Blood & Ink: Natural Anarchy

“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship.

The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years. These nations have progressed through this sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; From spiritual faith to great courage; From courage to liberty; From liberty to abundance; From abundance to selfishness; From selfishness to apathy; From apathy to dependence; From dependence back into bondage.”

— Alexander Tytler, 18th Century Historian

Some people say in a paragraph what others say in an entire book…

This quote is 🔥🔥🔥. *chefs kiss*

He’s referring to the ‘pure form’ of democracy, which is just the will of the majority. Whatever the majority votes, whenever they vote it, is law. Our current instances of ‘democracy’ are mostly ‘representative democracy’ where the majority elects a small number of ‘representatives’, who are meant to enact the will of the people.

It’s worth sitting with this quote for a good while. It settles in deeper the more you read it.

A few ideas surfaced in me when I first read this:

• Never lose your Courage. “From courage to liberty…” is the stage that humanity wants to be at, always. Courage into freedom, freedom into love, love into deep and total illumination.
• The average age of an empire is 250 years. That is frightening. The US is ~246 years old right now. Every fiat currency (government-made money) that has ever existed has only met one end: death and collapse via hyperinflation. The writings are on the wall, and the next few decades of our lives could be quite an interesting adventure!
• Anarchy is the natural extension of Taoist philosophy. Taoism is rooted most substantially in a profound trust in the fundamental Goodness of nature, and by extension humanity. Just let things take their course, without intervention, and what results is fantastically complex, effortless, excellence. Many Taoist artist-intellectuals at the time were deeply political, in spirit or their day jobs. Indeed, Confucious was said to have sought counsel from Lao Tzu, and the Tao Te Ching can be read as a political how-to guide as readily as a spiritual text. When taken from the individual to the collective level, Taoist philosophy brings you to a kind of calm, awakened anarchy — no rulers.

“The great Tao flows everywhere, both to the left and to the right. It loves and nourishes all things, but does not lord it over them. And when merits are accomplished, it lays no claim to them.”

– Alan Watts quoting Lao Tzu

Be well,
EB.