Anarchy?

[Pathless]

The anarchist's dream is one of absolute freedom and solidarity. No coercion is necessary when humans work together for mutual benefits. Luxury is not an option, yet the loss of luxury is no loss, because when humanity works together in spirit, every movement becomes sacred and every created object becomes a work of art which exceeds luxury.

With no controlling state, nation, or corporate entity, individuals are free to express their unique purpose. Nature or the Cosmos works through each one of us and is alive in us. We are the sensory organs, intellectual faculties, and creative genius of the universe made manifest in human flesh. Trusting the divine guidance that shines in each heart, governments not only become obsolete, they are seen as profane.

Beauty is a profound compass. When a woman or a man taps into purpose, she becomes beauty personified. To walk one's own unique path is to walk in beauty. Each of us embodies a process of becoming. Impositions from outside only stifle. The true education is to be found by following every curiousity, by taking a multitude of divergent paths and allowing them to wind us in the spirals of our golden means.

Anarchy is a natural, non-violent process of becoming, not only for the individiual, but for the social organism. Wholly organic, this process occurs simultaneously, in fractals. As one individual opens and begins to walk in beauty, so the social organism makes another step in its progressive awakening. When enough individual cells of this social organism begin communicating, new levels of consciousness and self-reflection are achieved by the organism as an organic whole.

Anarchy, then, is in no way selfish, even as it champions individual initiative and personal growth. Anarchy is in no way ambitious. The natural inclination of the individual is encouraged and cultivated as people recognize that the natural inclination of each individual is part of the natural inclination of the social organism. Realizing that she is the social organism, being part of it, the anarchist naturally synchronizes her individual initiatives with those of her greater Self.

[seattlegal]

Originally Posted by Pathless

The anarchist's dream is one of absolute freedom and solidarity. No coercion is necessary when humans work together for mutual benefits. Luxury is not an option, yet the loss of luxury is no loss, because when humanity works together in spirit, every movement becomes sacred and every created object becomes a work of art which exceeds luxury.

The first thing necessary is for each individual to learn to control themselves. When you turn the focus from controlling others to controlling ones self, you are 90% there.

With no controlling state, nation, or corporate entity, individuals are free to express their unique purpose. Nature or the Cosmos works through each one of us and is alive in us. We are the sensory organs, intellectual faculties, and creative genius of the universe made manifest in human flesh. Trusting the divine guidance that shines in each heart, governments not only become obsolete, they are seen as profane.

One can then see the role of government as being a necessary evil for those who cannot control themselves.

Beauty is a profound compass. When a woman or a man taps into purpose, she becomes beauty personified. To walk one's own unique path is to walk in beauty. Each of us embodies a process of becoming. Impositions from outside only stifle.

One must be able to discern the difference between outside "impositions" and outside "interactions."

The true education is to be found by following every curiousity, by taking a multitude of divergent paths and allowing them to wind us in the spirals of our golden means.

The difference between learning and schooling.

Anarchy is a natural, non-violent process of becoming, not only for the individiual, but for the social organism. Wholly organic, this process occurs simultaneously, in fractals. As one individual opens and begins to walk in beauty, so the social organism makes another step in its progressive awakening. When enough individual cells of this social organism begin communicating, new levels of consciousness and self-reflection are achieved by the organism as an organic whole.

Anarchy, then, is in no way selfish, even as it champions individual initiative and personal growth. Anarchy is in no way ambitious. The natural inclination of the individual is encouraged and cultivated as people recognize that the natural inclination of each individual is part of the natural inclination of the social organism. Realizing that she is the social organism, being part of it, the anarchist naturally synchronizes her individual initiatives with those of her greater Self.

Tao Te Ching 38

[Snoopy]

There appears to have been a 70% turnout by the Anarchists in the local British elections that have just taken place...

s.

[Pathless]

Ha! (Snoopy )

I like that section from the Tao Te Ching very much, seattlegal.

[Snoopy]

Originally Posted by Pathless

Ha! (Snoopy )

Yes, ha!

s.

[Sunny C.]

