My father once asked me why I stopped at stop signs. Was it because I was afraid of getting in an accident or was it because I was afraid of getting a ticket? Such a simple question! But it accurately describes today’s social situation. I told him that neither reason was why I stopped at stop signs. I stop at stop signs because all drivers have collectively agreed to cooperate and follow the rules of the road for the general safety and well-being of everyone. I was not acting out of fear as my father suggested, but out of a sense of cooperative effort! I’m sure most other drivers feel the same way!
In looking out for our own self interests it often happens that what’s best for us is best for others as well and often what’s best for others is also best for myself. These are the times when collective agreement is appropriate and very self empowering. At these times a win-win situation exists for both the individual and for the collective. The point is that we don’t need to deny ourselves and surrender to some collective agreement that we are not in agreement with. The individual is much more powerful than one might suspect. But someone always needs to be the first to stand up against something that is unfair or outright harmful.
The individual can fight the collective to a standstill, but the individual can never win! This needs to be clearly understood. But there are times when it is appropriate for the individual to stand up against the unthinking mob and resist it. Sometimes a stalemate is the only solution available, but sometimes that is just what is needed.
Dualistic thinking needs to be replaced with more integrated thinking. It is common to believe that one must choose between materialism or spirituality because it is not believed possible to possess both. That defies personal experience. I know just as many spiritual people that are comfortably well off as I do greedy materialists that are also well-to-do. At the same time I know many spiritual people that are quite poor and I also know just as many non-spiritual people in poverty as well. There is something wrong with this entire concept of self renunciation where the spiritual person must renounce the things of the physical world and the materialist must renounce things of the spirit in order to amass riches in this world.
These are both stereotypes that are false and misleading! They are both traps where both types of people are required to sacrifice to some higher external goal, in one case to sacrifice things of the spirit to get worldly riches and in the other case to sacrifice physical desires for the salvation of the soul. Where’s the win-win situation? Do you see what’s happening? We are deliberately being led to believe that a win-win situation does not exist and cannot exist! We are deliberately being led to believe that one must choose between one or the other and that no compromise is possible.
There is always room for collective agreement!
Anarchistbanjo's World 