entity that does not tell the truth;
Call others on their attempts to deceive/lie/distort;
If you belong to any group that is politically active, help organize that group to stop supporting any party with the groups donation to instead support an individual who is trying to do the right thing by the People, by the Planet, by the air/water/fishes/animals, etc.;
Stop being a part of the problem.
You are refreshing. I wish you were contagious.
gerry
Gerry
Maybe we could give up our porn, drugs, alcohol, tobacco, and playing golf every week!, that would help set us free, plus it will free up over 500 billion dollars a year that the hungry, homeless, and children could use for there needs.
It would also kill some of the big corporations out there and help save the planet, I don’t understand how we can’t feed the whole world with the fiat currency that we use in this country, its Bull S—
Tom
How can we free ourselves? Don’t be a wage slave in the first place. After a brief unsuccessful stint working for a law firm after I got out of lawschool, I was pretty much forced into opening up my own law office.
It was the best thing that ever happened to me.
I have now practiced law by myself for 22 years. I would never consider working for anyone again. I would encourage other lawyers to take the “leap of faith” and go to work for themselves. Its wonderful to get up in the morning and know you will enjoy every minute of the day because your time is truly yours.
Good.
gerry
It seems the inherent problem is that there is an assumption that people want to be free. I believe a wise man once stated that the power of the decision remains with the individual. With that in mind it seems that we are indeed responsible for our own freedom if we should choose to pursue such things.
It seems most folks at least those that live in the western world are comfortable and with that how many folks will fight the machine that is corporate. A corporate machine that was created by people for the betterment of the few that took advantage of that structure.
So is the question about freedom, can you give freedom to those who don’t desire it? Those that pursue their personal freedom have through one way or another stumbled upon your blog and others that share the same view point. However, that is due to their personal desire to find information pertinent to them. How do you free someone with the vehicle that the person has been programmed by?
Perhaps I’m being too negative but it seems, like all things through history that with enough time this too shall pass. And like most things only a small minority of people truly has an idea of what is happening in the world. The rest no matter their intentions will be left in the dark to struggle with the same questions humanity has struggled with since the first cave drawings were created.
My 2cents
You tell much truth.
gerry
Dear Gerry ,
You have been a hero of mine since I was a young hippie and believed there was some way to walk away from it all, start a commune, homestead in Canada; Up the establishment and all that. I was very young… and did not realize how entrenched the powers that be are in all facets of life. Very few live creatively
I was just thinking on the way home from work that we should not be serfs and lords in this country, after all this is not England circa 1756 , or is it? We both know it is very close to the same.
I believe that the revolution will not be televised(Gill Scott- Heron ), for the most part. Over my lifetime there has been a social revolution in who we accept and don’t and tolerance has become politically correct, and I believe for most of the people I know the way they behave. Admittedly , I am not in the middle east or other places that halve not caught up that idea, but even very small countries have their Constitution the right to pursue happiness..
So to be free personally, you have to free you mind instead ( John Lennon). But most have forgotten or more truthfully been trained to consume , work and forget the rest. We have to counteract or turn off the corporations, marketing media, Mom, the church and government programing and save a piece of time for ourselves to gift ourselves and the world with our contributions, if as worker bees we want to have honey. The queen bees will keep all the honey if we let them. The queen bee corps in this country have a disproportionate amount of everything and the value of the workers has been kept very low.
To be free is multi-dimensional. Fight what is wrong and for what is right to contribute to the group justice; free your mind, the world is not perfect and it is hard to be constructive about anything while gnashing your teeth , so let go of the angst, but not the cause. Financially, I believe improving education is the key. Teach people to turn off the TV and follow their talent and BE EDUCATED FOR IT. You should be able to leave high school and make a good living in the field of your choice / talent and go in to higher education as needed.
Educating people that they are free, that they can choose against he stream of advertising and become something MUCH more exciting than Kim Cardasian. The scientist that figures out how to store energy in a battery that will not pollute the world worse than gasoline, like present day electrical cars do. The doctor that cures a virus for the first time. The voter that says no and means it. Not enough attention and recognition is given to careers that make contributions to true progress, but everyone has to know if someone is divorced in Hollywood, and I don’t think it is human nature, it is media hype.
Lastly , I was just fired from job I worked at for 6 years. They said I was rude to a customer on the phone. I have a recording, I was not rude, and truly loved helping their client base. Good hardworking guys that build America. They wanted to save money on my pay rate. They can get a newbie for $10 and hour. I have 2 other friends in the same boat and about my age, which is 55. I was summarily dumped because it pleased his lordship to do so. Want my case? We need to teach corporate American companies that this not a fair , legal or acceptable way to treat dedicated workers. I have to say, even though I could loose my house, it is good to have his lordships boot off my throat!
Julia
The ultimate value in a money society is money. I join with you in rejoicing that the boot is off your throat.
Gerry
I make a motion for a more definite statement! How is your question or the suggested solution different than Karl Marx? Marx wanted to do away with corporations. And Marx’s followers murdered over 100 million people!
Gerry, you asked for some way to defeat the power of the corporations peacefully. You ask for more than America’s Founding Fathers could do. Even they could not create the United States of America without the American Revolutionary War. George Washington ordered women and children (spies) to be hung every day. There are no bloodless revolutions! What seem like simple questions from you are the ultimate questions of life. Which is more important, economics or principles? – materialistic realism or moral idealism? But man does not live by bread alone…
You were looking for some magic words that would enable us to free ourselves from the domination of corporations. Those magic words are these: “Founding Fathers”
Cicero said that Rome was not the creation of one man in one lifetime but of many men over many generations. Rome was not built in a day but over the course of centuries. America was modeled after Rome. That debt is self-evident in the style of sculpture and architecture in Washington, as well as by a thousand other signs. Because we are but an imitation of Rome our history paralells that of Rome. To better understand our problems look at Roman history. “Those who refuse to study history are condemned to repeat it” and “That men do not learn much from the lessons of history is the most important lesson that history has to teach.”
It is wrong to think that America could live up to promises of “freedom and justice for all” forever on the strength of the what the one generation of the original founding fathers did. America must be founded anew in each and every generation!
If you would make America’s citizens soveriegn again above the power of the immortal corporations then you, Gerry Spence, must be willing to pledge your life, your fortune and your sacred honor to re-establishing the political and moral principles of America’s founding fathers. Will you join me to make that pledge? I call on you to become a Founding Father and renew America.
The magic words needed to defeat the corporations, the false bodies: “Founding Fathers”. Leadership is everything! It is not abstractions like non-existant organizations like corporations, the government, the FBI, the CIA, etc. which control the world, but living breathing human beings. It is only when we surrender our power to think to the TV hypnosis machine that we become a nation of zombies whose surrogate social lives revolve around fictional characters controled by a black screeen of flickering lights.
Values rule the world. Silently, invisibly, the world revolves around them.
But for the serious problems we have in extracting the values of the Founding Fathers we might all rise up in unison and join you in the pledge you challenge. To begin with, one might try to remember that the founding fathers were mostly slave owners.
Gerry
In this realm of reality if there is any choice there is the choice of serving, loving, giving, of being the willing loving servant of all – as a healer, teacher, mentor, my greatest happiness is in willingly offering my wisdom, my guidance, my support to those seeking truth – for me it is not slavery – it is my greatest gift and gratitude – it is my purpose – it is my service as I practice my path of divine realization and prepare my soul connection before leaving this world – it is only slavery if it is either the giving or receiving of abuse – when it is the giving and receiving of love – it is freedom to love!
Gerry and friends.
As we have been reminded by you in the past, we must admit our fear. We must know it, embrace it, and use it as a catalyst to face our slavery. To ignore it, to do nothing at all, is to fail and to be entombed by our slavery. In the holocaust prison camps of Nazi Germany, the resiliant – the survivors – often gave their last piece of bread to the criers, complainers, and to the weak and the children. With less, they lived more, and survived more. It is key to learn to GIVE, rather than to GIVE UP. And yes, Gerry, as you have said. They have to kill you with an axe. But the spirit cannot be enlaved unless, unless we chose to give it up. Choose NOT to.
Yes.
Always we receive by giving and get more by giving more.
gerry
Sorry about that, but I feel i did not actually provide an answer to the question. So what shall we (I) actually do in this fight.
First, I shall write more poetry, and read more of it. I shall take more walks in the wilderness, smell more flowers, and enjoy more sunshine, wind and rain. I shall enjoy food more by eating less of it and engage every bite, every morsel. If my wilderness be a cave, a room of walls, a hospital bed, or a ball and chain, I shall chance to ponder the world, the universe, the peoples that have come before me, have experienced such things, and those that shall come after me, and I shall delight in the fact that my spirit was not changed given the conditions of my state, or my eventual demise.
I shall love more and forgive more. I shall learn more and teach more. I shall share more and need less. I shall smile more and listen more. I shall walk softly more and see to it that my footprints left behind leave no marks which cannot heal. And I shall look my slave-holder in the eyes and show that there is a reckoning to be had and made. And these are a few of the things that I can do, and I know that there are many, many more where that came from.