When the Tao is lost, there is goodness.
When goodness is lost, there is morality.
When morality is lost, there is ritual.
Ritual is the husk of true faith,
the beginning of chaos.

Talk to me about that last line. What does it mean?

[Pathless]

Originally Posted by Sunny C.

Talk to me about that last line. What does it mean?

Hi Sunny. My take on it is that by "ritual" the piece is referring to a rote, routine, unthinking repetition, not the sacred kind of spontaneious ritual that brings about consciousness change and magic. For me, the routine ritual is the unthinking, blind-leading-the blind tritely symbolic wafer and grape juice communion, the unfeeling academic learning and repetition of scriptures, sutras, principles, and the like. This kind of ritual inhibits spontaneity, creativity, and emotional expression. Indeed, this kind of ritual is no ritual at all, and like a walled-up ego, it fears the purity of creativity, destruction, and any kind of emotion, which threaten the boundaries, walls, and boxes that maintain it.

And the contextual meaning of "chaos" is not the organic unity that chaos in the fractal worldview refers to, but instead is the absolute refusal of organic unity. In this verse, the "chaos" is the staleness and undeviating courses set by rigid thinking and deferrence of genius to arbitrarily established standards.

Peace,
P

[seattlegal]

Originally Posted by Sunny C.

Talk to me about that last line. What does it mean?

Empty ritual is idolatry. It leads to confusion, which leads to lawless behavior, which leads to the need for the necessary evil of government.

(I would say that looking at what went on during the Qin Dynasty of China demonstrates this. Read the previous lines in a reverse order in the light of the ones you quoted:)

The moral man does something,
and when no one responds
he rolls up his sleeves and uses force.

The just man does something,
and leaves many things to be done.

The kind man does something,
yet something remains undone.

This is the chaos spoken of, summarized by the next line in reverse order:

The ordinary man is always doing things,
yet many more are left to be done.

Why?

The ordinary man keeps reaching for power;
thus he never has enough.

Compare this to the the Tao master:

The Master does nothing,
yet he leaves nothing undone.

The Master doesn't try to be powerful;
thus he is truly powerful.

This is the balance.

[Sunny C.]

When the Tao is lost, there is goodness.
When goodness is lost, there is morality.
When morality is lost, there is ritual.
Ritual is the husk of true faith,
the beginning of chaos.

This sounds to me like moving outward in the onion's layers. At the core is Tao, and then everything gets courser on the way out with ritual being the brown husk. Perhaps ritual holds it all together, or perhaps it's the last stop before utter meaninglessness.

[lunamoth]

Quote:
When the Tao is lost, there is goodness.
When goodness is lost, there is morality.
When morality is lost, there is ritual.
Ritual is the husk of true faith,
the beginning of chaos.

Originally Posted by Sunny C.

This sounds to me like moving outward in the onion's layers. At the core is Tao, and then everything gets courser on the way out with ritual being the brown husk. Perhaps ritual holds it all together, or perhaps it's the last stop before utter meaninglessness.

I know that the Tao that you can name is not the eternal Tao, but one way I look at this one is to replace Love for Tao. Love, in my world anyway, transcends morality. Why do you call me 'good?' Only the Father in heaven is good. We can't really 'do' morality well because it means you've already lost Love (the Way of the Garden) and moved on to judging good and evil (the way out of the Garden). Ritual, I agree with whoever above said it, the empty gesture, you do it because it's always been done, but at least it is a whisper, a shadow, of the long-lost Love.

And at the end we see (if the translation is good), that we've been talking about trust, true faith, all along.

First you trust.
Then you trust because you judge it is the right thing to do.
Then you trust because you are supposed to.
Then you trust because you always have.
Then you no longer trust.

[seattlegal]

Originally Posted by Sunny C.

This sounds to me like moving outward in the onion's layers. At the core is Tao, and then everything gets courser on the way out with ritual being the brown husk. Perhaps ritual holds it all together, or perhaps it's the last stop before utter meaninglessness.

The "outer fringe" spoken of in Tao Te Ching 1?

[Sunny C.]

