Defining Freedom: is it the opposite of absolute slavery?

With the intake of the next breath,

Society will once again morph.

The measurements of men -- childhood, puberty, anxiety, maturity;

reflect the social morphing of -- stone, metals, bureaucracy, information,

and the economic progressions of - scarcity, social pressure, regulation, abundance

To remain as we are is to stunt our societies like a human that never reaches beyond five years of capability -- but change is inevitable.

At best we can influence what is destined to follow.

Come,

let us grasp what is within our reach.

It will not be the final stage, only the next one,

But it's our path of increasing maturity we must pass through.

Are you listening?

Take the next breath.

Here are two models of social interaction.

In Brafman and Beckstrom's excellent book on the technology based trend toward leaderless organizations, The Starfish and The Spider, they refer to the regenerative powers of the starfish as opposed to the vulnerability of the spider's central structure. Cut up a starfish and you may end up having to contend with even more starfish generated from the parts. Cut apart a spider's central structure and the whole system dies.

What The Starfish and The Spider looks at as a dichotomy of available structures, I tend to view as a wave of history that is overtaking us. The coercive bureaucratic age is receding as a win-win-win impulse rushes to shore in a relationship based netcohort age.

At personal, family, and tribal levels there are negotiated relationships, give and take, between mostly equal parties. Voluntary acquiescence based on personal choice determines leadership at the local level. The results are not necessarily equal, but if wisdom is allowed to flourish and personal restraint permits flexibility, self actualization can occur for all.

Children in this environment may grow into equality as they show their abilities to relate to others and grow into skills and knowledge. Freedom here may relate to environment, roles may be more tightly cast when immediate survival requires set tasks. Children grow into current structures, seldom thinking that such methods of relating can be modified. Society is ready to grow up, to what models will it conform, will it even consider beneficial change?

In larger organizations the model has been hierarchy, power and benefits concentrated at the top, education and coercion used to force obedience within the organization. After the industrial revolution leaderless groups such as the Hanseatic League or Apaches were overcome by mechanical technology, democratic strictures, and centralized governments.

Mature adults relating to each other on the basis of social position, sometimes formally, frequently using visual behavior cues that denote class position. Usage of space, shoulders forward or back, eyes appraising or averted, assurance of speech, the smell of fear -- by these we define ourselves to others. A more enlightened approach is to evaluate based on potential available from interaction, how will we help each other? It is hard to set aside our primal drives, but a more abundant future depends on just such actions.

A social structure based on relationships, founded on opportunity, and mostly free of coercive controls is available, and even likely. The amount of time required to start the ball rolling in the right direction will be determined by how quickly we can use our authority to redirect appropriate power. Freedoms have been lost in small increments over a substantial period of time. To regain liberty we may have to establish a foundation for major change in a similar incremental fashion.

"It does not take a majority to prevail...but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men." - Samuel Adams

When major change does come, it will then seem immediate.

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Will YOUR life be based on what you want to use it to accomplish, or by random urges of what you want to do?

Every Crack In the Sidewalk

""Our knowledge is so limited, our abilities seem so inadequate, most people see themselves as small insects.

They cope by being serious about whatever crack in the sidewalk they were born into.

Ignoring limitless potential within a wondrous world, they cling to the security of their limited crack.

Crawl out of the crack, take a few steps down the sidewalk, then decide where you want to fly."
Allan R. Wallace


100% of direct income from my lenses goes to micro-finance solutions for world poverty provided by the Grameen Foundation. The Grameen Foundation is creating a rising tide of positive influence upon our world. Help decrease poverty, by enabling the poor to support themselves.

Leave paths that force you to walk in the wrong direction.