The Individual and s/he choices-past, present, future

I have shifted a discussion about the individual and the society individuals create to this topic so we can continue to discuss and dialogue this important topic.

Just to give some qualifiers (which I think are important although others may not), my entire life has been devoted both as an avocation and a vocation to grasping the facts about our species and the circumstance within which we find ourselves.

My first question in life was "What am I?" followed closely by "And, how does this 'I' work?" I never have been much interested in "why" questions because they are usually dead ends and the human brain has a habit of creating an answer to "why" and being totally satisfied by that answer whether it is true or not. I want to know what is true—what are the facts of reality, that is, to the extent we can know at this point in our history.

Recently, it was requested by a variety of people that I talk about, "How I came to think the way I do" -- not WHAT I think but rather how I came by the mechanics of how I think.

I decided that I would attempt such a group of essays. I will not go into any of this here except to say that I believe it a healthy exercise for anyone and everyone to examine HOW they have to think as they do—literally, what shaped their thought process. If you are anything like me, you will find that it takes a while to clarify the key incidents in life that formed the underlying persistent mechanisms that drive the looms of your perceptions and subsequent thoughts. (To be as accurate and effective as possible, our introspection should also included the objective and purely physical facts of our individual genetic blueprint in areas of intelligences, temperament, base personality traits, natural abilities which form latent tendencies and talents--we are just beginning to discover how to detect and measure and then utilize these! We are truly a species with a finite group of general charcteristics with an infinite set of possible combinations all influenced by individual experience.)

First of all, I would like to qualify my own remarks in this manner: I have never been as interested in popular culture or so-called current events as others. I am not interested in swimming around in the froth at the top, so to speak, for that is not my calling. Rather I am interested in--deeply, passionately, undividedly, even doggedly interested in-- the underlying workings of what I call affectionately, The Thing That Is, the universe from which we are inseparably a part. My brain works primarily as a synthesizer; my ability at analysis is less and so I often rely on others' (who meet my "trust metrics") whose strength IS analysis to supply that sort of thinking at the appropriate moment.

It took me a very long time to understand that there is always an inexerable, uncompromising 'order to things', as I term it. To get to the root of the situation and resolve it permanently, we must understand and accept the reality of that order. I learned the hard way about the order of things because my personality (and you will have to take my word for it) has been called irrepressible, a component of which is LARGE impatient--a barrier to success with which I have always to deal. Too often, I have suffered from leaping over and ahead of intervening steps; of being in ignorance of what those steps were. “Do overs” have comprised a lot of my life. My head banging scars are myriad.

I notice that a recurring comment on this message board and on the conservative board is that libertarian ideas are somehow naive about "human nature." I believe this to be untrue. Libertarian ideas are more reflective of the realities of human nature and less reflective of the realities of human behavior. Too many confuse the two, again not really understanding either the 'order of things' or what is under our human control and what is not.

My own thinking (regrettably thinking is not a spectator sport or I should be immortalized *she guffaws into her coffee cup*), bolstered by endless research past, present, and future, is best at a structural level where things get built...I feel at ease and at peace (a sure sign it is a strength) when I am operating at the art and engineering deeps of energy and matter. The simple fact that we invented concrete and steel; that we figured out how to drill a well through lava to artesian lakes far below the surface of a desert; that the human mind and then body was set free by movable type; that several of us at any given time about any given thing had/have/will have the courage and fortitude to face our Unknown and leap into it with panache--offsets for me the fact that we are a young species, unsure of ourselves...we are mere adolescents and act as such. Mistakes compound and mistakes in belief even more so. Reality is nothing if not uncompromising and we either learn what it is and how it works, or we fail at a variety of activities until we do.