You are many things besides a poet.
Perhaps you are free.
Gerry
Gerry; Resisting and questioning never makes you very popular. There is great solace in doing it, “Your Way”. One of my heros has always been Clarence Darrow. In his eyes the only sins were, cruelty, narrow-mindedness and obstinate stupidity.
My current passion is seeing the patriot act , which is certainly not patriotic , repealed. If there ever was a clear signal to the assault on our freedom and the constitution, that its. Mike
I agree wholeheartedly.
and then some.
gerry
Gerry,
I think one think we must emphasize (which even some posters here fail to grasp) is that it is not about left vs right, supporting a democrat when you think a republican is wrong, but the whole power structure. If you grant more power to the government for the purpose of what you consider good, you only grant more power to government and it will be abused eventually if not right away. Those who seek power have the qualities of those who should not have power.
It’s not about left vs. right, that is a false dichotomy which serves to keep the little people squabbling among themselves while the well connected use those squabbles to gain more for themselves. It is about power vs submission, up vs down.
Greg
“Its dangerous to be right when the government is wrong” VOLTAIRE
The strategy of course is to constantly question all assumptions. Freedom is first a concept in the mind before it can be put into action. I now show how anyone can do this with a little story.**** In 1776 a group of people faced the same dilemma–how do we declare ourselves free when the norms of the day declare otherwise? It took thought and revelation. You can’t be a free colony–free to form something else–unless the people are free. They can’t be free unless they are free of governing–otherwise another govern would simply round them up. The revelation was to declare yourself free of all those–minus personal consent. And so in this first written LAW document called the Declaration of Independence, personal consent was made an element of the JUST powers of governing another. [Yes, it is the first written law but don’t expect anyone in the legal profession to admit this….otherwise a whole new group of “citizen” slaves would question their enslaver.] The second revelation was an entitlement written-about in the first paragraph. That entitlement was to the “laws of nature and nature’s God”…an unwritten law. So stop for a moment and ponder that IN the first written law [binding on government] is an entitlement to the unwritten law–which of course was “the heritage of free englishmen” [a comparative term]. In this document, was there mentioned an obligation to written law? In order to have an obligation to written law, one man must be more equal than the other to “make [written] law” –so one can logically rule that out. [In short order those with the ability to make law for another would quickly do so…just as we have now.] Now all of this revelation could only be based upon “self-evident” truth–if based upon the opinion of others, their opinion would rule “the other” something less. [Say goodbye to the supreme opinion of a court eh?] About now some of you are thinking: “This guy proposes no laws! Not at all. You simply haven’t seen the other law–but your actions are ruled by it commonly. In written law you were offered in reality NO choice but sold as choice. Everyone hear’s about “consent of the governed” but you’re only told about the representative aspects passing laws. Your limitation is in viewing things from the prejudice and fear of the unknown of what exists–not what could be and ironically not what existed just after 1776 with the release of the King’s claim. Its like being offered ONLY K-Mart “citizen merchandise” all your life and told its the best store over and over. You elect to franchise and vote for all the K-Mart officers…and they reward you by making laws really intended to apply to them–stick to you. Would you ever have the initiative to QUESTION that maybe something like Kohl’s or Walmart could exist? *** I put this out there as an example of what can be done with questioning, truth and logic. There is far more on this topic. Google “Organic Laws of the United States of America” Rivera to learn more.
Before one can talk about freedom, one has to know where one is stand and what the rules are. To be free from our maters, one needs to know what rules bind the masters. If they know the rules and the men and women do not when it is written for all to read…. Then shame on the men and women – their slavery is deserved. What is under-read and over looked is article 1, section 8, clause 17 and art 4, sect 3, clause 2…. that is the constitutionally defined jurisdiction of congress’s ‘rule and regulations’:
“To exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of particular States, and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the government of the United States, and to exercise like authority over all places purchased by the consent of the legislature of the State in which the same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards, and other needful buildings”
it is further confirmed at 18 USC 7(3)… the jurisdiction of the united States and the Department of Justice:
18 USC 7(3) ~~ United States Code ~ TITLE 18 > CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE >
PART I > CRIMES > CHAPTER 1 > GENERAL PROVISIONS >
§ 7. Special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States defined
The term “special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States”, as used in this title, includes:
(3) Any lands reserved or acquired for the use of the United States, and under the exclusive or concurrent jurisdiction thereof, or any place purchased or otherwise acquired by the United States by consent of the legislature of the State in which the same shall be, for the erection of a fort, magazine, arsenal, dockyard, or other needful building.
see the following link for a 13 page brief by larry becraft with 140 supreme court cases confirming the 1-8-17 geographical jurisdiction of Congress which is repeated a second time at article 4, section 3, clause 2.
Complete 13 page brief… http://www.lexrex.com/enlightened/articles/fed_jur.html
“In the United States of America, there are two (2) separated and distinct jurisdictions, such being the jurisdiction of the states within their own state boundaries, and the other being federal jurisdiction (United States), which is limited to the District of Columbia, the U.S. Territories, and federal enclaves within the states, under Article I, Section 8, Clause 17.” “The article which describes the judicial power of the United States is not intended for the cession of territory or of general jurisdiction… Congress has power to exercise exclusive jurisdiction over this district, and over all places purchased by the consent of the legislature of the state in which the same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dock-yards, and other needful buildings.” United States v. Bevans, 16 U.S. (3 Wheat.) 336 (1818)
“The laws of Congress in respect to those matters do not extend into the territorial limits of the states, but have force only in the District of Columbia, and other places that are within the exclusive jurisdiction of the national government.” Caha v. United States, 152 U.S. 211, 215, 14 S.Ct. 513 (1894)
To paraphrase Harriet Tubman… I would have freed more slaves if they had just known they were slaves. The same applies today. Gandhi drove the English out of India educating one person at a time. Martin Luther King and his band of brothers and sisters freed the enslaved in America a second time with the civil rights marches.
If we do not know the ropes from the constitution that binds congress to its jurisdiction… how can we be free of the chains of ignorance and slavery? Personal due diligence is required. Contact me for more… cdsea10@chartertn.net.
For those who have mentioned the Patriot Act and its repeal. I give you some thought. Never confuse patriotism with nationalism. All the wars ever fought are justified upon the pleas for violence by Nationalists tricking a population that its patriotism.The Patriot Act should have rightly been called the Nationalistic Act. It wasn’t–the purpose of which was to fool a large part of the population into its acceptance. It worked and a new level of usurpation of the people endorsing same happened–only they just don’t realize its implications.
What is the difference between Nationalism and Patriotism? Simple. Examine the Declaration of Independence and every word is that of a patriot. Its law is written upon the hearts of men as truth. Examine the pledge at the end of this document and realize it is NOT to country or flag–the graven images of nationalist enslavers–but rather the pledge was to the concepts in the document. Those concepts: Self evident truth requires no evidence from authority save the self and hence it cannot be tainted by authority however supreme masquerading as legitimacy. Unalienable rights cannot be lien’d upon. All men created equal precludes men forcing others to do things minus their consent. Every STOP is there AGAINST the nationalists who embody the opposite–but the stops are self-evident and cannot be whittled away like the termite approach to loss of freedom. They are the immutable concepts….the exact INTANGIBLES of reality that the nationalists would WISH were tangible so they could define them away to force your allegiance. When you see a NATIONALIST as evidenced by worship of flag and country, remind them what a graven image can do to a worshipper–the exact opposite of the teachings of Matthew which is to “love your neighbor as thyself.” Remind them of the real pledge of independence of patriots in congruence with the above in appeals to native magnanimity and peace. Lastly, to defeat the Nationalist Act remind them that the Declaration of Independence is the first law–still binding–all it needs is your understanding.
The greatest lesson I ever learned in court was when I saw a man who was being forced into a position (jurisdiction) in which he didn’t want to be said “I know you have the power to force me to go to jury trial, but I will not go willingly.” The amazed judge replied, “Hier stehe Ich, hier stehe Ich.” The words Martin Luther spoke when commanded to take down his 95 thesis. Here I stand. This man doesn’t recognize slavery and quotes the Declaration of Independence instead. If you say you are a slave, you are. If you are alert for the traps and avoid them, you are not. Freedom isn’t easy, it is hard fought.
Do I recognize that the governments instituted among men for the protection of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness would like to control me and do, in fact, consider me a slave? Yes. Does that mean I am a slave? No.
In their statutory schemes, they must offer me a remedy, a cure and maintainance, and must know that nothing stands between me and my Creator.
I believe the man of whom I speak was let go because he exercised his free will. He stated it twice in his reply. And he was let go, after 3 years of torture in the courts, when he exercised his will and would not budge, he was let go. The suit against him died, went away, disappeared.
