The words freedom and slavery are thrown around a lot and in my different contexts. In my dictionary they have a slightly different definition than most people would agree upon. It has nothing to do with the government or any other external forces but rather with one's mind.
Freedom is nothing more than the ability to live your life as you want, as far away as possible from the mental shackles of the society you have been raised. This is not an easy deed and surely not for the ill hearted. To accomplish this, one needs to shed everything that has been learned. This includes values from religion, friends, family, culture, tradition, science and everything else you can think of.
Becoming an empty shell and then starting to fill up is all that matters. Think of the process much like emptying an antique shop and then deciding to put in a few things that are important. The majority of the things should be brand new or at least refurbished.
Most people unconsciously let all the baggage that has been accumulating inside of them to rule their life. This is why you see many people get caught up in the rat race, working 8 hours a week without being able to stop and think about what the heck they are doing. This is why you see people loving a sports team or a religion without being able to objectively examine an alternative option. Most importantly, this is why most people do not like concepts of anarchy, atheism and selfishness. They all go against the popular grain, the narrative that we have been taught in order to maintain a given cultural narrative.
I am not doubting that actual slavery exists — that is — people being forced to work for someone else and being treated like disposable objects. In my opinion, slavery has been the oldest game in town, far before prostitution. Thing is, there are different levels in this scheme. What most people are familiar with has to do with brute physical force and submission. This is rather long gone — at least in most of the western world. Instead, the kind of slavery that prevails today is the one that engulfs the mind. All forms of slavery start from there. Some of them just happen to evolve on a greater scale if one's allows it.
The reason most people get caught up into a repetitive routine, often following a culture meme like family, religion, country and ideology is because someone else has taught them to think this way. We value things based on other people's perception, rarely ours. It is easier this way. Most people would avoid clashing with others because it makes life harder. Playing it safe and being a hypocrite might cut it for a while but one cannot fool all the people all the time — hence the abundance of hypocrisy in our world. What matters when it comes to freedom is to be honest to oneself and not caring about what others think of your person. This is a mental game very few can play since the majority of people leave their brain on an emotional autopilot. The "life game" only begins when logic and rationality take over. Otherwise you are just being a pawn in jungle 2.0. You are not using your human ability.
I often see people boasting about their jobs, their salaries, names on the book spine. These things matter because other people think they matter. Take for example Bill Gates. He wasn't a novel innovator, he wasn't even a good programmer. He just happened to be a bit lucky, putting the competition into oblivion. He then became one of the biggest philanthropists so people rarely remember what happened before. The name matters in most people's head because they have been taught that it matters in a superficial way — much like with Bill Gates. People try to copy him in order to enjoy similar success forgetting the entire story. This is how most people get lost.
This brings us to Security. When I hear people say that they want a "secure job", "secure investment", "secure college major" all I hear is slavery, slavery, slavery. I know that I might be over-reacting but today what is "secure" is nothing more than a large pot of beliefs that everyone derives meaning from. Life happens on the edges when we take risks and breach new boundaries, not when we repackage old ideas and pat each other on the back. This is exactly how we become a slave to each other. There is nothing more risky than doing what everybody else is doing. If you are living life based on a popular book then you are pretty much doing what most are doing. I know, logic 101 but very few seem to get it.
The mind is not a great or complicated thing. It's an evolutionary mechanism that can be programmed quite easily — given one has enough access. It's function is mainly to process and adopt. It wants to be secure and keep things familiar. Change scares it because it involves danger and exposure to new experiences. In other words your brain is build to be a slave for the sake of existing. Unfortunately, most people do end up like breeding/shitting machines that spend their lives using the gadgets that other people have created. Not that it matters but wouldn't be fun to make a dent in this charade?
Benjamin Franklin once wrote: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." I believe this is the same thing you are trying to say. If the government imposes too much security and restrictions on people, they are little more than prisoners that think they are free. Government has grown too large and too restrictive and our freedom has suffered as a result. However sadly, many people are stupid and actually cheer as the government puts them in chains telling them it will make them safer. Read George Orwell's 1984 where "Big Brother" tells them that "Freedom is Slavery". You could turn that around to today where government tells people that "Slavery is Freedom". You know, because all these laws are for your own good, you stupid little pet.
