Socrates was one INDIVIDUAL that dedicated his time and energy to the teaching of INDIVIDUALISM and the importance it plays in a healthy society in contrast to strict adherence to state policy and the unquestioned obedience, ignorance and lack of diversified thought that goes along with state indoctrination. Socrates was sentenced to death for teaching the youth of INDIVIDUALISM and other philosophy that many at the top of the power pyramid construed as belligerence and ignorance. In the end after his show trial, Socrates had no problem voluntarily swallowing the poison of hemlock not knowing if an afterlife existed, rather than intake the poison of strict adherence to unquestioned state philosophy which is the cause and enabler of most atrocities this world has ever seen, not to mention the mass ignorance that perpetuates most of humanity through successive generations adhering to government cultural indoctrination protocol while not even being cognizant it is being unleashed upon them. Makes one wonder if strict adherence to government diktat is something that has been bred into some of the population?
INDIVIDUALISM, in a great part, is the understanding and ability to take full control of ones life and along with it accepting full accountability and responsibility for all of ones actions and choices, not blaming anyone or anything for the position you find yourself in life and to be a productive, contributing member of society and having the ability and mental wherewithal to find flaw in oneself and more importantly see the errs and duplicitous construct of all government systems, and just as critically not want to take things or have government take things from others in the fallacy that things will just be given to you because a sophist in a non deserved, freedom and liberty stealing symbolic position of power has been lying to you since you were old enough to listen. Such a state policy is that of giving a morsel mentally and monetarily to just enable basic function which allows the “givers” and exploiters in power to continue the cycle of ignorance by creating captive dependants. It is necessary to understand that people are born with equal rights and not equal abilities and that there is extreme inequality in human systems, just as the universe, and our systems are part of the universe so inequality will never be vanquished. However, if you create enough INDIVIDUALS through enlightenment the world is bound to be better for all as the captor-captive relationship is slowly dismantled, as anyone who has reached such enlightenment wants no part of the false construct of political masters and would suffer immensely to achieve said outcome of deconstruction.
True INDIVIDUALISM has nothing whatsoever to do with greed or selfishness nor excluding others, it is about the extolment of teaching such virtues once becoming aware of them. Perhaps it is the governments antithesis and hence definition of INDIVIDUALISM that is the problem, not the true construct of INDIVIDUALISM. When enough INDIVIDUALISM appears, the state power and dominance structure has no choice but to wane. And in no way does the dictionary term of individual even come close to the philosophical principle and true and ultimate incarnation of INDIVIDUALISM. There may very well be billions of dictionary term “individuals” that can not even grasp the concept and construct of true INDIVIDUALISM.
Industrialized government education systems and structures for the most are an indoctrination camp for creating a captive society and teaching one what to think over how to think and perpetuate ignorance over enlightenment and in reality, prepare most to become the grease in the mechanism over a vital component in a harmoniously balanced highly complex machine. Government and their systems in no way teach or prepare one for how the universe and therefore the human systems that are part and parcel of the universe function and the cause and effect that go along with such a dynamic universal system. Unfortunately, most in life are unable to escape the parameters that their captors(government systems) have set for them to interact and participate within, thus perpetually being part of the negative feedback loop and never creating enough true INDIVIDUALISM to reach the necessary escape velocity of true enlightenment.
If you teach everyone is equal and are entitled you are setting one up to become a victim of society. Everyone has a part to play and it is the duty of anyone that becomes monetarily or mentally rich to share their ideas and to a certain degree, on occasion, their wealth for charitable purposes to those less fortunate and to build what should be an ever growing and highly functioning and updating education system where the importance of the state constantly diminishes and eventually all that the system produces is fully enlightened and universal beings living free of all borders, especially geographical borders, which are one of the main constructs of government systems trapping and holding one captive within a predefined structure, whether a spatial enclosure or cognitive confine.
Basically, when enough fully enlightened INDIVIDUALS come together to work in unison the world’s largest problems for the most part should disappear, or perhaps more fairly, would be vastly reduced. Has this never happened because human nature has never changed, or has human nature never changed because government systems just constantly perpetuate the cycle of indoctrination and ignorance? A true necessity of education is to enlighten enough minds of this philosophy where life would be more self-regulating and ignorance and selfishness would greatly diminish. Again, most are not able to see past the structure of the system we currently have of domination from the top as it is beaten into the brain from day one of existence, or more likely is even begun while still in the womb as ones senses are even exposed to stimulus, negative and positive, while in the state of gestation.