The system the controllers have put in place requires your consent. If you consent to being a slave and then squirm against your restraints, you are contemptible. For instance, licensing. When you make application for a license, you are asking them to take care of you. When they do, you protest. Can’t have it both ways.
If you stand peaceably as a free man or woman, eventually you are admired and left alone.
Dear Gerry and friends
“I Just want to make sure, i am writing about ‘metaphorical slavery in our modern society and not of literal slavery like still taking place”
…freedom in my opinion can only be found INSIDE US. Perspective could be a key to (re)-gaining freedom. Someone had quoted “Viktor Frankl”, having been a LITERAL slave in 2nd world war to the Germans. He was even marked as SLAVE, AND realized, that FEELING a slave, MAKES you a SLAVE!
‘They’ were not able to take his personal ‘pride’ and how he thought about himself….not to speak about all the beautiful memories they could NOT take from him….yes, based on his words, these memories were part of his survival.
What did he do. Sit paralyzed in a corner, feeling like a slave (like many have done and given up)? NO, he realized, that besides being SEEN and TREATED like a slave (or worse), there was SO MUCH ROOM (in himself) which he HAD TO OCCUPY and take use of.
Helping others, helped himself! Strengthening others, strengthened himself!
Maybe it is time to stop pity ourselves and RE-find our true personality again!
There are so many examples in the internet of people, having realized, that their JOB is THE vehicle to be able to serve others (could this be one purpose, why we are here….to SERVE each other?). I recall a Taxi Driver in New York, most of the times cheerful, always having a nice word for anyone, despite of how he got treated by his guests…..being asked why or how he does it, he replied somehow like “I am very fortunate, having the chance to serve all these people…and to leave a lasting impression on many peoples life’s….most of the times probably never learning about it….but knowing, I am making a difference in someones life”.
You know, I have been coaching people for many years now. Mostly people asking themselves “could that have been all there is?”.
One of the first steps ‘ought to be’, to realize, that so far it has been beneficial to us, to be able to FEEL like a ‘slave’; Dr. Phil once said, otherwise we would have changed something concerning our situation.
Contemplation has made us ‘lazy and sluggish’, metaphorical and literal.
Someone once said, ‘that most of the people which cry for freedom, would decide to become slaves again, after realizing, what THIS REALLY MEANS, to BE FREE!
To BE FREE means SELF-response-ability!
To BE FREE means STOP blaming others for my own shit
To BE FREE means TAKING consequences for my own actions
To BE FREE means CHANGING, what I do NOT like
…on an ongoing bases…until I will leave this world.
Are we WILLING to DO what IT TAKES?
Becoming SELF-employed does hardly make you free *smile* here in Europe there is a saying, ‘that you make yourself the slave of your costumer, by becoming self-employed’ (there must be some truth to it).
I once learned…and teach myself….”act until you believe it”.
Therefore maybe it works in becoming a “free person” as well by:
FEEL like a FREE person
TALK like a FREE person
WALK like a FREE person
ACT and RE-ACT like a FREE person
BE PRO-ACTIVE
…and so on…
And maybe one day, when TRULY BELIEVING, that WE ARE FREE ALREADY AND ALL THE TIME….we might have developed, what it takes to ‘BE FREE’. Isn’t it about to BE FREE?
I might be wrong, but I assume, the rest will evolve. We will become examples and begin….if we want it to not….a small movement of “FREEDOM” in our surrounding.
Like a stone, which is been dropped into a still water….it starts with a ‘small ring of a wave’, which develops into a mighty huge wave, which soaks the ‘whole world’, if numberless stones are “dropped into still waters”.
By writing the above lines, way more than initially intended, I drop my stone into the “still water of feeling like a slave”, and encourage you all to do the same. You MUST WANT TO BE FREE, to BE FREE! It is a CONSCIOUS DECISION!
Have a wonderful day in PERSONAL FREEDOM.
My best wishes to you all,
Markus
PS: Gerry, thank you for having “dropped your stone into the water” and by providing such a real example. My wife and myself, we are great admirers of you.
Thanks, Coach. You speak much truth.
gerry
Marcus,
Merle Haggard,one of America’s greatest song writers has a song “Things Aren’t Funny Anymore” which I love and which can be applied to what our world is today. “Things just aren’t funny anymore..we used to laugh a lot.”.Now, we have been had so much crap dumped on us collectively,that “things are all different now..things aren’t funny anymore”
When joy is robbed from the human experience and in it’s place injected grief and chaos,things aren’t funny anymore.
Often times I am guilty of speed reading through posts as I did here on this topic a few days ago. I came back and re-read your post and others and my own, and realized..We are all saying the same thing,just with different slants on our perspectives.. Now,this is promising news..
Bettye J Eadie has a book “The Ripple Effect” which I have not read,but the ripple effect is ever so real in all things. Maybe we should cast more stones into the water.
God Bless Gerry Spence.
LEARN THE ORGANIC LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. THE ORGANIC LAWS CAN BE FOUND ON THE INTERNET OR IN THE FRONT OF A COPY OF VOLUME ONE OF U.S. CODE.
First, find a group of attorneys who take their oaths seriously. Have some of them sue in behalf of the people and the planet for the People’s inalienable rights to clean air, clean water, trees, mountains, clear skies pursuant to the various Acts for same (try to do this in all 50 states, simultaneously);
next, have others of the attorneys sue in behalf of the people to be represented by their members of congress – sue them for abdicating their roles for declarations of war, etc. (again, all 50 states, simultaneously);
another group of attorneys will be needed to sue SCOTUS for abdicating its role in support of the Constitution, for overturning the constitutional right of the states to oversee their own law (Bush v. Gore 2000), for determining a corporation is a person, for upholding the loss of habeas corpus, etc., for Thomas’ just on general principle, and other such decisions made in behalf of corporate greed and against the planet & the people;
Finally, sue Obama for not allowing suit against Bush for war crimes – then sue Bush/Cheney et al for war crimes!
Enlist the help of citizens in all states whether they be lawyers, paralegals, secretaries, gofers, plaintiffs, techies, geeks, or just frustrated & in need of an outlet for the benefit of the people – figure out how they will all be put to work, then put them to work – nationwide. The people will help if the attorneys will take their oaths seriously instead of using those oaths to find loopholes for the detriment of the masses.
The only true freedom comes from realizing the only things that are not replaceable are people.
” They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty or safety” – Benjamin Franklin
I don’t know, this isn’t an answer. But have you watched a flock a birds? When they flock and take to the sky sometimes they dart and move like one entity. Sometimes I wonder if “freedom” to some degree is even possible. If we don’t have some engrained genetic truth that makes us far more passerine than we would like to admit. Sit in a Wal-Mart parking lot and watch the crowd shuffle in and out…in and out…like a flock of toilet paper buying birds going from SUV to “Welcome to Wal-Mart” and then back to SUV. Buying the same things…wearing the same clothes…and I fear often thinking the same things…
Are we programmed for this? Or do we embrace it? “None but ourselves can free our minds”? I had one of many favorite teachers when I was young. She had a small podium she placed on a table with a single word on it, in big capital letters. THINK. I don’t think she much cared what we thought, or even what our ideas were….she only wanted us to think, to be thinking, for ourselves.
But can we? Can we ever really be free? We can complain about what is “sold” to us, either literally or figuratively…spiritually and emotionally and politically? But are we a flock? Do we need to flock? Even rebellion is sold to us, we even seek likeness and similarity in that arena.
I can smuggly think I’ve learned something. I can imagine I’m “thinking” more than the person next to me…I can refuse to shuffle into the Wal-Mart, I can talk in non-sequitors…I can dream about freedom. But sooner or later? I’m going to need toilet paper…and those tennis shoes look comfortable? What brand are they? How much did you pay for them? Nice Car. What do you do on Sunday? What do you believe?…and pretty soon? The only freedom I have is to join the flock and some compromise of individuality and freedom or fall from the sky- and a bird on the ground doesn’t live long.
I THINK…freedom is something we can strive for…cultivate. But I’m not convinced the state of being entirely free is even something humanity really can embrace as much as sit back and admire or even fear.
How can we become Free? Do 2 things a flock doesn’t do. Strive to think for yourself…come up with an individual idea…and Love…everything else I believe is a compromise and perhaps one we cannot help but make.
Sgt Reckless: Korean War Horse Hero Video
Video from the Veterans Video Blog
In honor of our Veterans on this 4th of July:
Story of Sgt Reckless, a horse so heroic during the Korean war she was promoted to Staff Sergeant by the Commandant of the US Marine Corps, and is listed alongside George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Martin Luther King, Mother Teresa and John Wayne as one of our all-time heroes.
One can only be free when they do not fear that which might enslave them or does enslave them. If we do not train our mind to know the difference of what Standards are true and just then we follow the dictum of Alexander Hamilton…..Those who stand for nothing fall for anything.