Oh and on slavery. Yes, of course slavery exists. Sometimes in not so obvious forms. By defintion, slavery is being forced to work for the benefit of another without benefit to yourself." While technically no one is "forcing" anyone to work, the alternative is really a non-starter for most people that have any amibition in life. However, anyone that works is forced to pay taxes - actually the taxes are just confiscated from your paycheck before you ever even see it. Most taxes end up paying for social services for those who refuse to work. If that's not slavery (of the working people), then I don't know what is. Welfare programs are supposed to be used by the elderly, sick, or disabled (truly disabled, not the scam fake people pretending they are "disabled" because they have some ache or pain when all of us have it and work anyway!).
I agree with what you are saying but as I said in the post, I am more concerned with the mental freedom. Everything else follows.
Have you read George Orwell's novell, 1984? If you haven't, I'd highly recommend it. I think you would really enjoy it as the entire book revolves around people who have been enslaved mentally. In fact, a famous quote from the book is: "Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows." I think this is in reference to people's freedom of speech being stifled by fear, which is a powerful motivator. Political correctness is a term we have today for "agreeable" type speech that often intentionally avoids being truthful or direct out of fear of offending someone.
yes i have read all of his books and essays.
Just to inform.. The state of Israel imposes a National Insurance Tax on all working citizens .. But they impose this tax on those who have no source of income whatsoever as well!!! On a question "where from should they get the funds to pay this tax???" The authorities reply " go to work" or in other cases " ask the lawmakers "!!!
The succes of Liberty needs courage and luck. Unlucky people may argue , uncourageous people could also be unlucky. We are not all equal, that is maybe a large part of the "choices" that are done. Where were you born? Just to begin the controversies...
True, mental slavery is our greatest problem, even when physical slavery was a scourge across the whole globe. Not that physical slavery is gone, it still exists.
The unfortunate thing is, the process of mental slavery has been deeply rooted in minds since childhood. Our education system destroys the imagination, forcing the youth to become drones for the workforce. When at home, the television bombards them with images and messages to comply to consumerism and all forms of vanity. In the outside world, distractions are in great abundance.
What is left then? Unless, someone comes along and helps the person refocus and get rid of all the trash they built up over years, mental slavery will be there only future.
well put
Beautiful post, for most human beings around the world our brains are being played like a guitar by governments and banksters yet very few realize and accept it's actually happening. Time to wake up is now.... Cheers 👍
indeed
Very good read , check the bit 8 hours a week? I have to do that each day , cheers mike
I just had two drinks and this is way too philosophical for a Saturday night.
Americans are arguably the most free in world. Or is that just what we have been lead to believe? All my life I hear about "well at least we aren't in Soviet Russia." "Or kids in Africa are starving." While that may be the case. We are taxed and worked and extorted and threatened to death on a daily basis. Meaning we are far from what I would consider free. If you want to buy or sell or trade or open a business or fuel a vehicle or travel or marry or hunt or fish or grow vegetables or collect rainwater or own a pet or carry a firearm or watch tv or make a call or build on your own property or even exist you are taxed. And you are compelled to pay under threat of imprisonment or ultimately death.
Land Of The Free, Home Of The Brave
But you are right. Changing that attitude.............begins in ones own mind.
Once you are truly free. There is no going back.
Those are extreme case scenarios. America is worshipping the meme of freedom. I am not sure they are free. Everything has a price and the government will always take its cut. The point is to delve beyond the traditional boundaries.
I don't want anarchy. I just want the freedoms we were promised we had in 1776.
that was obviously a marketing trick. much like Mcdonalds ads.
Maybe so. Who am I to judge?
Was it Tyler Durden who said,
"Its only after we've lost everything that we're free to do anything."
It was Kris Kristofferson who wrote "Freedom's just another word for nothin left to lose."
Got that song stuck in my head all day........thanks.......
exactly.
I'd like to dichotomize here between the two definitions of freedom and slavery that you've placed. The author primarily speaks of slavery in terms of one willingly accepting dogma and shackling oneself to some form of restriction that keeps them from performing other things. Steady banking job at the cost of keeping you away from wife and family? Get to work 8am, come home 8pm for the sake of financial security? That is slavery, but amusingly in this piece, it is the freedom of choice that one has that was used to willingly revoke the freedom of the mind to explore alternative options. Nobody will argue that the camps of North Korea is "security", but definitely will argue "slavery", but this is due to an external entity enforcing its will upon the individual to deprive them of their freedom.
Excuse me for indulging in some nitpicking, but I do believe that this piece primarily spoke of freedom in the context of actively removing internal restraints from your mind and being "free" as it was, to explore options and alternatives without some form of restriction weighing you down. Slavery being discussed in the sense of it being one where one willingly accepts some dogma in order to bear the weight of something that they have chosen to do (i.e. the repetitive lie of the banker as he tells himself that his financial security is more important than loving his wife and children).