Do any of you realize, as I do, how much of human history has been created by teenagers and those under the age of 25 (when recent research proves that the frontal lobes are finally fully formed)? The most momentous change in our circumstances is the fact that we have prolonged the productive lives of so many giving ourselves for the first time in history more of a view of what our lifeform actually is—that is, what the mature phase of our lifeform really is. So much is obvious about our lifeform that we consistently ignore—both religionists and scientists. *she tears at her hair and bangs a fist on the desk*

I notice that some here say that I personally represent libertarian views as "rosy." Firstly, to set the record straight, I believe each one of us is "born to know" -- literally, we are physically born to know this universe, how it operates as our Circumstance and how we operate within that Circumstance (from which we never 'escape'.) Our first task is to learn how to be a human, how to operate ourselves so we can we useful to ourselves. At that point, we can begin to discern and decide which philosophies--economic, political, educational, social, ad naseum, fit with what we, individually know to be true...not the other way round.

Frankly, we do not educate our young this way…to learn what they are, and how “they” operate. They do not learn what our species is as an organic lifeform and what its general requirements are for surviving, let along thriving. In any education, learning requires an order so that expertise can be built. The first order of business for humans is to grow their bodies, which includes their brains. Children are at an extreme disadvantage because of their size, weakness, and lack of experience/knowledge/skill. If we care for them at all, we as adults must first protect them physically…in this modern world we cannot even manage that! Not with all the government regulations, statues, laws, and even punishments do we manage that!!!

Most of the negative, violent behaviors we see in the world of any kind stem from fear. Now, we do not on the whole deal with the topic of personal fear very often as a motivator for behaviors--both individual and collective, and yet, there is is. Without a human education, without learning what and how our physical selves and the component parts work and what application of said learnings are advisable and the appropriate environment for their flourishing, then we will continue to create, support, excuse, and even advocate worldwide cultures, (and their sustaining institutions) that are based in and controlled by personal fear. And, it is fear that begets acts of violence.

If you have gotten this far, I commend you!

This has been moved from the "Individuals and Society" message board as requested. For those who must know my transgression, you'll have to dig up the history there. I'll try to respond to the first post by haylan at a later time.

Eurydice,

Thank you for the compliment and the reprimand. I actually was looking for an excuse to use "totalitarianistic" in a sentence and Lunapilot gave me perfect opportunity. I shall received my 40 lashes with humility. "Thank you sir (ma'am). May I have another?"

Back to haylan's original thoughts. I am very much interested in how libertarianism views the individual vs. the group. In fact, Until I read haylan, it never occured to me how foundational individual vs. group dynamics are to the differences between political philosophies. (Facing one's ignorance is worse punishment than the 40 lashes.)

But I still think that I would like some clarification about how libertarianism thinks of the Federal Government. If I read the post correctly, I don't see much of a role for any type of permanent alliance as advocated by haylan/libertarianism. Is this right?

I thoroughly enjoyed the passion with which you painted your vision of a future based on individual creativity. And I will agree that individual creativity has been stifled by groupthink. But I would argue that the stifling is more proof of the brokenness, "original sin" of the individual. First comes the desperate need that we have for acceptance by others, even at the expense of our own success. Our schools are providing a dramatic, if tragic, example of this now. Kids cut back on their own academic success in order to be accepted by others. I agree that the ideal is that we take our own abilities, whatever they are, and maximize them without reference to others. "They were naked and unashamed". But immediately after the "fall", what happened? They made skirts to cover their, uh, differences. This problem goes back to time immemorial.

The other side of the equation is the leveling that we inevitably practice towards those different from us. If they excel, we cut them at the knees. If they disagree with us, we attack their person, not their ideas. The subtle peer pressure is to conform. It is a weaker form of the psychological manipulation used by cults. "If you disagree, we will reject you. If you agree, we will overdose you with love. We know this works because we know how deeply you require the approval of others."

I believe (and I would argue that this is the position of conservatism vs. libertarianism) that this requires the role of government in our lives. In our more lucid moments, we all agree that one should stand up for his rights and become the best he/she can be. We agree that the subjugation of others is morally wrong. Yet, we are rarely lucid. We are reactionary and provincial. We are peeved and put upon. And we all seem to have this inherent grasp of psychological control. So we fall back on it.