Our lives are but a vapor where we are here for a short time so we can either live according to what is right or we can rail against the things that are wrong and waste our time when we could have trained another mind to be a decent individual. Will we be proactive in a way that promotes teaching others how to be good or will we be proactive in waging war on unjust things? It’s been thousands of years now and the plan of waging war against unjust things has not gained anything and what does work is in promoting something good. PIF is not just 3 letters in the alphabet…it’s a mindset that has been proven to work…unfortunately only on a limited bases.
You know, corporations are created by men working together to solve problems. By solving problems, men’s lives become easier. It is possible that while solving problems corporations may create new problems. But those too are opportunities for people who are cognizant of them. It may be hard, but it is not impossible, to solve those second order problems by exposing and flushing out the stagnant and entrenched among the corporate leaders. I believe that does and can happen. The enlightened will overcome.
Gerry, I imagine much of your activity falls under an umbrella of a corporation. There is nothing wrong with that, per se, and it does not mean that you or your employees are “slaves.” You may stagnate and lose perspective on the interests of others, but that just means that you will have to evolve and grow as others make you aware of negligences; and we know growth in all its forms can sometimes be a painful process.
Rob:
A corporation is a non-living beast that survives only on the blood and sweat of its slaves. The goal of any corporation is to accomplish that which is in the best interests of the corporation — not the best interests of its slaves.
Gerry
Gerry, a long time ago when I was a fair maiden wearing rose colored glasses and tie dyed frocks, I was introduced to a swain of high pedigree and culture and exhorbitant wealth. Intelligent, disciplined,and focused, a Cornell graduate,second in command in the family (corporation) business. How impressed was I,the farm fresh country stock daughter or a working man who toiled at an honest day’s work and whose personna magnified integrity,fairness and kindness. As it was in the days of old(the 60’s) a fair maiden many times caught the eye of a privileged fellow who dwelled betwixt the land or peer and privilege and was not yet submerged in the water of well to do-ism as he sought out his future. A slight state of youthful comradery allowed acquaintance between the two opposing worlds of privilege and peasantry for a season.
Oh, but the inevitable… the clash of impetuous and opposing ideals..
The world of privilege is not a place for a princess of conscience and
perception of the principles of Golden Rules. Alas, the chameleon prince changed to ugly hues of dark and selfish nature and deed as he was programed genetically and socially to be “privileged”. Privilege status required occupying the top seat in the Castle of Corporation. The king,father placed the successor prince at the of his kingdom,after all..
Wrestling with understanding the distinction between the man and the mechanism(corporation/family business) became cleary indistinguishable. They were one and the same- symbiotic.” All for one,one for all ” was the motto. Soon the realization dawned that the future king was in fact, a robot , designed to perform dutifully and without emotion or calculation of his subjects’ humanity since they were soley serfs for the kingdom. Oh, horrid prince,the illusion of a knight vanished from before the very eyes who beheld him ! Then, to my amazement and instruction in the ways of privilege I learned a most valuable lesson..the prince and the power are one and the same. The umbilical cord could not be severed.The man is the mechanism who feeds the corporation,not vice-versa. Without the vile sustenance the offspring would expire.
With lessons learned, I, the princess of higher power,fled the kingdom of poisoned power and never looked back to this very day…(except to thank lucky stars for guiding me out of darkness) 🙂
Ah, dear princess, would that love had worked its powers. But I am glad for you. One would be tested to love a robot.
Gerry
Gerry,
I believe that the Constitution was an attempt to move beyond “fiat.” Fiat is the only tool that a slave master has, which is to rule by fiat. The fiat dictates rule our life in every aspect from the time we are little babies. The Constitution was an attempt at its core to give people a chance to break the chains of the Fiat Dictatorship. To give people the chance to think for themselves and to have that freedom of thought and speech allow them to guide their own lives. Something of permanence that does not decay or be stolen by thieves in the night. And pray that that too does not get corrupted by the zealot fiat masters.
Love,
Matt
Unfortunately, people gravitate toward the easy way of living to the standards dictated to us. We are controlled by the fiat dictates of the bankers, who lend us the money to buy the products we are told to buy by the fiat marketers. And the fiat marketers fill our minds with their constant barrage of dictates as to beauty, sex, and happiness. Like Pavlov’s dogs we react, drooling in line.
I view anything fiat to be alike a fiat currency, which is printed money based on nothing. It has no foundation and no permanancy. It always goes to its inherent value–zero. So, I believe to achieve freedom we must reconnect to a solid foundation that is not the fiat dictate of some dead entity. We have a Constitution that is to provide a foundation of law that was an attempt to stop a fiat dictator. In the same way, we need to reconnect to the sacred. To that, which no matter what the culture, time, or location, people have found as a means of love, peace and harmony.
CORRECTED: POST WAS MISFORMATED
I believe that the Constitution was an attempt to move beyond “fiat.” Fiat is the only tool that a slave master has, which is to rule by fiat. The fiat dictates rule our life in every aspect from the time we are little babies. The Constitution was an attempt at its core to give people a chance to break the chains of the Fiat Dictatorship. To give people the chance to think for themselves and to have that freedom of thought and speech allow them to guide their own lives.Unfortunately, people gravitate toward the easy way of living to the standards dictated to us. We are controlled by the fiat dictates of the bankers, who lend us the money to buy the products we are told to buy by the fiat marketers. And the fiat marketers fill our minds with their constant barrage of dictates as to beauty, sex, and happiness. Like Pavlov’s dogs we react, drooling in line.Something of permanence that does not decay or be stolen by thieves in the night. I view anything fiat to be alike a fiat currency, which is printed money based on nothing. It has no foundation and no permanancy. It always goes to its inherent value–zero. So, I believe to achieve freedom we must reconnect to a solid foundation that is not the fiat dictate of some dead entity. We have a Constitution that is to provide a foundation of law that was an attempt to stop a fiat dictator. In the same way, we need to reconnect to the sacred. To that, which no matter what the culture, time, or location, people have found as a means of love, peace and harmony.
And pray that that too does not get corrupted by the zealot fiat masters.
Love,
Matt
Matt: Yes. But the people are lost. And mostly educated by the master, and as you suggest, taught to love the master, to love what the master says we must love and to think as the master says we must think. Yes, you are right.
But because we are tribal creatures and most tribal units are, genetically, no larger than several hundred, when we become a tribe of many millions we have no bearing, no connections. We long for the touch and company of our lost tribal members. We Twitter and Facebook. We become fans of sports teams and members of millions watching a football game on TV. We adore celebs. We belong to political parties, and because we have been forgotten and abandoned, we strike out at our own and abandon them in favor of our masters. We are pathetically alone and the loneliness is painful.
Freedom will begin in small communities.
Gerry
The best farm animals have a herding instinct. Animals without the herding instinct historically have not been chosen for domestication as food. Imagine a shepherd trying to herd sheep or goats that go in different directions. Humans, like you say, must also have a [tribal] herding instinct. There is so much truth in the saying, “There is comfort in numbers.” I have also noticed that when too many humans herd together they become arrogant in their shared views and ultimately intolerant of others.
Maybe we should teach people to always think for themselves, to question and to ask why, as you do. We should teach people not to herd. This will be difficult.
Do you think that the herding instinct, the need to belong, has caused humans to easily become slaves by choice?
Yes, to your question Salsa Bear. Lemmings. We follow the leader off the cliff because we are too busy scrubbing for nourishment and taking care of our brood.
gerry
You might find this worthwhile. It makes way more sense to me: Anglo American-style courts have existed in Diné Bikeyah now for a prolonged period of more than a hundred years, from the establishment of the Navajo Courts of Indian Offenses in 1892 run by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, to the present Navajo Nation court system. The courts institutionalized bilagáana bi nahaz’áanii or the Anglo American Law Way in the procedures of the modern courts, while our judges have sought to apply the Diné Life Way in the substance of their decisions. Court processes and procedures have been largely left to the Anglo American Law Way.
The court system of resolving disputes or administering justice has displaced the processes and procedures of Navajo culture. It is not unusual to find elderly Navajos in a courtroom who are bewildered, even angry, that baa yáti is not encouraged by the presiding judge. Many Navajos are deeply resentful of courtroom protocols that seem to silence discussion and silence the introduction of good evidence. People have expressed an emptiness and lack of satisfaction at the outcomes available through courts. Punishment by incarceration, without a community component, is a further anomaly in the court system that adds to a public sense that the court system is removed from Navajo life and does not fully address Navajo needs, both in the outcome of the litigation, and the manner in which a matter is resolved. Finally, the courts are adversarial in nature. The parties are kept in a confrontational position until the end of the proceedings at which there is a winner and loser, which is counter to our cultural value of a middle way.