That is a great analogy. (the banker) No doubt we are complicit in our own slavery. Its kindof like an alcoholic. First we must acknowledge we have a problem. Most Americans don't think that way. And in comparison to other countries (North Korea) we are not as oppressed. But to our acceptance over generations has made us compromise our freedoms away in the name of security. Now I think we are seeing a generation that is pissed and finally asking the questions that need addressed. And you are right. That first hurdle is in the mind. Thinking like a slave will always result in you being a slave.
Nice post. I should imagine this so called reset which is coming will shake things up a little. I upvote thanks.
This has a lot of truth to it. Great post.
A well written article , thanks for sharing..upped.
Slavery is unfortunately still in existence in almost every countries and freedm is hard to get even in developed economies.
Wow!! Excellent write up. My wife and I @leemlaframboise are currently building a very remote cabin in northern Canada, where we attend to live truly free(free to make mistakes and suffer the consequences, and the freedom to thrive). The building project has just begun this year, however it has been 5yrs of planing and tool collecting to get to this point. If you got a few mins I would love for you to check it out...My wife does most of the posting, I am gonna concentrate on posting more of the Timber framing, logging, and the gathering of resources.
Sounds fantastic. I will surely check it out.
I agree with the title and some of what you wrote... but I think "freedom" doesn't suit us (this generation of) humans.... most humans want security even if it means being slave to/under something. you can't talk about being free if you want "stable" life.... Life with freedom is very harsher than the current reality...
Also, you can't ask for total freedom... total freedom means that every person can get away with every bad thing they want to do... having police, having a law, costs a lot!! yeah... the current laws can get better but you can't live without a law... and law has very great costs on freedom.
I wish I can say otherwise but humanity has very dark side... you have a Dark Side, without laws and rules this dark side can get worse.
What we should want isn't Freedom, But better Law!!
I maybe one of the few that knows this first hand.
implying that police has stopped "bad things". it's a common myth much like short fence in front of the yard stopping burglaries.
ofcourse I can. Been doing it for some time.
'Ofcourse I can. Been doing it for some time'
You can live without laws only if your present actions and desirable actions do not conflict with those laws already implemented. While this may apply to you, it doesn't apply to everyone. We need law, otherwise we will have chaos. Total freedom also makes us lazy and care free to an extent where people can harm others or our environment unintentionally. You are also free if you are fine living within the boundaries of the laws which do not affect/apply to you or your lifestyle. These laws may however affect others. Example: No smoking -fine: 5 years imprisonment
we already have chaos. it just happens to serve some but not others. what is order for the spider is chaos for the fly.
Law don't necessarly stop the bad things... actually it might create new ones (those who make laws are human too and they're more free than those under them so 'doing bad' for them is way easier than without laws)...
But without a law/rules everyone will have this "ability" to do bad things without consequences ... that's worse than having few people doing that.
The freedom you talk about needs that every person in the society is good at heart. I wish this can happen... but "most people" when they can choose the easier option they will choose it even if it was the worse choice.
Rules are created to serve some people but not others. I don't care about rules. I don't care about the government. the freedom i talk about is in the mind. Once you get hold of that then every other boundary fails.
I agree with this.
Its crazy because now a days we think we are more connected with technology but we are more disconnected than I ever imagined.
what that has to do with anything?
Your reference at the end about being stuck on gadgets others have made, makes me think about how bad it is that people spend "FREE" lives in free countries stuck on devices and other people are stuck on devices or in factories and all they want is freedom away from it.
Just my 2 cents, that sentence made me think of this and was just sharing.
yeap. giant circle. add to that popular TV shows and books and you get the idea what is going on.
Distractions.
I think it was Janis joplin who sang freedom is just another word for nothing left to loose. So true. Most every one is a slave to the system because they cannot clean house and rid their lives of the crap. It is a false security that prevents them from being free. It is possible real freedom scares the hell out of folks. great post. - Troy
It is indeed a strange road that only very few (often crazy) are willing to take. There is a belief that life is played by a given set of rules. Thing is, living life has a totally different set of rules most people never get the chance to experience.
How true my friend. willingness to live life by this unconventional set of rules takes conviction, inner understanding and a faith in one's self that few have. Most are too fearful of the unknown and in that fear is their slavery. again thanks my friend. - Troy
I agree with you on this!!...
not everyone can (and want) to challenge the common sense (rules) they learned by living... actually those unwilling to sacrifice "something" won't get anything by going against the system. most people can't do that...
