The Free Individual Remains

By Chris Rossini

Liberty, freedom, and free will are the natural and built-in condition of each human  individual.

Ironically, throughout human history (and up to the present day) people have been trying to shake themselves loose of their natural freedom. They'd rather others choose, decide and dictate everything to them. Unsurprisingly, there is never a shortage of others who want to play the role of dictator.

Over and over the error is repeated. Big Governments come and go. Tyrannies come and go. Empires come and go.

And every time, when the dust settles, everyone is forced to go back to start: The free individual.

The free individual has survived monarchies, and republics, and democracies, and military dictatorships, and oligopolies, and kleptocracies, and socialism, and communism, and cronyism.

The free individual survives it all.

So if we've discovered all the ways that free individuals are not meant to live, and have repeated them over and over, how exactly should free individuals live together in harmony?

Well, let's look at a rough analogy.

Let's compare something like electricity to free will.

Electromagnetic fields are present everywhere in the universe. So electrical energy can be generated and distributed by individuals here in the United States, as well as across the Earth by individuals in any other nation.

But the prime factor with electrical energy is how it is distributed.

Electricity can be used for beneficial reasons, like lighting up an entire city, or it can be used for harm, like burning down that very same city.

Electrical energy itself is neutral. It is neither good, nor bad. 

Each individual that harnesses this energy decides how it will be distributed. If it's distributed for good, the number of specific uses is limited only by the imagination. Electricity can power a lamp, or a TV, or a coffee maker, or countless other things. On the other hand, if electricity is distributed in harmful ways, lives and property can be destroyed.

Same energy...different distribution and different results.

It would be rather odd if people were always fixated on abolishing electrical energy because it can be used for harm, wouldn't it?

Wouldn't it be strange if, century after century, people always came up with schemes and plans to get rid of it?

The schemes would always fail, of course, and electromagnetic fields would continue to exist across the universe, waiting for distribution.

Free will works in a similar way.

Free will is a natural part of every individual, and each individual must choose how his or her free will is to be 'distributed,' so to speak.

We know all the harmful ways that it can be 'distributed,' so there's no need to go over them all. Obviously, war is the most harmful. Lying, cheating and stealing come to mind as well.

It's extremely easy to spot all the harmful ways because they boil down to the use of aggressive force of one individual against another. Using force against others is equivalent to using electricity to burn everything down. 

Harmony between individuals rests on non-aggression and voluntary interactions.

Live and let live.

Hands off.

Free will belongs to us AND our neighbors.

The moment that aggressive force is introduced, the fire begins. Over time, the fire turns into a raging inferno.

Big governments and Empires are nothing but raging infernos. They're wars of all against all, a massive combat of attempting to live at the expense of everyone else.

Big governments and Empires are signals that people have messed up, big time! They've taken the wrong road.

Fortunately, the wrong road always ends. It always leads to a dead end.

Then it's back to start once again...an opportunity to 'distribute' free will in ways that don't lead to raging infernos.

When free will is 'distributed' in non-aggressive and voluntary ways, the specific uses are limited only by the imagination. Entire societies can come together and they don't rest on a house of cards, or a mountain of lies. They can thrive on a solid foundation.

The free individual is finally exists in harmony with his own nature.

The free individual finally gets to really, and truly, live.