The return of the Diné Life Way to the processes and procedures of the modern court is what the Rules Harmonization Project seeks to rectify. Their effort will be on the basis of this document, revised and refined with the feedback and assistance of the Navajo people.
http://www.navajocourts.org/indexpeacemaking.htm
I agree Mr. Spence. I hope that you were made aware of the HBO movie “Hot Coffee” about the effect of tort reform on the civil justice system. If you have not, http://hotcoffeethemovie.com/about/
About time that a major TV producer say what this movie is saying. Thank you,
gerry
Gerry, I have thought about this for most of my life, it’s my calling. I have realized certain individuals possess the awareness without having to experience a shift or a transformation. It’s intuative. I have always had it and now am placing that truth at the forefront of my comittments. I have three incredible children and look at this planet as the most wonderous place to experience life. Blue sky’s, waterfalls, rivers, oceans, jungles, forests, mountains, millions of facinating life forms. My reality tells me that this is it, all of it right here right now. I imagine what it should be and what it will be. It will only go towards further decline if we allow it. We are currently experiencing the largest shift in human and earth’s history, no denying it. Technology is clashing with ecology, science with humanity, culltural traditions with new realities! It is us “we” the mass of humanity that can guide our direction through consciuos participation. If not “they” will continue to plot our course as they have been doing with no regard for all of this wonderment. Step aside for it is us who have the power we simply havn’t decided that yet!. Casey
Yes.
gerry
Gerry, again… Awesome post. I first heard about you during the Weaver case and then read Freedom to Slavery. You predicted erosion of liberties would happen. The schools don’t teach Critical Thinking. Most people just believe the mainstream news spin. Let me ask you this… They want to control us with Fear. Fear fear fear. Submit to TSA sexual assualt or else! People are so conditioned to obedience. How do I help others break out from the fear and realize they can (and must) think freely to liberate themselves?
Gerry,
Freedom begins in the confines of your mind.I am because I think I am.When we allow the shackles placed upon us by psychopaths and sociopaths who believe that somehow they are superior in every aspect of our existence and they and they alone decide how we are allowed to occupy this small planet,then we are mind induced slaves. We must first wake up to their deceptions while they hide like the Wizard of OZ behind their walls barking out our daily bread of thought food which they tell us we must consume for our good.We must hunger strike their stale,moldy,contaminated fake bread.Then their coporate bakeries will no longer profit.
Man does not live by bread alone..
True freedom lives in the spirit,and even death is a greater freedom.
This hundred pounds of clay that we are led to believe we must adorn with diamonds and gold and silks and cottons and stetsons and those funny little chapeaus the Brits are so fond of which look like Cleopatra meets Star Wars.We are instructed that we must have a team with which to spectate and buy tickets to pay homage to the corporate fund season after season because we must entertain the competitive ideaology the Wiizards use to sell their product.We have become baffled with bull shit for lack of dazzling with brilliance as we are instructed how to spend our time on earth.We are instilled with purchase values from youth in fashion,entertainment,furnishings which just go on and on all the way to China.Excess.Charge it.Entertainment requires so little effort,just get suckered into the hype of the voyeurism of the lives of the “stars” and eat your eye fill of “gossip” of other people’s “exciting” lives.-Turn it off. Push your plate aside,your chair back from the smorgasbord of triviality and free yourself from the “slavery”.The interest in entertainment extends to the political circuses which are the gift that keeps on giving..and ..taking..taking every last aspect of “freedom”.Yet,we spectate more times than participate in removing the clowns from the arena which has lost it’s luster and is no longer entertaining because the clowns beneath the masks are carnivorous vampires who have turned us into zombies and we are weak and anemic and have succumbed to the systematic blood letting they require of us.Empire of Vampire.Is there a wooden stake to drive through their petrified hearts?
Freedom is realizing that this life,this breath,this experience is free.It came with you at birth and you allowed it to be stolen,and now it is you who must take it back.Piece by piece..and it begins with the one thing they want the most…your mind. The body generally goes along with what you think.Napoleon Hill from Think and Grow Rich;”The race is not always to the swift nor the battle to the strong, for time and chance happens to all,,but sooner or later, the man who wins..is the man ..who thinks he can.”What do YOU think? Do you think you can? Every second of every day, we are told “we MUST”..Oh really? We must eat this, we must buy this,we must pay that,we must follow this way, we must like this, we must avoid that,we must say this(it’s politically correct after all),we must,we must,we must..We must be subjected to bodily invasion in order to travel,we must be groped,we must allow our children to be groped,abducted by CPA,we must have everything we own subject to confiscation by uniformed strangers with emblems of “authority” whether real or imagined..it’s the “law”…we must….obey.Whose laws? The “laws” of the sociopathical clowns at their whim? They don’t “obey”,they take,they divide,they conquer,they kill,steal,lie..and all for what? When they get through trashing the earth,it will be a highly undesirable place left to live.Are they going to hunker down in bunkers waiting for the slaves to die off by their poisons and emerge a superior race? What is the goal of the slave master?Even the slave master one day will find death knocking at their fortified door.What slaves will survive to see the day dawning to “freedom”?
Well said, Blossomad
Seeing the pictures from Somalia coming in with mothers abandoning starving babies by the side of the road to die alone (many , many of these babies born of rape……) and 12 million on the verge of starvation while religious fanatics will NOT allow food aid to be delivered to them…………..
along with just having made out my umpteenth big check to Smile Train for cleft palate surgery, in the hopes of helping these huge numbers of
babies and small children eat and talk normally in third world countries –
I am totally convinced now that the ONLY way to save mankind from this INHUMANE suffering of INNOCENTS and to save himself, if not already too late, is to IMMEDIATELY OPEN WORLD-WIDE RELIGIOUS CULT DEPROGRAMMING INSTITUTES, along with giving out FREE BIRTH CONTROL to the masses.
open CULT DEPROGRAMMING INSTITUTES – WORLD-WIDE.
Gerry,
I’m 44 years old. I’m a teacher, an amateur musician and a martial arts instructor. Been married for 10 years and with her for 23 years. I have been a fan of yours since I watched your comments about the OJ Simpson trial. I have read several of your books, and even have one autographed by you (From Freedom to Slavery). I am a union rep for teachers and often have to defend them using our contract and Ed Code. I always think of what you said in your various books about how to make the person a person to the powers that be and try and put them in the shoes of the teacher I’m defending. I win most of the time, but I sure wish I was as good at it and as successful as you (so do those teachers, no doubt). It is scarey to defend someone that may lose their job or be punished in some other way if I fail to persuade administration. But, the teachers keep asking me to do it, so here I am.
That was just my introduction, and I know it is off topic. Speaking to the topic, I want to say that the concept of slavery is something I have thought and talked a lot about over the past few years. It seems that the contrarians are the only individuals these days (I have been called a contrarian many times often preceded by a colorful epithet). At least that is the label we wear for having our opinons not fit with the group. People label individuals because it reduces them to a term and a thing.
But how do we solve the problem of slavery? How do we get people to throw off the shackles? Maybe we don’t get them to throw them off. Maybe we get them to slip out of them and steal away in the night via the underground railroad rather than open revolt. Maybe the answer is to start small. Doing something big when one has spent his or her whole life complying is asking too much for most people. Courage, confidence and boldness have to be built up. When one is learning to swim, it might be from someone throwing them in the deep end of the pool, but it’s probably not off of the high dive. When one goes into a career as a boxer, one doesn’t start off with Mike Tyson. I think we need to show people how to start asserting their individuality a little at a time. Challenge them to go online to research a news story when they hear one on TV or Radio. Teach them to start asking questions such as “Who benefits by me hearing this story?” Teach them to listen and watch carefully and then think critically to what they see and hear. Attack the question they are asked and then attack the premise the question is based on. Start asking themselves “Do I care about this?” and if so “Why should I?” Courage is overcoming fear, and if people arent afraid, they aren’t paying attention. William S. Burroughs once said that “Paranoia is having all the facts.” However, I think they need to be eased into it, otherwise they will freeze or panic and then hide and never come out again. I feel like I’m rambling here, but I wanted to respond to this important topic.
Thanks for your time.
—Dan
Mutliculturalism doesn’t work.
(Divides people to point of not trusting anyone in their own community, they stop giving to charity, they become isolationists, etc. etc. Can goodle those studies easily.)