But if you can, you should fight for your freedom... you should "live and die" for what you
thinksee is right!!What I don't like is giving the people "hey!! be free from these terrible laws" while most of them can't handle it if they got it. most people can't!!
Freedom is the main key point in life, one can never achieve his/her aims and objectives while under slavery
This was Maslow's point:)
I think slavery is still exist in the poor countries. God bless them.
slavery exists everywhere, just in different volumes and intensities
Freedom comes with a price. Security feels safe, but it is limiting. If we want real freedom we have to let go of the things that limit us.
exactly.
I definitely don't care about status and haven't for years. I am willing to do or try just about anything in order to become financially independent. That's what I want. And I want a little house somewhere with land that I own outright. Other than that I just want to have new experiences and meet new people and always be learning something new.
I believe to be financially independent nowadays one has to take some risks. Then you will find out that the tiny house might not be big enough.
You know what would really suck? Working a lifetime to become financially independent only to realize the buying power of the currency diminishes faster daily then the interest you earn off it and eventually you are left with 1s and 0s in a bank computer or a big pile of green toilet paper.
yes. i have also considered this. That would really suck and it seems we are very close to this scenario.
Ha, that is altogether possible! I am definitely taking calculated risks right now.
Freedom is Bitcoin. The opposite of freedom is the dollar.
well, not really (at least as for now)
Wow
I completely agree with this post...
I want freedom from slavery too...
great post
Very useful..thanks
That was deep.
Spoken by someone who went to bed a millionaire and woke a billionaire via the casino of unmerited wealth....
Or, maybe you've been reading Steve Bannon?
Look, give away everything you own, go live out on the streets or in the woods and then come back and talk to me about security. At least have the decency to be consistent in your philosophy and live the way you're espousing others too..
All humans have basic needs there bucko, so please read some Abraham Maslow, and then explain why you and everyone else doesn't deserve them....
It's now a worldwide system based on the dollar so any freedom whatsoever must be premised on securing money. The simplest way to do this would be to socialize the creation of money and distribute evenly to all at creation. This would, in itself, in one fell swoop dismantle the welfare state; combine that with a culture of education which focuses on mastery and we have a winning civilization... Better than the civilization we live under now created by cynical misanthropes.....
To be clear on what is bugging me about this post: you're espousing a materialist ontology while at the same time asserting that there is this separate idealist mind state that can free us from our bondage......Not so!
I started from literally nothing if that is what you are implying. I was even living in the desert with Aboriginal Australians for a while eating snakes and kangaroo.
Maslow is expired. Basic needs do not cut in anymore. We need more and more.
we have tried this before. doesn't work. life is not fair.
Terse pithy anecdotes from your past are not impressive! You need to give away everything you own TODAY and go live in the woods or the streets; anything less is sheer hypocrisy in the context of advocating for an animal like lifestyle of no security. BTW: even animals build themselves homes to further their security.
Please link detailed descriptions of countries, times and places where the money supply was issued to everyone evenly at creation and in your words: failed!
I see you didn't address this Twilight Zone place you think exists where the mind is completely separated from the body and its needs....
Not really. Why do that? Life is all about different experiences.
nothing is ever secure. if that was true then nobody would feel threatened. security is relative.
the mind is never separated from the body. never implied this.
I'd like to make sure I'm understanding you with two examples:
1-when beavers build damns to give themselves security it is to your thinking an affront to freedom?
2-if the sun rises and sets at 6 AM and 6 PM so as to be able to have cycles of times and seasons it is to your thinking that that is an affront to freedom? That these predictable cycles that offer a chance at security are somehow an affront to freedom in your philosophy?
Now let's extend that thinking to everyday life: say one wants to take a train from Berlin to Paris. In your view, there should be no set schedule and the trains can come and go at any time and it's up to any individual to guess when a train will arrive and depart; and of course, we can't ever know when they will because the engineers don't have a set schedule and work whenever they please! But to have predictable societies in your philosophy is somehow an affront to freedom?
Of course, terse pithy replies are fine:)
beavers do not have the concept of freedom in their language — or at least, we have no evidence that they do
irrelevant.
as for the train
freedom =/= organisation
Congratulations! You have earned some achievement on Steemit and won the Barkers Carnival Philosophers Cupie Doll! She loves a false premise and a faulty proposition!
Are we every truly free? I think not as we are given the illusion of freedom.
freedom can be indeed considered an illusion. the point is to search for it.
