"Better than Cosmo! Others just recite facts, but I like your posts best because of the in-depth analysis."
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"Greg is a dapper gent, intelligent, and easy to hang with. He made me feel right at home in his film noir-esque lair. We talked at great length about books, influences (we both write), and on a broad range of topics that might cause one to raise an eye brow while pondering. He was great fun to roam the city with. I'm looking forward to another round of pursuing art exhibits and deep dialog over late night coffees the next time we cross paths."
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"Dude I hate to write you about this again but those nutrition tips you sent me were a fucking godsend. Anyway, I do appreciate ya... you're a good egg."
"Dear Mr. Greg: You are creative and amusing... two things I find irresistible. If I didn't live so far away, I'd go after you myself! Thanks for all the laughs."
"Hey thanks for all the stuff on girls and relationships. I was up reading last night for like 3 hours. We had an earthquake not too long ago here in California, but man, some of the stuff you wrote shook me more than the quake!"
"I have to say, you provided several hours of entertainment for me just now. It is a great thing to know there are other people with similarly twisted senses of humor and intelligence. Thank you very much Greg Thompson, and good luck with the woman of your dreams. Should you ever feel the need to entertain me again, please feel free to do so, I'll take it any way I can get it."
"He may not have the following like many of the guru's out there, but I'd bet my bottom dollar that Greg is one of the best copywriters in America today."
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"The best thing I like about your writing is how I feel the presence of your heart among the words. You say what you mean and do what you say. I admire the authenticity of your beliefs even though I don't always agree completely."« 7 Steps To Get Restful Sleep Every Night And Wake Up Feeling Refreshed | Home | Do You Think Money Is The Root of All Evil? »
What Does Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness Really Mean??
July 16, 2011
I’m sure that you, like me, were introduced to U.S. History and the Declaration of Independence in a very BORING way, probably by a very BORING teacher who droned on and on about the confusing language of dusty old documents written by a bunch of ugly guys who died long ago.
This sort of thing eventually led you to roll your eyes and zone out anytime someone started talking about things like “government”, “freedom” and all that stuff.
Don’t. Not this time.
You see, I used to be just like that. I used to not care about ideas of government, took any notion of freedom for granted and hated the very idea of politics and wanted to avoid it at all costs. That stuff was for “other people” to complain and bicker about while I just tried to get on with living life and having fun.
All of this began to change when I seriously got into business for myself and started to make my own money. And all of it permanently changed when I began to see with my own eyes how powerful these ideas are – how the right ideas can uplift you to the highest pleasures of your existence – or the wrong ones can utterly destroy your soul and will to live.
And even worse – there are people out there right now at this very moment, hard at work dedicating their time to ensure your soul is crushed and your will to live is numbed so you just don’t care anymore.
That, my reader, is evil.
I’ll do whatever I can to stop it. Not for your sake, but for mine. Because it makes me feel alive and happy to live surrounded by other other people who also feel alive and happy.
The whole thing starts with ONE IDEA: knowing (and understanding!) your rights.
FIRST AND FOREMOST… you have a right to your own life. Sounds simple at first but this means a whole lot of different things. The right to your own life is the only fundamental right – and all other rights are based on this one.
It means you have the right to do everything in your power to PRESERVE and ENJOY your life to the fullest extent. I’m sure you’ve heard many young women (and some guys too) say they want to “live life to the fullest” – it’s obvious people adore and want this idea in their lives…
…but how to do it? I mean, how do we ACTUALLY live our life to the fullest? By what means?
One answer (and this may sound strange at first, but listen carefully) : The right to Property.
Without property rights, none of your other rights are possible. We live in a world where each of us has to sustain our lives by our own effort. And if you do not have a right to the RESULTS of your own effort, then you have no means to sustain your life. A good example of this is owning your work. If you create something and do not own it, and someone else benefits from it, you are a slave. It’s also like if a skilled contractor came over to my house and installed a bathtub, and if I denied him ownership of his work and did not pay or reward him, he is a slave.
But don’t make this mistake: the right to property does NOT mean you have a right to a particular piece of property or some object. It is not a guarantee you will earn anything, but only a guarantee you will own it IF you earn it. This is the right to gain, keep, and dispose of material values.
The right to life also means you have the right to support yourself by your own work, AND MAKE AS MUCH OR AS LITTLE MONEY AS YOUR SKILL AND ABILITY WILL ALLOW. It does not mean other people will provide you with the necessities of life, but that no one can take away your ability to provide for yourself. You also can not be deprived of your life for the benefit of anyone else.
You have the right to liberty. Really, what does “freedom” actually mean? Freedom from what, exactly?
It’s simple. It is freedom from ANY kind of force. Freedom from any kind of rape. Freedom from being forced to do anything you did not AGREE to.
It does NOT mean freedom from your landlord, freedom from your employer, or freedom from laws of nature which do not provide us with automatic prosperity. It simply means freedom from being forced to do something at the threat of a gun or being thrown in jail.
Your knowledge, your ability to think and act on your thoughts do not happen automatically. You must CHOOSE to do these things and choose to do them well. And your survival as a human being absolutely DEMANDS that you are free to gain knowledge, think and act without interference from anyone else.
None of us are perfect. We make mistakes. That is why we must be free to agree or disagree with each other, to cooperate or pursue our own individual plans, all according to our own individual judgment.