There was a time in my life when I was free and it was when I was in Jail. I had no choice but to let go and let God. In my mind I was in a cave in Tibet. Through out the ordeal I felt free in my mind, in fact when I did get out the world didn’t seem real to me anymore. It took years before I got back to “my normal self” when I could really laugh and joke again. Yet, I have never experienced that sense of freedom that I had while locked up. No cows to milk or chores to do, and when the jail staff concocted stuff for me to do, I just refused if I didn’t want to, and asked them “what they were going to do to me if I didn’t? Put me in jail?.. the long and short of what I am saying is freedom is in your mind. Thanks to God and you, I am here to write this, and I am glad to be Free. may the Good Lord Guide, Protect, and Bless US ALL. LOVE
Dan, You are right on the money! An embezzler doesn’t start by extracting large amounts,they slip a few that they think will go unnoticed out of the til. A well planned crime begins with a method to build an alibi in hope of covering detection. The chinese water torture trick is a slow,methodical “drip,drip,drip” aimed toward eroding the mind to the breaking point. A long time ago when I was a young,niave girl,a lawyer friend made a statement which went against all I was taught up to that point.The statement was “Even if you’re caught in bed with someone who’s not your spouse, deny it” ..huh?(He was known for his tysts outside of his marriage and it would be shocking if his name were revealed in some circles.He went on to become a Judge after many years as an assistant district attorney in a large city.The statement about if you tell a lie often enough,it can be taken as a fact by anyone who doesn’t disprove it is more than applicable to the pathetic entity we call the Mainstream News Media and it’s puppeteers. We’re drowning in a world of lies,and many don’t know how to swim.We are in such a mess of tangled lies and coverups that would take our great great great granchildren to ever see the light of truth shed on this mess.When the locks are placed on “matters of security” by liars and criminals against the entering of those who might see and become freed we need to pray for major rust to eat away the locks.Or otherwise the whole thing needs to get blown wide open.
I just have to shake my head at the audacity of these slave masters who are all singing in chorus “If I ruled the world” and not sounding at all like Tony Bennett. I hate when they do that!:)
The more challenging prong is the recognition. Most people are still in the denial phase. If we can use simple, direct, and honest rhetoric, perhaps we can break through that barrier. Once the recognition of slavery comes, the revolt should be inevitable.
Well,here in Greece we have one very powerful and meaningful word for the situation.it sounds good too:
AERA!!!
(It is pronounced ae’ra, e sounds like e in the word earthquake)
Literaly it means “air” but in fact it’s much more than this for us greeks,it has the meaning of “let’s fight for the air they have stolen from us” so means “for liberty!!!”
This word was first heard in world war 2 by the greek soldiers when they were running with their old guns towards the troops of the axis (first italians,later the germans)
It was something like the spirit of ancient spartans,the 300 soldiers of Leonodas.
Fight for liberty or die for it.
Every civilization must have a word like that.
Many people must have yelled “aera” in their own language.
I think it’s time to do it once again,to shout until our chest will blow against all these that have stolen our liberty.
Because it is obvious that a universal plan is in progress to make us suffer in poverty while these who have stolen our money remain unpunished.
We are governed by people unable to protect us because they don’t care or they are just idiots or puppets.
And what is our reaction?
Sitting there just watching the wheels as John Lennon sung.
Just like little unprotected birds in heavy winter.
So fill your chest with air and shout with all your strength
AERAAAAAA!!!
Mr Spence,
Thank you for the topic,it’s a food for our minds.
In my previous post,i suggested a word that us,the slaves can use.
But your major question was how can we get back our freedo after we have realised that we’ve lost it.or how can we guard our freedom?
Talking about individuals against other individuals or companies and organizationes,you have already given the answer.
We must not allow them or give them the power to frighten us and make us slaves.
But what happens when the master is the government?
How can we react?
Obviously strange days have found us.
The economic crisis and the inability of most of our leaders frightens us.
But we do what they say like sheeps.
You will say that this is how democracy works.
I believe in democracy,i live in athens,greece,the place where it was born.
Democracy is the only power that people can use to control the decisions that affect their lives.
But do we really use this power?
You know that in your country,USA,only 30% vote.
So the most powerful president in the world is elected by how many people?
And what if this man who has to make so important decisions for our lives is someone like G. Bush jr or whoever?
isn’t the rest 70% responsible for any mess?they just complain like kids instead of using the only power they have:vote and participate.
Here in greece only 20% supports the government party.
They signed to enslave us in a huge economical debtfor half a century and nobody asked us.
And what are we doing?we don’t take real action.
We ought to vote for the party that represents us better,and if such a party does not exist for us,we can make our own and fight for our ideas.
Maybe there should be a revival of the ancient athenean direct democracy.
People were gathering near acropolis and everyone (apart from women and slaves)could make a speach and be heard.
And then everyone had to vote directly (not use representatives.
This way they were electing their governors too.
And the most impressive?
a small percentage were common people that they were picked accidentaly to govern.
So the “parliament” included for sure people that knew how it is to struggle for your life,to break your back to earn money to feed your children.
Now look at the hands of our governors.
Rosy huh?have they ever been in a real job?
Can they understand you and your problems?
I doubt it.
Of course direct democracy is difficult to be applied nowadays because population is huge.
But modern tecnology like the web can do miracles.
You see?i live miles away from you in a distant country but stiil we can exchage ideas.
So people have to be informed in a responsible and reliable way about a subject and then vote directly,without representatives that betray us.
But I don’t think they will ever allow us.
So voting and participating is the only key for our freedom in my opinion.
What do you think about all these?
Best regards,
Vasilis.
I’ll pass this along for those who haven’t yet seen it:
It’s incredible that this 1948 cartoon has come this close to
depicting our current day situation. It’s worth your time.
http://nationaljuggernaut.blogspot.com/2009/09/this-cartoon-seemed-far-fetched-in-1948.html
Short answer, just as slave masters historically punished insubordination, Our slave masters use statue weapons.
You can avoid compliance, but unless you can gain mass non compliance such as uk poll tax riots-it won’t work
I’d advocate as little interaction with the state as possible and make any interaction as time consuming and resource consuming as possible for the corporate machine.
Dear Gerry, I love this discussion. Are we not talking about taking it all back; our food supply, to our health care system, et al. To me it looks like these things have been robbed from us so slowly and systematically over time so as to be barely detectable to the masses. Take for instance, food. It was only two generations ago that most of what was eaten in my family was from the garden or a place called “Meat Lockers” where one of Grampa’s cows was all wrapped up in white paper. But, that meant having the skills, equipment and space to put food by for winter, eating seasonally, and buying locally for the most part. Back then it wasn’t quaint. I was a child but I remember it was a lot of work, mostly canning and root cellaring for us in N. Idaho where electricity could be sketchy. Since then, slowly we became seduced by the idea of convenience, of streamlined lives. Inside a mere 40 years most people no longer have had the skills, etc. needed to sustain a food supply handed down to them from their people. This is sad. What to do? Back in the 90’s we, Jeff and I, were in a place to have a big garden, chicken, pigs, etc etc and began an undertaking to relearn some of what was lost to us, and there did come a day when I came into the kitchen proudly announcing that breakfast was in my apron fresh from the garden and hen house. This was just before the CSA movement, and we felt like renegades. No farm animals these days though, but I have always had a large garden since… and the ability, if not always the inclination, to Put it By. But this doesn’t solve the dilemma of how to feed the masses nowadays without Corporate Agriculture. This anecdote is just to illustrate how we have allowed ourselves to become enslaved in this one respect. The same can be easily applied to medicine and healthcare. Seems to me the CSAs are one of the best food solution that has emerged (and Farmer’s Markets), but they are not really affordable for most people, and access is limited, and sadly you need US dollars. How to grow the CSA Concept? How do we take back our food supply?…. For everyone. What about CSMs (Community Supported Medicine), CSRs (Ranching), LPG’s(Locally Produced Garments)?? Okay now I am just thinking out loud…
Isn’t it noteworthy that most commenters didn’t respond to your request. I think that, in and of itself, is reflective of what is wrong within our society. No one really listens (or reads), yet they all want to be heard. If we could somehow re-educate the populace to really listen before speaking (writing)perhaps our journey to improve things could actually begin. One thing is certain, after reading all of the answers above, the Texas School Board has done a great disservice to our country. sigh…
FREEDOM FOR ALL
PBS
If we want to free ourselves from corporatism–The King–the first thing we must do is take the money supply out of its hands. Fiat money is the lifeblood of the monster. It allows The King to circumvent the Fifth Amendment and take property without paying any compensation. See, e.g., http://ideasareimmortal.com/2011/08/30/value-of-money-and-currency/
Further, it creates a demand side economy which rewards the diabolical (debt, theft, gross risk taking), and punishes the holy (savings, thrift, hard work, self-reliance, etc.). While returning to honest and sound money certainly will not solve all problems–some of us will always give in to The King’s trinkets–it will take the abusive power out of its hands.
For more on the ethics of money, I suggest this book (it may free us): http://mises.org/books/moneyproduction.pdf
To deal with my concerns about corporate dominance and wrongdoing, I wrote a script. It’s a legal thriller showing how corporations– and the legal and political systems they control– really are. More here if anyone’s interested: http://stevenspielbergpleasereadthis.com/2011/09/10/starting-a-movement-against-corporate-domination/
Gerry,
“I have asked for a dialogue on how we might free ourselves from our masters. I am looking for a strategy, an approach, a movement, a sound, an action, a universal word, that can be adopted by all slaves to set ourselves free.”
“No Treason” – Lysander Spooner
Are you familiar with Stefan Molyneux?
I would also like to know your opinion on Polycentric Law and the ancient Somalian Xeer Law.
Hear you, concerned.
Problem is we’ll never be “free” if we’re all extinct- thus some comments are to be considered in the wider scheme of things.