Yes of course I agree with that. like you I think its up to us to create our own freedom
I like your way of thinking and decided to follow you.
bue post, tu concepto es respetable, gracias por compartir
Great thinking. Just the other day I knew of a girl who is joining a civil movement and asked if my country should officially apologize for slavery or not. And I thought: that would make it seem as though slavery is in the past and doesn't exist anymore. It's the oldest trick in the book. The marketing of a Free World is such that people see slavery everyday, but by calling it something else, they magically make it go away. I think you got it very right when you focus on reprogramming the mind and striving to understand what the mind is and how concepts are created. It reminds me of Roland Barthes' Mythologies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mythologies_(book) and the importance of questioning ideologies. In fact I think ideologies in general are an enemy of free thinking. They are like mental parasites, keeping the host alive and comfortable while sucking the life out of them, slowly...
great thinking. not many can think like this and indeed stops the argument before escalating.
I usually add to this "assumption is the mother of all fuck-ups".
Amen
nice post ♥
doing anything else is just hard i guess.
And "un-popular".
Don't you want to fit in?
Who doesn't crave the adoration of the rest of humanity?
Conform.
Confounded conformity, the bane to freedom, to self thinking, to deleting I think therefore I am. No ego, no id, no superego, just white coat boot lick membership.
me. the more people get to like me, the more i worry.
I don't think I ever said I "liked" you, respect yes.
You need to at least buy me a few drinks before I liked you. ;-)
i said I don't crave the adoration of the rest of humanity. I have done pretty bad ass things but I chose to remain anonymous.
But you also do some things that appear to be an attempt to wake people up.
Great post @kyraicos. True it is that the vast majority of our freedom is in our minds. When we are not free to think new thoughts, we put ourselves in a box. Oh people really do like their boxes!!! Thanks for bringing up the subject!
I can not but admire your writting abitlity and skills.
thank you man
This is a very valuable post @kyriacos! I feel I am in the middle of fighting this battle with myself and society at the moment. It's not an easy break free and doing things differently than others because it's rooted deeply and I love the people around me that I'm pretty certain will never want to break free from this slavery. Thank you for you post this will help me set some more steps in the right direction. Freedom is my motivation. Let's do this
if one conquers their mind (desires, mental patterns/conditioning) then perhaps they are considered free, however this seems rather difficult and an illusory concept; humans are contained by limits of biology. an essential question is why freedom is desired (although seeming obvious), perhaps this desire hinders true freedom? (again subjective)
interesting read
freedom is desired because we are all more or less slaves to a degree. same with happiness. Everyone chases it because the default human position is misery.
There is no freedom actually and we are all bound by laws of men to control us and in effect we become slaves of our own laws.
But there must be no absolute freedom or things can get out of control.
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STOPI totally agree with you. I became a slave myself, working for different IT companies. My soul is a free spirit and got so fed up that I decided to break the chains. Left my job and now I am trying to make a living through art, as my heart is always telling me "Do it". I want to be helpful, so I am creating graphics, inspired by sacred geometry, folklore and nature. You can see the start of the project at gabchik.com. I have no idea if selling my art will be enough to make a living, but I definitely know thay a try is worth it! If you have the time, check the site and the information related to the first inspiration. Let me know what you think :)
Very accurate. Life of freedom comes with dangers and responsibilities. Not easy. Life of security and comfort comes with slavery to systems and authority. I like your perspective . And agree :)
Freedom-Security is like a seesaw: the more you have of one, the less you have of the other. It's like choosing passwords: the easier it is for you to remember, the easier it is for a hostile party to get. Therefore, it is your duty to pick a hard password -- and remember it anyway.
Hmmm. I guess that means Freedom is synonymous with Responsibility.
very much so.
Cleaning the mind from clutter is a very hard work (been there, done that!). Rather than cleaning the mind completely from all the garbage that it has (which, I dare say, almost impossible) then fill it with new ideas, it would be worth your while to clean every m2 or so of your antique shop each time you go into a cleaning spree. Just remember to keep that area clean from then on. The reason I say it is impossible to clean all at once, because as humans we need to feel secure. This security comes from all the garbage we have collected throughout the years which becomes familiar and gives us the sense of security and belonging. Also, some areas are tougher to clean than others. If we don't have an established support system (The new information we acquired after cleaning), many of us may give up on cleaning all together and bring back the antique that is no longer valuable for sale, just for the sake of populating the shop and of course to avoid further tough cleaning. Thanks for sharing :)
Thank you for this, I needed it :')
I'm going to read this. Let the comment be a bookmark :)