That is where authority is needed. We all agree on the rules for good behavior (the Tao), then we appoint/elect leaders and authority structures to remind us when we are not living up to our lofty ideals.

This message board is a microcosm. We the consituents, Eurydice the authority. Come back to the things you really believe in and let's go forward. Well put and well done.

The problem enters because authorities/governments are made up of people with the same foibles. That is the genius of the American Government: Check and balances. There must be an infinite recursion of power sharing in order for the system to work.

haylan is right. We are just discovering the capabilites of the individual in some very unique ways. But without authority that is well thought out and responsive to changing conditions, we shall never reach those capabilites.

I've got more, but this is a pretty big bite for now.

"But I still think that I would like some clarification about how libertarianism thinks of the Federal Government. If I read the post correctly, I don't see much of a role for any type of permanent alliance as advocated by haylan/libertarianism. Is this right?"

The Federal Government, like any government, is simply a criminal organization; it's just the biggest one there is. How does that relate to any kind of permanent alliance (for non-criminal purposes)? Libertarians have no problem with the latter (well, depends how you define "permanent", I suppose. If you really mean, that once entered into yuo can never get out, we would, but that's not really an "alliance", is it? It's more a form of slavery. Some Randians might not have a problem with that, though)

"That is where authority is needed. We all agree on the rules for good behavior (the Tao), then we appoint/elect leaders and authority structures to remind us when we are not living up to our lofty ideals."

Who is this "us" you speak of? You almost make it sound like a state is a voluntary institution.

BTW: http://www.anti-state.com/redford/redford4.html

What I like about this discussion is that it is in the hands of "the people."

Here is the crux of the matter (try this yourself), ask some people individually where does our freedom come from? Everyone I have asked has said, from "the government" or from "the Constitution." Most people have lost sight of the underlying belief that formed our country: namely, that there exists "Natural Law" and that we are born with inalienable (which means, "cannot be divided from") rights including but not restricted to.....

I even go so far as to ask people a couple of other questions: Where is your power located? And, what do you believe to be true?

Again, most people do not have a sense that they possess power within themselves (whereever you believe the motive power derives from); and they are not consciously aware of their own set of assumptions which are usually referred to as a "worldview." Moreover, they are unaware of the group of expectations they have formed out of these assumptions. And, yet these assumptions and expectations drive us all, and must be examined occasionally against real time occurances, and necessary adjustments made.

It is this lack of conscious awareness, let alone understanding, about the actual thought/beliefs that engendered our unique country and what generates its prosperity (that it allows for the power to reside in the individual and seeks to facilitate that power to generate prosperity to the benefit of all), which is driving the political direction of the country now. *sorry for the run on sentence*

As Roger Hedgecock said yesterday, "People are emotionally invested in being stupid...when they start to want the facts and reality and become emotionally invested in those we will have made some progress."

I believe that there is already order to the circumstances in which we all find ourselves. Further, I believe that when we discover, utilize, promote, and, yes, protect this order, these facts, REALITY in all its glory then we experience the results: prosperity, flourishing, and a bigger pie.

We are right now living in the best economy the world has ever created, which benefits untold billions of persons worldwide, and we are doing this with shackles on, chains on, and with entire portions of our species directly and actively opposed. One of my most enduring speculations is, what would and will happen when even more of the population is educated and focused on their own prosperity and the dynamics of prosperity (an exchange between equal values in the marketplace.)

I do not have much interest, I admit, in contributing to or supporting any act or form of, what I refer to as "species despise." My entire energy is given over to understanding the mechanics and mechanisms of "living a good life for a human being." It is as Nietzsche said, "Those who are dissatisfied will take it out on the rest of us." So, what does it take to be satisified? -- I believe this is knowable in the general, and doable in the particular.

It takes conscious awareness, though, which is our species' gift and our burden. In this universe, Truth is ever a two-edged sword--one of the tests of Truth.