Adam Smith was another man who understood the benefit of INDIVIDUALISM, self-reliance, self-dependance and the importance it plays in creating variety, ingenuity and thus diversity which is a key determinant of a well-functioning healthy environment and human ecosystem. As opposed to Karl Marx’s philosophy of mass adherence and all must be grouped together and told what to do by the “special” people at the top, which supports an unhealthy and sickly monoculture. It is Smith’s free will as opposed to Marx’s authoritarianism and being told what to do and blindly following for the benefit of those who are “wise” enough to know better than those dumb enough who just have to follow the diktat. Again, free will and choice over being told what to do by a pseudo intellectual or truly unwise academic. It may have been Aristotle who said something along the lines of, “a life of learning in no way leads at all to understanding.”
A fair question: why has wealth inequality grown larger with the construct of ever growing government? If government were to take all the money of societies richest people out of equality for all, the coffers would be depleted very soon, poverty levels would never change and everyone in government would own extravagant things and you and I would still be paying an immoral and psychologically dominating income tax in order for politicians and bureaucrats to collect an even more sickly wage and subsequent pension.
You might not want to hear it, but wealthy people are a necessary part of a healthy and diversified system. If it were not for successful wealthy people many others would not have a job and means to support themselves or family. Just think of many things in life that you enjoy or use. Do you drive a car, like yoga pants, perhaps love reading novels, use a refrigerator, enjoy shooting sports, have an affinity for professional sports or collect art or other inanimate objects etc..? Well every single thing that there is was invented by or owned by someone who took many risks and developed ingenuity and were rewarded for doing so and in the process millions and billions of other people have been employed by the actions of many single INDIVIDUALS. Your beef should not be with “rich people” but with government for legalized involuntary theft of a great portion of your money through an immoral income tax, which does not leave you with enough to be more independent and prosperous. The extremely wealthy only become a problem for society when they use their money to buy off the press for good publicity and to purchase politicians through lobbying, bribes and then hide their many billions in “philanthropic” foundations to avoid all taxes and claim to make society better through their bought and paid for public image. A good example of a pretend philanthropist and bought and paid for image is the American computer magnate that named his company after the characteristic of his genitalia, the analogy of which is, tiny and flaccid! And no, I am in no way rich or super successful, in fact I rent and do not even own a place to live. However I am content with carving out my living through honest hard work.
Those unable to look after themselves need to be taken care of through charity by a society of enlightened INDIVIDUALS that have obtained success, not through forced extraction and wanton theft and misappropriation of said funds through forced income tax starting on and including the poorest and most vulnerable members of society. Yes, taxation is necessary to a certain threshold but it has to be through choice from something along the lines of a consumption tax. Even religious scripture gets into the morality of not coveting thy neighbour’s things and the limit of a tithe, or tenth of proceeds given to support an equitable system. There is nothing equitable or democratic about having 30%+ of your hard work taken from you and then not even having a say on what it is spent on.
Socrates and Smith are not government constructs that force unquestioned obedience upon anybody for any reason whatsoever. They teach to be unbiased except against ignorance, to engage in objective thinking and act in the self-interest of oneself, the true INDIVIDUAL. When done correctly in an enlightened manner it has a much greater effect on creating a more just society than forced group think. Socrates and Smith’s philosophy is to behave in an intelligent manner and not forcing anything upon anyone else for the benefit of the privileged few at the top of the power food chain. When you have a truly objective mind you are full of compassion, goodness and all other positive attributes.The necessity is to enlighten enough minds of this philosophy where life would be more self-regulating and ignorance and selfishness would greatly diminish.
Four of societies greatest crimes and injustices of slavery, racist indoctrination, war and genocide have ZERO to do with a true INDIVIDUALS behaviour as no true INDIVIDUAL would ever agree to take part, actually preferring death to participation in such disgusting atrocities. Such acts are in fact the trappings of government systems and government induced nihilism that was normalized and beaten into the brain of captives starting from day one of their life. Nobody should EVER want to take or inflict anything on anybody or anything else. Everyone should treat all the way they would like to be treated unless of course they are caused physical harm to, or to a loved one, at which point an INDIVIDUAL would have no problem acting in self-defence. Anyone who wants to take anything from anyone is in the wrong. If you do not want to work hard to accomplish an attainable goal with the abilities you were given one must be willing to accept charity for their journey through life. No government nor any sort of divine force greater than government will EVER make our planet and its systems, let alone the universe and its systems equal in nature. Anyone unable to grasp this fact does not exist in the realm of an objective reality and therefore dwells in the existence of fantasy and a delusional reality which could only be achieved by having a closed mind.
Many go through life oblivious to most that is truly happening around them and what has happened in the thousands of years of recorded human history. If one consumes enough knowledge and experiences enough beneficial stimuli their cognitive function has no choice but to be elevated to a higher level of understanding, and enough understanding can only lead one down the path of true INDIVIDUALISM. The fair question should be: is it possible to throw the current industrial education/indoctrination system onto the rubbish heap of history where it belongs and usher in a new era of true education that enlightens humanity past the threshold of ignorance and into true knowledge, experience and elevated universal understanding?
CR