The Tao that can be trodden is not the enduring and
unchanging Tao. The name that can be named is not the enduring and
unchanging name.

(Conceived of as) having no name, it is the Originator of heaven
and earth; (conceived of as) having a name, it is the Mother of all
things.

Always without desire we must be found,
If its deep mystery we would sound;
But if desire always within us be,
Its outer fringe is all that we shall see.

Under these two aspects, it is really the same; but as development
takes place, it receives the different names. Together we call them
the Mystery. Where the Mystery is the deepest is the gate of all that
is subtle and wonderful.

Two ways to look at it: named and unnamed. Left brain - right brain. But to desire it means all one sees is the husk of ritual. Hmmm...that makes sense!

[Pathless]

And I am finally starting to really dig into the Anarchy! anthology that I spoke of earlier in this thread. This stuff is really turning me on--you know, in an intellectual, creative way--and my imaginative mind keeps going, "Yes! Yes! Yes!" as I read the words of articles published in Mother Earth magazine 100 years ago now.

In the United States, the form of government is insidious. Labeled democracy, it guarantees certain conveniences, but as time passes, we grow more complacent. Do conveniences make men and women free?

Voltairine de Cleyre, native of the midwest United States, lays it out thusly in her 1909 essay entitled Anarchism and the American Tradition: "There is not upon the face of the earth today a government so utterly and shamelessly corrupt as that of the United States of America. There are others more cruel, more tyrannical, more devastating; there is none so utterly venal."

In a quick flash back/forward to today's headlines, watching John Kerry drone on like a zombie while the "spoiled child" whose question he is answering is tasered by authority figures in police uniforms really drives it home for me. Where is our freedom of speech, and what is it worth if, in the sheltered auditoriums of institutions of higher education, boisterous kids are not allowed to challenge and debate the legislative representatives of the government which is ostensibly "for the people, by the people, and of the people"...? Really, what is the freakin' point of a constitution of liberties if when one gets up to speak one's mind at a public assembly, one is forcibly removed, arrested, and jolted with between 20,000 and 150,000 volts of electricity?

We live in a sham, a farcical society of freedom. Willingly and knowingly we turn our heads away from our realities, taking comfort where we may find it: commodities, religion, television, sex, family. We are only half-alive, and justify our stifled existences with lengthy theories and historical lessons. Our children are grist for an economic system that reaps injustice throughout the world and yields unsatisfying stimulations and titillations in our own lives at home in our "civilization."

My dissapointment in the ongoing ignorance of the sacredness of human life, the wasted potential, continues. Yet I am more hopeful and joyful now than I have ever been. Knowing what is valuable, what human life could be, I am happy to be discontent. I'd be much happier if the reasons for discontent were gone, and we lived in cooperative societies rather than in this continued farcical, injust competition of greed, consumerism, and war; but I am content, not to fight, but to create, and to spread the word...

The real revolution is love.



Peace,
Pathless

[Ciel]

Pathless,

I dig your anarchy too........
I dig the voice of personal freedom.
I dig the voice coming through without bitterness, able to still put love above all things.........

I've been feeling as though held in some strange time lock, your words of anarchy lighten...... I want to break through the chains of command of the subordinate consciousness prevailant through past structures of the status quo. I desire and it feels good to desire.

Maybe I've lived too long with angels with a habit of lulling life to non existence to conform to their vision. As a human being and member of planet earth I declare my own vision in creativity of a world moving forward without the hypocrisy. Viva la revolution. Grow the love and real care. Ascend...........

- c -

[Pathless]

-c-, now that is good to hear!

Viva la revolucion, indeed.



Peace.

As a side note,

Originally Posted by ciel

Maybe I've lived too long with angels with a habit of lulling life to non existence to conform to their vision.

Yes. I think this is a sad commentary on the complacency of many immersed in the self-help and New Age movements. (not that I am implying that such a simplification applies to you, or anyone; it is something, however, for all of us interested in our own "consciousness raising" and "self-actualization" to be wary of. We all must guard against self-delusion and comfortable lethargy).

Move On,
Pathless