Do You Own Yourself?

Over the years, I've learned a few things. Some times I've learned the hard way. I guess the quote attributed to Robert A. Heinlein was right, "Human beings hardly ever learn from the experience of others. They learn; when they do, which isn't often, on their own, the hard way."

One of the things I've learned is you can't fool Mother Nature; you can't trifle with the laws of nature. That probably accounts for the "It's not nice to fool Mother Nature" commercial from too many years ago.

I consider myself to be in good company, however, for even our Founding Fathers made mention of "...the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God..." in their unanimous Declaration AKA The Declaration of Independence.

So, when it comes to thinking about a situation, I reflect on how nature handles things, and learn from her example. I'll be building more on that later.

Anyway, when someone else points out how nature handles things, I tend to pay attention. Like this quote I found while digging through my files:

"Observe the rest of nature: trees, birds, fish, plants, other mammals, bacteria, all stake out claims to space and sources of energy in the world, and will defend such claims against intruders, particularly members of their own species. This is not because they are mean-spirited or uncooperative: quite the contrary, many of us have discovered that cooperation is a great way of increasing the availability of the energy we need to live well. We have found out that, if we will respect the property claims of one another and work together, each of us can enjoy more property in our lives than if we try to function independently of one another. Such a discovery has
permitted us to create economic systems."

With a name like Freiheit (German for 'freedom'), I've had to think long and hard about what constitutes freedom. So, I've been storing articles and comments away for years intending to, at some point in time, try to clear away some of the confusion that I find in the world today. The quote above is taken from an 2002 article entitled Do You Own Yourself by Butler Schaffer that I "squirreled away" (pun intended) some time ago.

Another meaningful quote from his article is this:

"There is one person who can restore you to a state of self-ownership, however, and that person is you. To do so, you need only assert your claim, not as some empty gesture, but in full understanding of the existential meaning of such a claim, including the willingness to take full control of and responsibility for your life. While your claim will likely evoke cries of contempt from many, you may also find yourself energized by a life force that permeates all of nature; an élan vital that reminds us that life manifests itself only through individuals, and not as collective monstrosities; that life belongs to the living, not to the state or any other abstraction."

Now, don't go too far; I am leading up to something.