Gimmie Some Truth!

My name is Adam Kaleb Ernest. My username on steemit is @onelove. I am the Co-Founder and CEO at Follow My Vote. I am 34 years old. I currently live in Blacksburg, Virginia. I have lived a full life and continue to learn and grow with every breath I take. Before I take another step, I wanted to take a stand for what I believe in.

I believe in freedom of speech.

I think we all should be able to say what we need to say without fear of persecution by another that may disagree. I support finding a way to give every being in the universe a voice and a way to cast their opinion in a censorship resistant way. This is the primary reason I founded Follow My Vote.

I believe that we are one.

Bob Marley's music satisfies my soul. He has truly inspired me. I believe in the deepest part of my soul that Bob Marley and I are one. Bob Marley died on May 11th, 1981. I was born exactly one year later, on May 11th, 1982. I am not claiming to be Bob Marley reincarnated, but I believe that we are all connected: past, present, and future. And, when I say we, I mean humans, primates, dolphins, trees, and flowers. You name it. We are all connected. All life is in the universe is connected. 

I believe that all life in the universe originates from a single source.

I don't need science to tell me that. It's spiritual. I have seen the light with my third eye. When you think about it, it just makes sense. It is cause and effect. You came into existence because of all the events that have happened throughout space and time that lead up to your birth. If everything hadn’t happened precisely the way it did, you wouldn't be here... reading this post. 

I believe in The Golden Rule.

Being that I believe that we are one and that all life in the universe originates from a single source, I find it hard to believe in organized religion. However, I do believe that there is some sort of creative force that exists within the universe. And, I believe that this creative force lives inside us all. This is why I believe that we should treat each and every person we meet in life the way we would want to be treated. If everyone were to do this, what a wonderful world it would be!

I believe that we are who we were born to be.

I have an older brother named Aaron, a younger sister named Alison, and an even younger brother named Austin. With my name being Adam, one thing we all have in common is that all of our names start with an A. However, one thing that is different between us is that I am straight, whereas my sister is a lesbian and both of my brothers are gay. This means that 3 out of 4 kids in my family are either gay or lesbian. We are all good people, just people, with good hearts and good souls. They didn’t choose to be homosexual, just as I didn’t choose to be heterosexual. We were simply born this way, and even if we wanted to, there is nothing we could do to change that.

I believe we are meant to live free.

I believe that we are meant to live united under common principles. But, I also believe that participation in any society should be voluntary, which leads me to believe in Agorism. According to Wikipedia, "Agorism is a libertarian social philosophy that advocates creating a society in which all relations between people are voluntary exchanges by means of counter-economics, thus engaging in a manner with aspects of peaceful revolution."

I believe in experimenting with new governance models.

I believe the basis of nature is cooperation. It's in our DNA. But, I’m not 100% sold on the notion that democracy is the best form of governance for humanity. However, with a verifiably honest voting system in place, I think it might stand a chance. Either way, I believe that people around the world should be allowed to peacefully exit their society and form a society of their own that abides by the principles of their own choosing. If we are able to peacefully experiment with various forms of governance in a voluntary way, while ensuring that there is a mechanism to which people are able to broadcast their opinion for the rest of the world to see, we might be able to determine which types of governance truly have merit and which types of governance don’t.

I believe in freedom of movement.

In order to be free to experiment, we need to be free to relocate to a geographic area of our choosing, whenever we choose to do so. I was fortunate enough to be born in America, but I didn’t choose to be born in America. No one get’s to choose where they are born. It’s simply the luck of the draw. If we are allowed to move freely around the world, we have more opportunities to connect with others that may share our beliefs. From there, we’ll be in a much better position to form societies of our own based on our common principles.

I believe in freedom of thought.

I believe that people can be easily manipulated by marketing and media propaganda. It just works. That’s why they do it. Back in the 1950’s there were around 50+ companies that controlled the mainstream media outlets. These were independent media outlets were more focused on getting to the truth of the matter than selling advertising space. Once government, media, and big business caught on that media could be used to manipulate the masses into doing virtually anything, media outlets became centralized. And, today, these 50+ companies have been reduced to just 6 companies. These companies are responsible for corrupting our minds. But, all hope is not lost. If we are able to recognize instances of this happening in our own lives, we can defend ourselves by simply choosing to ignore the negativity and focus on the positive.

I believe our enemies are our friends.

Today, the media teaches us to fear everything, especially our enemies. In modern times, the enemy we’ve been manipulated to fear most is “the terrorists.” The media has successfully tricked the mass majority of people into thinking that there is an imminent threat of a terrorist attack lurking behind every corner. It has gotten to a point where the media has convinced many of us to to fear our neighbors because they might be terrorists too. This, in turn, keeps many of us divided, locked inside our homes, consuming even more media, which only perpetuates this vicious cycle. I believe that we are all just people, even the terrorists. We all want our basic needs met in life in order to be happy, and if we had those basic needs met, the violence would cease to exist.

I believe that we are the source of all of our problems.

I believe that fear originates in our minds. Fear keeps us weak and divided. Fear also teaches us to want more than we need to be happy. Fear keeps us always wanting more. Fear teaches us to be consumers. If we allow fear to manifest in our hearts, we become corrupt. Once we become corrupted, love goes out the window. 

I believe that love is all you need.

I believe that love originates in our hearts. Love unites us. When there is love in our hearts, we are strong. When we choose love over fear, nothing can stand in our way. The path to truth and freedom is LOVE.

I believe in signs.

I believe that the universe works in mysterious ways, ways in which we are only beginning to understand. I believe that I was always meant to work with Nathan Hourt ( @modprobe ) to help create a brighter future for all. Before Nathan officially became the Chief Technical Officer (CTO) at Follow My Vote, he and I were tasked to work together to build a user experience demo version of Follow My Vote’s voting software. We initially decided that the voter should receive a receipt for validation that their vote was successfully broadcasted to the blockchain. So, we worked together to pick the best receipt printer for the job. When we received the box in the mail, the name the manufacturer used on the example label that was printed on the side of the box was "Nathan Adams." I remember saying to myself, “There’s your sign.”

I believe that everything is going to be all right.

I believe in the power of music. Bob Marley inspired the world through his music. John Lennon imagined a new path for humanity. They both believed in the power of music too. But we can’t get to the mountaintop with music alone. We have to have the Will ( @slickwilly ) to climb the mountain. And, you cannot get there by yourself. We must climb to the mountaintop together. Once we all figure that out (and believe me, there will come a day when we’ve figured that out), everything will be all right.

I believe in the power of one.

I believe that one person has the power to change the world. I believe that today is the start of something new. I believe that a brighter future starts with you.

What do you believe?

- ONELOVE

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FINAL NOTE: The beliefs I hold now are what I believe at this moment in time. With a strong enough argument, I could always be convinced otherwise. Also, I wanted you all to know that I plan on writing more articles and publishing them on steemit, which will likely be expansion pieces on the various beliefs that I’ve mentioned throughout this article. I intend to post about other things from time to time as well. For now, please drop me a comment and let me know what you think of my contribution to the community thus far.