Stop believing in authority and start believing in each other

[Fire Walk With Me]

[no_hypocrisy]

1. That's one theme of humanism.

[Fire Walk With Me]

2. Gotta consider it because authority has proven itself to consist of cannibalism.

[kctim]

3. No thanks

I believe some form of government is needed.

[Fire Walk With Me]

4. Maybe perhaps, but for now, we need to take care of each other because we're hurting

and no one else will do it for us.

[tama]

12. To rule you or others?

Are familiar with the Milgram experiment (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment)?

Would you pull the lever when "some form of government" told you to? If you believe not, what gives you the confidence that it's just the "other" 70% of us?

And most importantly, do you believe in evolution, at least in the POSSIBILITY that 99,99...% of us can grow up self-confidence not to pull the lever when Authority thus orders?

[kctim]

15. Please

Without some form of authority, the weakest among us would not make it. Authority mandates and forces us to pay social security, medicare and a slew of other taxes that aid those who need it most. You are "pulling the lever when our form of government tells you to" EVERYTIME you pay taxes to support those programs. And what happens if your "self-confidence" allows you to not pull the lever when Authority thus orders? Have you yet rebeled against authority in such a way? Probably not.

"Authority" does not stop at the individual. Most people ignore that fact as long as things go their way. That is why the maker of that sign probably has no problem with "authority" forcing others to pay taxes for things they agree with, but doesn't want "authority" telling them they can't block traffic, trespass or damage.

[Fire Walk With Me]

17. Things are changing for the better, especially in terms of people helping each other

and being concerned for each others' needs. This is a Trend, mark my words. Such a trend reduces the need for Authorities.

Regardless, it is far more important to go out and to do something to help each other than it is to discuss it, also about whether authority is required for it to happen.

[tama]

19. Money

is the greatest authority. The eye at the top of the pyramid, controlling everything. We are ruled by symbols. By the hypnotic gaze of eye of Sauron on the one dollar bill. I don't close my eyes, I stare back with both my eyes unblinking.

When I go to a supermarket, I realize how inhospitable places those are, how inhumane. All that food and this horrible artificial scarcity created by the authority of money. The horrible waste. Money destroys the unsold food, refuses to feed the hungry to have greater and greater power, control over everything. I go to dumpster diving and there food is free, otherwise wasted, there is hospitality, in the dark alley behind the supermarket. But money does not want to allow even that, it orders people who it controls to deny access even to wasted food that cannot be sold.

I've lived in the hobbit village, from gardening and gathering, where nature is hospitable and free, as we people are by our true nature. I am a hobbit. I am both weak and strong. I know how weak and tender the few hobbit villages are, those that remain from old times, those that are being recreated. They are part of this world that is ruled by Sauron, there is no escape from authority of the money. I am strong, I am not afraid to look Sauron in the eye, and when I do, it is not my eyes that blink first. When I look in the eye of Sauron and it blinks, I know that behind all that power of authority of money is nothing but fear. And I'm not afraid, I'm not afraid to walk to the land of Mordor. I am here in the Mordor of Wall Street, I'm here in the Shire of ecovillage, I'm in all the places I've lived and all that I've experienced, all that I've learned. I'm certainly not a messiah, a liberator, a leader to be followed - I'm now both too weak and too strong for taking that trip alone or with my pal Sam. I'm not alone, we are in the same boat and we sail together, the 99,999...% of us to unknown land. We don't need to worry for each other, I don't worry. When I'm strong with my strength I help others, when I'm weak I accept help from others.

I am a father and I know authority. I know how to use it when raising children when it is required, to let my voice boom and be obeyed so that my children don't hurt themselves or each other in unnecessary ways. And to my shame, of course I also know how to misuse authority, when it becomes about MEEE MEEE MEEE MY PRECIOUS EGO and not about children and their well being and what they need to learn. As we all grow, there is less and less need to use authority, because the purpose of raising children is to teach them to be independent and responsible, and that can be learned only by trusting them with freedom to grow and learn.

I am both father and child and I know authority. The less it needs to be used the better and the more you use it the greater the risk that it starts using you and you get trapped. I don't surrender to authority any more, because life has taught that all authority is based on fear, from fear of getting hurt to fear of children getting hurt. I love my children and so I surrender to love, because love is stronger than fear and all fear comes from love, even the most twisted forms of fear.

[EFerrari]

18. Withdrawing your belief in authority isn't anarchy.

It's the beginning of reason. No government should cruise along on belief, especially in a democracy which demands rational accountability.

[Admiral Loinpresser]

21. I agree in the need for government. However,

the current system of government and both parties are part of the problem, wouldn't you agree?

[TBF]

5. K&R nt

[hfojvt]

6. okay, right away sir (or ma'am).

[Fire Walk With Me]

9. I am not an authority ;)

[hfojvt]

11. the sign was stated very authoritatively

which I find to be a little ironic

[tama]

13. No, you are just a leader, brother :) nt

[Gregorian]

7. The purpose of FOX is to divide us.

[Fire Walk With Me]

8. And to keep us asleep.

[Desertrose]

10. ...and believing in yourself, too.

:)

[tama]

14. That's the

"no division" part. :)

[me b zola]

16. Here's my version of that

"Cooperate with people not authority"

[PETRUS]

20. Exactly. K&R nt

[Tsiyu]

22. Hell yeah!

I've spent many hours crying over the way the economy has made it almost impossible for me to move forward. And all that hermitizing and depression only made me wearier and less confident.

But I have the most wonderful friends, scattered about in the tiny little mountain villages here, and we all help each other. Nobody has a whole hell of a lot, nobody is making real, adult wages as they should, but we find our strength in each other.

When I lost the last "real" job, my over-worked, aching body was thankful, but I was still angry. Then I found a friend so sick he only weighed 100 pounds. I hadn't noticed how sick he'd become because I was working so much. Now, although I'm eeking by without the good wages, I am thankful I was able to help my friend by cooking him gourmet meals and fattening him up and going to the hospital with him and helping him after his surgery. He in turn helped me by paying me gas money and money to care for his animals while he was hospitalized. "I know what you do is out of love, from your heart. This money is from my heart to you," he said. He doesn't have much but like I said, we all share.

If I'd still been employed 40 - 50 hours a week, I wouldn't have been there for him. Or for the dozen or so other people I have been helping with my free time. While working so much I also lost my singing voice and could barely use my over-worked hands to play guitar. A month away from the job and I was singing and picking again with my musical buddies, even getting on our local TV station during a few open mic nights.

Friends call when they know of a little work, they call to invite me to poetry readings and picnics and parties and to dinner. Last night I had the most wonderful dinner with friends, and one friend who is doing better than many others handed me a $100 bill to help see me through.

Get out there and use your free time to help other people if you can. It's the best way to feel human and needed and part of this crazy life. And it beats sitting around crying and feeling hopeless. I have PTSD so damn, I know how to shut everyone out. But I am stronger and happier when I don't.

It'll work for you as well, I promise.

Thanks for spreading this message FWWM :hug: