You may remember way back in October I wrote that I was working on a Manifesto. This was being driven from a recognition that the New Normal was, really, a new operating paradigm, not just something a blip in the general operational patterns of society and that even if society was going to push to go back to "normal", I could not.
Since then, I have been working away on this. I wrote, and pondering, and wrote, and pondered some more. I let it set, and pondered even more.
And then I finally let it set for a while and looked at it again.
What I realized I had constructed a fairly tome-like, dense written piece that would no more inspire myself than anyone else I knew. My ability to generate turgid prose, it seemed, knew no limits. I was in danger of doing what so many others I have read had done, create a manifesto that was completely useless.
So I blew everything up and started over.
What is below is the outcome of that entire process of writing, tearing it down, and writing again. I present it with two caveats:
a) The order of the items of the manifesto (beyond the first point) is not intended to represent an order of priority or preference. They are all important.
b) Like all manifestos (or at least the ones that work), these are intended as goals to be achieved, not iron laws to be obeyed. I - and anyone interested - should feel the right to modify as needed.
Manifesto
As I am a Christian and as such will continue in my Christian beliefs and expect myself to live in the confines of orthodox Biblical Christianity, seeking like minded believers.
As I am an adult responsible for providing for myself, I will live, invest, and save in the expectation that no-one can or should support me.
As the power to tax is the power to destroy, I will do everything in my power to legally minimize the amount of taxes that I have to pay.
As the growth of government is the growth of the ability to control the individual and impede freedom, I will do all I legally can to slow or deny this growth.
As physical fitness enables all other aspects of life, I will do all in my power to maintain my body in as healthy and strong a state as I can.
As privacy is the ability to live one’s life free from interference and oversight, I will do all in my power to eschew public and social media attention.
As money is the ability to act in an economic world, I will buy only that which is needed and planned for, buy used before new where sensible and possible, and seek to use, reuse, and extend the life of all items I own as long as possible.
As independence from the cash and debt based economic system is the ability to act freely, I will seek minimize my needs and to provide as much of them as is possible.
As we have become a society which values number of contacts over the depth of those contacts and has given those contacts the right to judge the individual, I will seek to narrow my relationships to like minded individuals with whom I share an active, ongoing involvement instead those based on a distant, social media relationship or those who feel even a vague acquaintance gives them the right to judge my fitness to participate in society.
As as student of Iaijutsu, I will seek to continue to train my body and my mind to live in harmony with the precepts of my art, seeking the enlightenment that comes from truly understanding the heart of its teachings.
This is good stuff as usual TB. You’ve got all the good stuff: self sufficiency, independence, faith, budgetary, planning, etc. All are cracking good goals.
ReplyDeleteWhat about happiness?
Glen - Interestingly, I was think of this yesterday as well. I do not know if manifesto goes in a manifesto - should it? I wonder. That said, one thing that did come to mind is I need to come up with some kind of metric to track at least doing things that make me happy. I need to ponder this more.
DeleteI think you should invest your vast fortune and considerable leisure time into cheese, bees and peas!😊👍
DeleteCheese and bees? Yes! Peas? Maybe not so much. Legumes? Black eyed peas grow far better here.
DeleteThat is a very interesting exercise. I will ponder on your list.
ReplyDeleteSTxAR, if you think of anything, let me know. I am interested in feedback on this.
DeleteRolling back over this, and thinking, too, of Glen's observation.... I think happiness isn't a problem. As the tangential contacts fade and fall off, there will be an increase of time and attention by and to those that you are vested in. I know there are few places I comment, even though I read widely. And a reply on a couple is like a jackpot.
DeleteHappiness is a happening. Now, joy, joy is like coffee... it comes out of the nature of the bean. Joy comes out of people, through hard or easy times, because it is IN them.
I figure you have a really good list. And I aim to shamelessly "borrow" it and give you all the credit. It is an excellent "business plan". At least for the business of living as a free man.
And those ideas about spending, saving, taxes and growth of the .gov....RIGHT ON THE MONEY!!
I don't do Kung Fu anymore.... (Praying Mantis / 7 Star), but my skill at arms (walking stick, pike, and "other, not stated", has waned a bit. Time to pick up the pace. Don't want to ride drag unless I have to.
Thanks STxAR. Borrow away!
DeleteI do understand what Glen is trying to say: that if we do not intentionally plan to do something that brings us happiness it will not happen (as will anything else left to chance).
I like your visualization of joy. That is a very good way to look at it.
It is not a bad time to pick up whatever martial art you can. My art does include a polearm and "open hand" basics, but I need to expand my repertoire as well. Never too old or late to learn!
Perhaps call it a declaration, or mission statement, instead of a manifesto?
ReplyDeleteCame across your blog yesterday via Filthie's blog.
Hi Papa! Thanks for stopping by and thanks for commenting.
DeleteIt could be any of those, of course. My thinking was along Francis Schaeffer's A Christian Manifesto. Technically, per Merriam-Webster, a manifesto is "“a published declaration of the intention, motives or views of an individual, group, political party, or government” - so it does encompass all of what you have said.
Perhaps it comes down to - just for me - the feeling that I need to make my goals clear to myself in a more formal fashion.