Today I find myself re-reading the top post of the day from @dantheman. It was well thought out and I felt encouraged to hear it from "The Man". The point about privatized costs and socialized benefits really explained that dilemma clearly. He explains what it is that keeps us from making the fundamental changes that are needed to create a beautiful abundant reality for everyone. From there, Dan basically outlines the future and the way we will get there - through non-violence. The last paragraph in his post touches on the main problem and the solution.

The Problem

Part of the problem is that even though most of us know that non-violence is the answer, we have somehow given up on that as a real possible solution. It is true that when a powerful and violent entity enters a peaceful game they have the power to take it over. And this seems to be what has happened to the United States and really the whole western world by banking cartels and multi-national corporations with governments acting as enforcers and wielding incredible power over resources and the course of human events.

This, however, does not mean that peace cannot overcome violence. It means that our focus must continually be on peace if we are to create a system of peaceful cooperation that cannot be overcome by a system of violence. More than that our focus must be on compassion. Sure, we must use all of our faculties including our ability to reason, but if we continue without a focus on compassion, we will be unable to create a truly peaceful reality.

The Solution

It is only through spreading these peaceful ideas that we can achieve our goal. These ideas are actually powerful forces that are coming into our collective consciousness and are spreading because people like Dan Larimer read books from people like Eckhart Tolle. These people are sharing profound realizations and shattering belief systems with concepts that are really so simple that we have forgotten them from when we were little children.

Some how as we grew up, many of us were molded into profit seeking machines for ourselves, our families, our communities, and our countries. We know that we rely on interdependent relationships with each other, yet we still continually search for a way to have power or advantage over our neighbor. If we were to love our neighbor as ourself we would immediately overcome all the problems that cause great suffering in our world.

Can we Actually do This?

I also found myself considering Rick Falkvinge's third in a series of posts on a Simplified Taxless State. Another article that I thought was well thought out and an interesting line of thinking. In the comments @jrcornel pointed out that it basically sounded like a "state reset button" @falkvinge replied to the comment with a question - "Even if it is: if you had a State Reset button, would you not push it?"

A question not posed to me, but one that I would like to answer. Actually @jrcornel had a pretty good answer, which was - "Possibly, as long as it doesn't interfere with the technological explosion that has coincided with it the first time." Personally, I would be tempted to push the reset button as well. But, to give him credit, Falkvinges ideas and articles are about more than pushing a reset button. They are about developing a process for changing the political landscape in a real and feasible way. I think that is clearly valuable, but it seems exhausting to me AND you still have a situation where powerful violent entities can take control if you haven't addressed the underlying issue. The underlying issue being that when selfish desire is a stronger motivator than compassion, peace is not kept.

One effective means of keeping powerful, violent entities from taking too much control of anything is decentralization. Anarchy and voluntaryism are ideas worth pondering but they seem almost as susceptible to powerful, violent entities as everything else seems to be.

The truth, in my honest opinion, is that none of these ideologies will work to defeat the problems that we have. The problem is what Dan pointed out when he said - "Jealously, greed, envy, malice, spitefulness, and vengeance will destroy any community." That pretty much sums it up right there. As long as we are driven by anything other than compassion for our fellow man, we are doomed to deal with the problems of violence.

The Solution Revisited

The real solution is actually an old one. The first part of the first step in Patanjalis Yoga Sutras is Ahimsa (non-violence - non-harming other living beings). That first step is a doozy - to study the 8 limbs of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras is to look at the instructions for becoming a sage. Dan is right again here - that we must be "enlightened individuals" as we build this community. It is heartening to read his closing statement that he "..will keep this in mind as we work to build and grow Steem"

It is important for us to keep compassion in mind as we are constructing any type of community. Anarchy and decentralization are concepts that are worth consideration, but I want to make the point here that these concepts fail without non-violence. I know the crypto community has its roots in these concepts and that is exactly what brought me to Steemit. I don't want to downplay the importance of these ideas, but I do want to make the point that they do not work without peace.

What really piqued my interest in Anarchy was hearing about it as a philosophy of peace, not of chaos and destruction. Anarchy without peace is not a solution to anything, but as @luminousvisions pointed out in a comment on Falkvinge's post, "in anarchy there are still rules, and systems, it's just that they're based on consent, not violence"

Conclusion

When we have achieved peace in every one of our hearts, we will achieve peace in our collective reality. When we achieve this piece in our hearts, the system of organization won't matter that much. In fact, an aristocracy or something of the sort could even work if we were really all benevolent. I believe we will all get to that point but we must begin by achieving this philosophy of non-violence within ourselves. As the great teacher, Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov says:

"You will never achieve great transformations in your psychic life until you have understood the magical secret of the law of affinity. Each feeling you experience has a particular nature and, by virtue of the law of affinity, it will stimulate forces in space of the same nature, which will make their way to you. If your feeling is negative, you will attract negative influences; if it is positive, you will attract blessings. You can thus draw everything you desire from the great reservoirs of the universe, but only if you emanate feelings and project thoughts that are of the same nature as those you wish to attract. These thoughts and feelings determine absolutely the quality of the elements and forces which will be awakened somewhere far off in space, and sooner or later they will arrive at your door. The law of affinity is the greatest key to spiritual achievement."