It is a false assumption that Liberty is merely a political concept. True Liberty is a universal concept. To embrace Liberty, ones inherent freedoms as a human being, is to embrace liberation from that which constrains you. This concept can be applied beyond the physical political sphere, to the mind and soul as well.
Thus the truest form of Liberty is conscious liberation. Breaking free from the dogmatic systems keeping us bound to archaic ways of being that exist as a self-fulfilling prophecy of our own enslavement, and holding us back from our true potential.
These systems constitute what can be referred to as "the Matrix" — the Web of lies, falsehoods, and arbitrary constructs that keep us ensnared in this trap. Breaking The Matrix, thus aiding in ones conscious liberation, means identifying the beliefs and behaviors that perpetuate human suffering and hinder our next evolutionary step through enabling these toxic cycles, and exiting them.
Some of these falsehoods and constructs are easier to identify than others. Such as the false left vs right paradigm, and similar narratives perpetuated for divide-and-conquer agendas. In truth there is no left versus right, white versus black, religious versus atheist, man versus woman, or you versus me, etc.
These ideas dividing people on the basis of political leaning, nationality, race, religion, or gender are all constructs creating a false dichotomy; labels designed to keep us separated from one another, manufacturing an opposition that isn't really there to serve as a distraction for those in positions of power who benefit from distortion, and division.
The only true "enemy" if such a term is even truly applicable are predators who abuse and exploit the innocent.
Recognizing these aforementioned constructs are easy enough when one finally realizes the role that discord and disorder plays in maintaining a perpetual state of organized chaos; such as permanent war, the constant erosion of civil liberties, excetera.
But some of these constructs are more subtle, harder to identify, and even more difficult to break because of how they have been deeply ingrained in human civilization and the collective consciousness of the masses. Organized in such a way that many cannot fathom the concept of existing outside of them.
Statism is at the forefront of these archaic ideals.
It is a concept that has existed for almost as long as human civilization itself. Created out of necessity by primitive hunter-gatherers and other nomadic peoples as the next step in our conscious evolution, to create a civilized society. The creation of a state.
Throughout the millennia statism as a form of societal organization has taken multiple forms; republics, democracies, dictatorships, monarchies. It has given rise to nations, to empires. And perhaps in some ways because of how human society existed in that form, statism could be credited with the birth of the philosophical age, the renaissance, the age of enlightenment, the industrial revolution, and so on.
These things were necessary for our continued advancement as a species. Though it was not statism in and of itself that led to these innovations, but rather the social and cultural environments created because of statism that necessitated their invention. Whether or not these advancements would have originated, or perhaps even better ones established in their stead, without the state we will never know.
However the belief in statism is also innately flawed, as it is inherently tyrannical and relies solely on the false belief in authority, and therefore the oppression of others as a result; It bases itself on the belief that some have the right to rule over others, an idea contrived so that an aristocratic elite may control the lives of those around them. It creates a class system whereby "others", those not in the aristocratic predator class, are viewed as inferior. Peasants to be subjugated and ruled rather than human beings each individually possessing the natural born right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
It is this state of being ruled, and the false belief in authority, that in a sense overtime constitutes a form of mental kidnapping. A sort of Stockholm syndrome like reverence is developed for those captured by this belief system, and the ensuing notion that civilization can only exist through forms of systemic authoritarianism.
Over the millennia the belief in the state and the nations and empires that it has given rise to has giving way to all manner of atrocity and oppression. Wars between ruling class predator aristocrats over wealth and power and territory. And the suffering of those under its domestic rule via all manner of inequalities creating cultures of inherent oppression as product of environments created by the state as a by-product of statist classism.
We can look to the United States of America as a prime example of this, by analyzing four of its most prominent social advancements over the past Century and a half; the abolition of slavery (1865), women's suffrage (1920), the Civil Rights Movement (1965), and even gay marriage (2015).
All of all of these are seen as a victory for the people. But what is not as widely acknowledged is that it was a victory for the people over the state. It was the existence of the state that facilitated slavery. It was the existence of the state that facilitated women's oppression. It was the existence of the state that denied free persons of color equal rights. It was the existence of the state that denied the LGBTQ community their fair and equal treatment.
The existence of the state did not grant any of these rights, all of these rights were inherent in people's very existence. It was the state that actively worked to deny them, and it was the people who had to oppose the state to rectify the wrong. And It is the state that is still to a degree responsible for still infringing upon the rights of these groups and others to this day.
It is the existence of the state and the cultures and environments that it creates adherent to it that has precipitated every inequality and oppression throughout human history. Even the very creation of the United States itself, the "Land of the Free", preceded a genocide of over 100 million indigenous inhabitants simply because the state disagreed with their right to exist.
Therefore when I speak of conscious liberation I mean that of conscious realization; the realization of the false ideals that encompass the state, and the systems, beliefs, and behaviors that facilitate it, and the recognition that society can in fact exist without it.
That requires rejecting the false belief in Authority; Recognizing that authority can only be truly derived from consent and mutual exchange. That no one person has the natural right to rule over another. Unless another under their own volition, determination, and informed consent actively forfeits their personal sovereignty, theirs and theirs alone. Anything beyond this is authoritarianism, undue, untoward, and unacceptable.
Statism as an ideological form of social organization has prevailed through the centuries because it ingrains itself in our very identities. We see this as a common practice all over the world in modern times — the idea of a national identity. The idea that we are the state, and the state is us. As well as the tribalism’s that are fostered to perpetuate it, and the symbols used to represent and embolden those ideals.
This harkens back to the previously mentioned beliefs and behaviors that enable these oppressive systems, the subtle nuances that are difficult to identify and break because of how they have been ingrained into society.
I touched upon this briefly in my previous essay, A Rational Critique On The Power Of Symbols And Their Idolization.
Analyzing the arbitrary and oftentimes misused nature of symbolism in creating tribalism among populations. With regard to statism we see this primarily in the form of flags, banners, oaths, and anthems.
As noted, these things are all abstract constructs, subjective and completely meaningless in a practical sense but imbued with a sentimental importance that is assigned to them.
These are used as subtle tools of indoctrination utilizing emotional attachment to override cognitive rationality and objectivity and create an attachment to symbols imbued with tribalistic ideations. Understanding the mental and psychological processes of how these attachments are made is imperative.
Whether they be religious, nationalistic, or otherwise, people are trained to associate symbols with ideas and ideologies, and eventually their own identities. Once this is done it's easy to get people to support almost anything, so long as it is associated with symbol that they've been endeared to. Oftentimes simultaneously accompanied by the endorsement of the ruling class.
The false identity makes it almost impossible for many to object.
"We are the state, the state is us." Creating the narrative that therefore whatever the state does, even if it does it to us, it does for us 'for our own good'.
This is a another psychological trick used to manufacture consent through false association. It creates a sort of tunnel vision of blind acceptance that makes it difficult to thoroughly analyze much less criticize anything that has been imbued with this ideological subversion. Two great examples of many could include how American exceptionalism typically turns a blind eye to the atrocities of the war machine abroad, or the police state domestically.
So, conscious liberation is that of objective rationalization; of critical analysis and reconciliation with the false belief systems that separate people from themselves and each other. Overcoming the dogmas that keep us trapped inside of a mental prison that perpetuate these same flawed systems.
Not everyone will be ready to hear these truths. Conscious liberation must occur on a personal level. Many people are already willing to accept that this means shedding obvious external factors such as false political paradigms, but not enough have yet realized the necessity of shedding away internal hindrances holding them back as well.
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