🙂
Start a Slaves Anonymous group in your area. Discuss “what are your thoughts on how to become free” and similar topics with persons who attend instead of with others who span the Internet and won’t be able to physically help you achieve your goals.
https://occupywallst.org/ started on Wall Street, and has replicated around the USA. News services of other nations have been covering the activities. Not much has shown up on corporate USA “news.” The following lists other cities with actions: http://occupytogether.org/downloadable-posters/
We are at the mercy of our servants…..
And vice versa.
gerry
Also concerned, some of us Baby Boomers are probably beginning to have one or two “Senior Moments” every once in a while……so please be gentle.
Thank you. 🙂
gerry, i also trapped when i was younger but i trapped muskrat. numerous times when i arrived at my trap all i would find was a leg , savagely , chewed, ripped from it’s joint. it made it free i thought. … or was it just another part of the whole? you want to be free, jump out of the pond and become a hobo. i did for awhile and it was refreshing, but then, i fell back into the pond.
CHRIS HEDGES/WALL STREET PROTESTS:
In 2002, Hedges was part of the team of reporters at The New York Times awarded the Pulitzer Prize for the paper’s coverage of global terrorism. He also received in 2002 the Amnesty International Global Award for Human Rights Journalism. He has taught at Columbia University, New York University and Princeton University.
Fabulous, Louie, thank you for posting this. Today’s (October 5, 2011) activities on Wall Street, and around the globe, would make proud the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution of the United States.
Anonymous – perhaps extinction is a place to begin anew our path to being free, and getting it right the next time around. Until the resources belong to the people instead of the corporations, we can never be free.
From
http://www.backwoodshome.com/blogs/ClaireWolfe/2011/10/09/occupy-your-ownself/
“YOU are the one thing that government and their Siamese twins in the financial world can’t manipulate, can’t “reform,” can’t control. Your independent mind and your intelligent desire to live separately from their concepts are the most powerful freaking weapons in the whole wide world. . .
The question is, are you going to give your mind and your life to outsiders, hoping those outsiders — who fundamentally don’t give a damn whether you live or die — will eventually change in your favor? Or are you going to give your mind and your life to you, your ownself — to do with as you think best?”
Thank you Mr. Spence for your invitation for a dialogue on how we can free ourselves from slavery.
I was beginning to think this site was geared to explain to us in the most eloquent verbage that all is hopeless.
Your invitation has renewed my hope that changes can be made.
Before I address the issue on how we can become free, I think that the first thing that needs to be explained is what specific law gives protection to government officials for their civil misdeeds.
Thank you,
Sincerely,
Vincent
First, is freedom an objective reality? No. Existence is a constant process of servitude due to our mental and physical constraints. Limitations assume dependency. Dependency is the antithesis of liberty and we are all necessarily dependent to varying degrees.
Therefore life is like fiat capital – it can only be lent at a sum deficit to the receiver. Debt is slavery. But, like it or not, we are all indebted to the great lien holder in the sky, e.g.in an inferior position to the lender. So the only true liberation is obliteration. But, since obliteration is, like liberty, an illusion (due to the eternality of the soul) there is no escaping servitude. This is why Jesus served. This is why his disciples found no shame in referring to themselves as “slaves”.
The truly deluded are those that call themselves Master or Liberator or liberated. Existentially, we are all servants. The truly great amongst us embrace this reality, dismissing childish notions of freedom and conquering self and selfishness.
Freedom – You turn your back on the slave masters. You do not buy their products, you do not invest in their stock and most important you buy and invest in your own communities where America where the revival will soon begin. So many have told me that they cannot afford not to invest if they are to retire. In other words, support the greedy via your own greed. This is a man in the mirror action and no less.
Turn your back, don’t look back and focus on the success of your community.
Some good news on “Becoming Free” from overpopulation world-wide!
Just announced: “The Bill Gates Foundation” announced on Sept. 28 that they are perfecting a MALE BIRTH CONTROL PILL which will be available to the impoverished masses around the world. Studies have shown that if such a pill were available – MANY males would indeed utilize it!!
Along with his present support of vaccinating babies and children world-wide in order to help them survive to adulthood – I make a motion that the “Gates Foundation” should become the INTERNATIONAL NEW WAVE RELIGION to avoid extinction of mankind. Everyone please join today.
Thank you all!
RELIGION of the I
(Correction: Just announced TWO days ago on October 28th!)
Perfect timing since the announcement that the planet is NOW holding SEVEN (7) BILLION people – which cannot be sustained much longer.
(And an atheist shall save mankind from himself and his “Santa Claus”……?)
So who says “Money is the root of all evil.”
NOT in the right hands!
I came across this quote and thought I’d share….
“To know how to free oneself is nothing; the arduous thing is to know what to do with one’s freedom”
Andre Gide quotes
First let me create a context. In 1861, seven southern states walked out of congress because they did not like the reconstruction act and the 14th amendment being drafted after the civil war. The global elite banksters had put us in debt and were increasing their stranglehold on our young country. Congress never reconvened, and we have been without a true government or constitution ever since. In 1913, the power to create money out of thin air and charge interest was given to this private cabal of banksters, and in 1933, the final nail in the coffin was pinned, and all assets, including our future productivity as human resources were in perpetuity were pledged for the bankruptcy of this country. We are bankrupt, all revenue flows upstream to these elite globalist banksters, and we are all indentured slaves.
How do we leave the plantation and be self determined, self responsible and exercise or free will? It is almost impossible to fully extricate oneself from participating in the system of commerce as it is so convoluted and evasive, and has it’s tentacles in every aspect of our lives. The courts are collection agencies for the bankers and the attorneys are all sold out to the Bar. Step outside the lines and with the statutory rules and regulations the collectors will extract your energy or take you as “chattel” and hold you in one of their jails. There is no Common Law which has been virtually suspended. Yet here is my list of how to be less of a slave:
1. Do not sign any more adhesion contracts. Extricate yourself from your existing adhesion contracts, such as social security, birth certificate, voter registration, drivers license, etc. The privileges and benefits you receive in exchange are not worth it.
2. Declare your status and record it in the public records. Do a UCC1 and claim your assets.
3. If you must operate in commerce, set up an LLC and separate yourself personally. Run all revenue through this LLC and take every business deduction you can. Make as much of the every day expenses as part of the business.
4. Of course, the obvious would be to produce your own energy, fuel and food, as well as own your home and be completely out of debt.
5. Keep your assets out of the “big 5” on Wall Street. One day you will wake up and it will be gone.
6. Decentralize and return to your communities, the means of production and the basics for survival. Build and create co-operatives and support, buy and sell locally.
7. Be an active member of your community and know who your neighbors are. We cannot go it alone and must work together to bring strength in numbers.
8. Forget about trying to change the government. There is no two party system. There’s just Republocrats and Democrans. Same crap, different day.
9. Keep an eye on the alliances which are forming globally to take down the cabal. Be prepared to weather a storm, as the old paradigm dies and the new one emerges. Have at least six months of provisions in long term storage at you r home. Be prepared when that day comes and DO NOT allow the cabal to create a totally centralized system of control.
10. Help others to wake up. Talk about it, and be open, sincere, and forgiving.
The answer is at http://www.popnot.org. We can free ourselves by not providing slaves.
It is everyone’s moral, civic and patriotic duty to learn the truth!
It is everyone’s spiritual destiny to know the truth!
Truth will not meet anyone half way!
Truth will not bargain with anyone!
Truth will not accept anyone’s excuses!
Truth will not make deals with anyone!
It is useless to seek the truth unless the truth is more important than anything else! (No exceptions)
When the truth is the most important thing in your life – that is when it is the right time to seek the truth!
Truth is real and truth has always been – just as it will always be! No changes, no bargains, no deals, no excuses!
You do not have to know the truth – to do the right thing!
You may fear the unknown – but you fear your own freedom when the truth is not the most important goal in your life!
When you learn to say NO to yourself, you will begin to learn how to say NO to others.
No one exists that has any more control over you than you have any control over them!
Learn these truths and begin your journey to freedom!
Just be yourself and co-exist!
Choose wisely!
There is no other permanent condition except the truth! Truth is not temporary and it is as it has always been and always will be.
You decide for yourself (since you are not allowed to decide for others as truth never tolerates this)
You decide to be a slave, or you decide to be free!
Once you make the right decision you will discover – you were never alone!
You will also learn that you are an incredible, wonderful being who was meant to be a giver – not a taker!
If you are not inclined to seek the truth first and foremost – you will not be ready for freedom, nor will you be be free as you were meant to be!
Mr. Spence – it is my privilege to be able speak my mind, once again on one of your forums!