If someone pointed a gun in your face and screamed “BUILD ME A HOUSE!! And I want it to be the most CREATIVE, AMAZING house EVER built or else I’ll BLOW YOUR BRAINS OUT!!”
This is impossible. Even if you’re a very skilled home builder, it would be impossible to do this. Your mind, a rational mind, does not work under force; it does not subordinate its grasp of reality to anyone’s orders, directives, or controls; it does not sacrifice its knowledge, its view of the truth, to anyone’s opinions, threats, wishes, plans, or “welfare.” Your mind may be hampered by others, it may be silenced, proscribed, imprisoned, or destroyed; BUT IT CANNOT BE FORCED; A GUN IS NOT AN ARGUMENT!!
ALL of our knowledge and achievements we have today – ALL of the things that allow us to live here in the United States and around the world better than kings did long ago (yes even the poor here in the U.S. can enjoy more luxury than the king of France did hundreds of years ago) – ALL of it has come from the dedicated work and integrity of FREE MINDS.
America’s abundance was not created by public sacrifices to “the common good,” but by the productive genius of free men who pursued their own personal interests and the making of their own private fortunes.
And this is so important because we owe our very survival to great minds… and our future survival DEPENDS on how free we allow great minds to roam and play right now. This isn’t dusty old history in some boring school textbook. This is HERE and NOW. Everything depends on our freedom.
Now don’t fall for this trick, either: some people will try to fool you and say that we are not “truly” free because we have no right to murder. They go on to say that since we can not kill, freedom is not determined by right, but by whatever society says we are free to do.
But this is silly and ridiculous. It is not society that forbids killing, but the other person’s right to their own life. So goes the saying “you are free to do anything you want as long as it doesn’t infringe on the rights of someone else.” Within your own rights, your freedom is absolute.
You have the right to the pursuit of happiness. This is SO IMPORTANT – the pursuit of happiness means your right to LIVE FOR YOURSELF and choose what private, personal, individual happiness means to you… And then have the freedom toward achieving it. Different things make different people happy. There is no one-size-fits-all life and our Founding Fathers knew it. We are all happiest and most creatively productive when we are let loose to run free with our minds and abilities.
This is no guarantee you will achieve happiness. No one can guarantee you that. But you can be allowed the freedom to decide what happiness means to you and go after it with all your might. If you’re wrong, you can change and go do something else. If you’re right, the world will be your oyster.
Where do your rights come from?
It’s not a law, or president, or king or society that gives us our rights. Rights don’t come from anywhere, they just ARE. You and I are human beings and our rights are required by conditions of our existence for our survival on this planet. If we are to live here, together, it is right for you to be free to use your mind, to act on your own free judgment, and to work for your values and keep the product of your work.
If living a happy life on this planet is your goal, then you have a right to live in this way. And any group, gang or government who tires to take these rights away from you is wrong. They are wrong and they are evil. They are against you living your life and must be stopped at all costs.
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Tags: ayn rand, declaration of independence, force, freedom, government, life, rights, thomas jeffersonTopics: Philosophy | 2 Comments »
I recently read a book by Howard Bloom called ‘The Lucifer Principle’. I think you recommended him to me a long time ago, but I only just now got around to reading his books. He shows that the entire story of society, and all life in general, is a story of competition. This includes competition between individuals within groups, groups vs other groups, and nations against other nations.
In a free society, we self-organize into super-organisms, where we fight for our ideas and ways of life. We work to spread our ideas, and as they spread, these networks of people become large super-neural networks, and individuals become much stronger and better off than they otherwise would be. And as these different groups, cultures, and individuals compete, some ideas prove themselves better than others, leading to a pecking order among individuals, groups, and nations.
When people try to get rid of competition, and want to abolish freedom for security, they’re messing with forces far beyond their comprehension. You can’t mess with freedom and not have serious consequences.
Our entire biological makeup is based around competition and freedom. Just look at the animal kingdom out of which we evolved. It’s all about competition, and through conflict new life and ideas emerge which are ever better, stronger, and more efficient.
What many people don’t understand is that most evils in this world are not black and white conflicts between good and evil; they’re conflicts between two separate goods, competing for the hearts and minds of men.
I like one point Bloom makes in his book: If you want to stay where you are in life, you have to run, and if you want to advance further ahead, you have to run even harder. You have to fight for everything you want in this life.
These conflicts can be scary, but there really isn’t any alternative. Ideas and different ways of life are often incompatible. Also, some people are more ambitious than others. As you said, we must give people the right to make their own decisions, think how they want to think, and fight for the life they want, always limiting the use of force and violence. No matter how much I think on this matter, freedom is the only way.
Sometimes I wonder about the degree of social safety net, but ultimately, we must have a free society.
You’re right Jason and don’t worry too much about a social safety net. Because in a truly free society, there would be plenty of private charities to help those who are honestly incapable of providing for themselves. And the money that go to such charities would be given of people’s own free will, and not taken from them by force (as social programs do today)
And to all those people out there who believe the private charities wouldn’t get as much money without force of government, you have no idea how generous people get when they are free to be as successful as they want to be.
Ultimately giving charity when you WANT to is a beneficial selfish act. When we give because we want to give, you’re acknowledging that by helping others join the party of success and prosperity, you’re making life better for yourself too.
Government programs do the opposite. They destroy lives and make people weak and helpless, and the people they take from become bitter, angry and ultimately opt to leave the country, which ends up hurting us all even more.