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Think “Anarchy”. What does it conjure for you? What images come to mind? How does the idea of anarchy make you feel? Introspect for a while with your initial thoughts and feelings about anarchy. Make a mental note of associated words and ideas that come to mind.
Anarchy is a concept that has endured many decades of relentless propaganda. Perhaps because it describes an end game, where men have reached a level of competence and maturity such that there is no need for government because self-governance has become the norm.
Fearing anarchy is arguably one of the most entrenched “duff steers” within the Matrix for the very reason that it potentially speaks of the solution – if you understand its true nature. Anarchy is the consequence of widespread personal sovereignty, which is in turn achieved because acting according to rational self-interest dominates human behaviour, and when it is widely grasped that using force is not in one’s rational self-interest, except in self defence.
inside or outside the Matrix?
Due to the ongoing misrepresentation and propaganda the thought of ‘Anarchy’ usually illicits fear. It conjures images of violence, disruption and chaos. Street mobs and riots perhaps, broken windows and people throwing petrol bombs at police barricades. We imagine a break down of law and order, looting, and the ‘normality’ of life being threatened. Anarchy is percieved as a security threat to the status quo, and its contemplation equated with looking over the edge of an abyss into a scary unknown.
If you contemplated anarchy a moment ago and were filled with a dizzying sense of possibility. If you saw a bustling world of wealth creation and human flourishment. If you felt exhilaration at the prospect of freedom, then well done! I would say that you are well and truly outside the Matrix and have an accurate understanding of the concept.
To the extent that contemplating the word ‘Anarchy’ triggered in you any of the usual negative imagery and associated thoughts of trepidation, is the extent to which the propaganda and mind control have achieved their result in selling you a lie. Because in reality the only thing to fear about anarchy is having to think and make choices for ourselves – i.e. taking responsibility!
So what is anarchy, what does it look like?
Organisation through chaos
It is truly wonderful to see people take action independently and in accordance with their own judgement and self-interest, and as a result perfectly meet their own needs. People do this all the time, in choosing their careers, finding partners, deciding what clothes to wear what food to eat, where to go on holidays, what hobbies and interests to pursue! All this gets done with absolutely no imposed organisation. There is no need. Because at that level people are indeed sovereign. When they can be fully sovereign in knowledge and take full responsibility for themselves, there will similarly be no need for the state.
The free market is the perfect example of anarchy. Everyone making their own decisions without being organised or told what to do. The free market is an aggregation of individual decisions made through persuasion and negotiation for mutual profit.
This is the essence of Anarchy. No external imposition, no force or political violence. But it leaves everyone thrown onto their own resources. It is everyone managing their lives and doing as they please, without (of course) impinging upon anyone else’s interests, provided they are competent to do so. Anarchy can work, provided people are up to it. It is what happens when people pursue their own rational self-interest without coercion or the use of force. We all know that force is no way to solve social problems, anarchy is what happens when force is no longer necessary.
Anarchy doesn’t mean no rules
Many people falsely associate anarchy with an absence of rules. This inevitably reinforces the fears of a break down of order. On the contrary, anarchy means respect for the mother of all rules – the non-aggression principle. Anarchy is the absence of rulers, not the absence of rules. It is people organising themselves in personal sovereignty around principles without the use of force.
If I invite a group of people round for dinner, I do not fear a food fight and a riot. I confidently expect people will ‘agree’ to abide by an implicit set of rules for the conduct of the meal. No one will throw food or put their feet on the table, etc. There would not be a literal set of rules and no one would have to sign anything, yet order would prevail. If a respectful code of conduct has evolved around table etiquette (as well as too many other examples to list here) why do we fear that it could not possibly happen across society as a whole?
Anarchy doesn’t necessariy imply a lack of social order. Social order can be, and is, achieved through anarchy in many areas of our lives every day. yet order, peace, freedom and abundance are all entirely compatible with Anarchy.
So, how do you feel about Anarchy?
There is no need to fear anarchy if we are sovereign individuals who pursue knowledge and understanding to attain an accurate world view. This results in us being fully able to look after ourselves, without state hand outs or a government health service.
One of the classic arguments against anarchy goes like this…
‘You just can’t trust everyone to behave in the wider society. There are evil people out there who will not behave honourably and who will cheat and steal. We must protect ourselves against this minority by having a government.’
However, this is the most important reason to NOT have an institution of government that is handed the legal monopoly on the initiation of the use of force. It is precisely due to the small number of evil people who would wish to control and to steal and to cheat that a government must not exist. The ultimate tool of subjugation and violence cannot be created and given to those most likely to want to use it for evil.
I hope at the very least to have stimulated some thoughts and some questions about anarchy. Please feel free to join in the conversation and leave a comment below.
Nigel Howitt
Treehouse farm
September 2018
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