Thank you!
the way out is through a fuller knowledge of law via Blackstone
“to render the whole [of law] intelligible to the uninformed minds of beginners.” Sir William Blackstone
Due Dilligence as a citizen relative to “the law that governs” and to hold the law sacred.. as order and organize as committees of oversight for truth, liberty and peace in petition resolution to inform and educate and demand compliance to law of the land, by recall initative and nullification resolution , affirming inherent inalienable rights. and have the people in every tax district ( state ) unite and sign it under Article 13 “no involuntary servitude ” to lawlessness… , One can effect oversight committees of Pine tree communities and using the great law of peace of united iroquois let the clan mothers of community select 3 chiefs or spokespersons who will deliberate and act in concensus relative to the law that governs with 12 elders eleders of community to act for additional counsel. discourse and dialogue .
Winston Churchill restated a line which went something like this: “democracy is the worst form of government, except all others that have been tried.” We are plagued by the assumption that democracy is the end-all / be-all of good government. But that assumption is a lie. We have gone so far that no one even considers alternatives. Well, I have. Randomocracy. Pattered after the jury system in our court of laws. We are governed by a randomly selected group of our peers, who are by law limited to a specified term of office.
There could be many flaws in the new system, but so long as the random process is not simply hijacked and rigged, we at least have a fighting chance at true representative government. And each flaw can be addressed.
Concerned the average person is not politically savvy enough or well-educated enough to do well in a position of governmental authority? Well, I guess we now have a great incentive to improve the American educational system from the bottom up, so that everyone is educated well enough so that the thought of the average man taking high office does not immediately raise fears of incompetency as our first line of opposition.
There are other pitfalls to this form of government, but there are answers for each of them. The botom line is, elected democracy does NOT result in true representative government, it results in a plutocracy, which is as bad (or at least as fascist) as a monarchy.
To become free at all folks, you MUST stay OFF GENERIC Blogs since they are mostly run on chatbots and paid “Con artists” to keep you upset, posting reply comments ad nauseumn because the CORP. makes $$ off every single comment.
Nothing like the phone – STILL..
Ernestine
Churchill also said, ‘All men stumble across the truth from time to time. Most pick themselves up, dust themselves off, and act like nothing has happened.’
Hello Mr. Spence,
Your invitation has renewed my hope that changes can be made.
Before I address the issue on how we can become free
I have been speaking to the people who are deomonstrating with the Occupy Wall Street Gang.
I blelieve as well as many of them also think that the first thing that needs to be explained is what specific law gives protection to government officials for their civil misdeeds.
I have asked this question more than a few times and I am surprised that not one lawyer or educated social activist has given any imput or opinion on this request.
Would you Mr. Spence help to clear my confusion?
Thank you,
Sincerely,
Why Mr. Concerned, you may rest assured you are not dealing with just anyone’s fool, and I am most happy, in all humble servitude, to be of assistance.
Ernestine
Don’t know. Still searching for answers. Trying to boil it all down to some simple answer. At age 50, beginning to get a clue though. Thinking about your recent post and comment “then we killed them” (the Indians) To kill sounds a little bit selfish. I’m selfish. Where is the love and understanding of the reality of others? Like most people that struggle with addictions, “the people” haven’t reached the bottom and, therefore, can’t see. I’m thinking that my selfishness, my fear, and my lack of faith prevent my freedom. What is we loved others more than ourselves? What if we refused to allow fear to control us? Is that too simple for this complicated world?
And then, I wonder if what I’m saying is merely horseshit.
If I boil it down, to stop slavery in this world, we first need to recognize who, or what, is controlling us. Realize that we have allowed it to happen. Individually, we have to resist the fear, have more faith, then empower others, one person at a time, to do the same.
To be free requires that we have peace within ourselves. To build peace quickly within ourselves we need to be healthy. To become healthy we need to know a few crucial things about how our DNA unfolds to create our bodies.
The core of my practice as a Naturopath is teaching people what it takes to do exactly that.
The single most important piece of knowledge is the composition of “your DNA”. Ignorance of this fact causes more death, disease and suffering than any other thing the MDs know as “truth”.
All it takes do dispel this unparalleled harmful “truth” is to watch just the first TWO MINUTES of this presentation by Professor Bonnie Bassler from Princeton University.
If I may plug my own Facebook page…I just updated my short note called “The Shift – Competition to Cooperation. What can you do?” which is pinned to the top of the page:
https://www.facebook.com/cometalkhealth
Mr Spense, you wrote a book in 2006 “Blood thirsty bitches and pious Pimps ” or something like that. Sadly, most of the content of the book is still true. but I thank you for taking a stance and speaking up for those of us who are being belittled for our compassion for the poor and the helpless. We need to counterbalance the “hate” that is out there with your artful words and reasonable commentary. Six years later, Hey! I read your book!
You said in this post you were looking for a movment, You said in this post you are looking for those that recognize our slavery and a theory to make our way out of it. There is a very strong movement alive and has been gaining momentum for 3 years now… Someone of your voice and your cognitive thinking would be such a welcomed addition to the community, even if you do not fully support it, perhaps you could add your two cents to it Mr. Spence in order to better educate us on finding the way out of our bonds?
Just curious, thank you 🙂
The time has come to greatly reduce the size and power of the Federal a d state government. The question is how can we united ourselves to work and speak with a common voice to bring about the change so desparately needed. With a 16 trillion dollar national debt, the government spending must be curtailed. We are living Thomas Jefferson’s worst nightmare.
Hi Gerry,i sent you an email about this. Since people love to be entertained. Making a movie that has all the elements that they are interested in. What do they watch on tv? Real life documentaries,
comedy,music,crime and crime solving has to be among the top. Since the message will never get to the people through the media as we know it. Make a movie with everything that interests most people and put the messages about us all being owned by the corporations who own our government, in the movie. They’ll never know what hittem. Calling people slaves,tell them they aren’t free in this country and they’ll be in instant denial. Maybe a little smoke and mirrors would do the trick. It’s worked for the corporations and the government up to this point. Fight fire with fire.Trick everyone into waking up. As i said, My story shines a big ol ugly spotlight on the media as the killers of creativity already. Fill the movie with star actors and star musicians and people will watch it. I know where I can search for the the musicians and there is talk among them about making a documentary HBO type film of their musical history and adventures in Colorado.
http://www.caribouranchradio.com In the movie each star would state their feelings on this topic.
I am a little late, I’m bad too, busy filing Federal lawsuits. However, I’m a paralegal. I worked for Harvard lawyers for 20 years. I learned from the very best we have. How can we be free? I worked for a great attorney from Berkeley once. He said, “People will do anything until you stop them with a Court Order”. I’ve found this works best. I rely on it all the time. The Constitution was given to us as a means to enforce our freedom. We can’t be passive. We can’t depend on the other guy to do it. Even if you’re only a private citizen, or a paralegal, it’s important that you march yourself down to the court, and file your complaint, and get an opinion. I’ve been extremely successful as a pro se litigant, but then I did this for a living. Other people aren’t that lucky. Some of the Federal districts are finally opening a pro se litigation help desk, and providing informal pleading. You’re still running a big risk to represent yourself, because you’re a sitting duck for any court that hates the idea of pro se litigation. And I wouldn’t have to depend on pro se litigation, if the law schools would stop grinding out incompetent attorneys.
I loved your comment Shari Hodges. I went to law school and came out totally incompetent. I volunteered at the local Santa Barbara law library Legal Resource Center which helps everyone, no matter the income, understand the law. It ENCOURAGES everyone to participate in his or her own defense. Great idea all the courts are or should follow. Nice to hear the Federal districts are finally opening a pro se litigation help desk.
Those who would be free are varied peoples. So varied approaches are needed, but with one common foundation that must be first built:
1. Truthfulness. Acquire the skill of seeing, reflecting on, & telling the truth in matters large and small, with good timing (not perfect, as that is a distraction) as best we can. This requires a movement. Recently, laughably, one BBC guy wrote in favor of a “National Honesty Day,” which tells us how far down the chute we’ve slid toward the flames.
Drill in on this single Divine spiritual art of living and spiritual war:
Learning and telling the truth with good timing.
An interesting book by a therapist couple is called “Conscious Loving.” some of it, well, gee whiz I dunno. But one amazingly powerful principle discussed in it is “telling micro truths.” The book on Amazon:
Maybe we can start with small truths. Micro-truths. Then, with time, with courage, as truth begins to renew our relationships, we can wisely let this naturally expand.
We all know that if most juries and some judges consist of people trained with the fear of telling the truth, the vanity of puffing lies, conflicts, and layers of false belief, putting tons of money and resources into going before them gets expensive.
Rather than needing high priced companies to tell us how they’ll think, maybe it is time to create non-profits that study, remind, teach and help people gain mastery at finding and telling the simple truth.
In the meantime, we also need to figure out how to help folks make a living telling the truth.
Secondly, it has become foolishly synonymous with intelligence to deride faith in a good God merely because simple folk have had that faith twisted and abused by mercenaries, false profits (intended) & cowards. As in the civil rights movement, the morality and faith in a higher authority that governs the afterlife becomes a persuasive reason to tell the truth the less attached one becomes to earthly goods.