RE: Myths Of Our Economy: We Are Free!
I would like to start by saying, "I do not have the answer, I have only my observations and thoughts, which express the things I consider and my own leanings." Imo, the purely "voluntary society" is a utopian dream, therefore sadly I have come to the conclusion that it cannot work and probably will not work. Most proponents at this point always seem to defer to ideals of "raising our collective awareness" or similar ideas. But this always comes with the ideals of subjectivity. Thus creating a gap for human nature to exploit.
Aha! Exactly, we need to change our nature! And the cycle starts over again. If you read between the lines you will see something taking shape. Ignore it and you are doomed to infinite regress, acknowledge it and you are not necessarily the better! But at least your not chasing your proverbial tail.
Expectations, desire to control, discontent when things don't go your way, then anger and resentment, eye for an eye, destruction, rebirth, diverging paths, one where trust is dead and bitterness takes hold, another where love rises above self and forgives.
The cycle continues.
It's not a new obstacle, as you can see from reading, history has had many "idealist," whom have cried for the betterment of our condition. But show me a man that lived his ideals. That is the only obstacle I have come to know - myself.
But isn't this acknowledging the we as individuals must change? Yes, again, read between the lines, learn from history, learn from your own experiences.
To conclude, while I can see the sentiment in the desires that the "earth belongs to all," I think that this is another pipe dream, that will not happen the way some hope. Show me a man who lives his ideals! If we neglect to turn our ideals inward we are not being honest! What we are really doing is nothing short of being hypocrites that have objectified ideals and spend our days pointing fingers... aha! aha! I know the answers! They don't aha!
The cycle ends with when we stop making excuses and focusing on the problems of others. Read between the lines of life!
I love your responses @odrau, and I agree; no one man or woman has the answer, I don't even think most of us are asking the right questions yet. This is why I'm glad you share your thoughts here. Let me respond to two points and share my ideas on those:
We do not need to change our "human nature", we need to understand that there's no such thing as human nature. Drop a baby in a wolves nest and it will grow up to be a wolf. Or die. We are the most malleable creatures on earth and we're formed by whatever we encounter in life. We are also the only creature that has the power to change what we encounter in life. We can reason, we compare the past to the present and from there plan a path to the future, we can count higher than 4, the limit of all other creatures on Earth... Together we form the surroundings that form us as individuals. In my mind, we're losing touch with the "together" part of that statement.
You'll never find him. Idealism and Ideals are a conjured up fantasy world where everything is perfect and perfectly arranged around one quality or trait of humans. You can only find people who strife for those ideals, they never live them. But is that bad? True democracy can never exist, but should we therefore quit trying to make a better democracy? I believe not.
Thanks for a beautiful response. I agree with most of it ;-)