Free Men Don’t Ask.

“Liberty is unobstructed action according to our will; but rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will, within the limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add ‘within the limits of the law’; because law is often but the tyrant’s will, and always so when it violates the right of an individual.” — Thomas Jefferson

Freedom is action without obstruction.

To require permission is tyranny. If you have to ask, you are not free.

Free men don’t ask.

Look at the abysmal state of ‘free countries’ in the world today. A regulation, a permit, a mandate, a lockdown, an ID, a 'State By-Law 13982 Subsection 13 Class C #109', for everything. 

They're certainly better than any of the 'Capital A' Authoritarian regimes that the Human Rights Foundation notes 54% of the world's population still lives under.

But 'barely authoritarian' and 'free' are not synonymous.

• You are not free to educate your children. Homeschooling is illegal in an astounding number of developed nations. As in, they can/will/do claim child abuse and then take away your children for opting out of State-mandated indoctrination. To learn more, read my piece 'Adolescence Was Manufactured'.
• You are not free to the fruits of your labour. Taxation is nothing other than theft via the threat of future violence from the State (or if you prefer it raw & unfiltered: robbery at gunpoint).
• In Canada, you are not free to defend yourself and your family from attack. The self-defense clause rarely holds up in court.
• It sounds odd, but you are not free to choose the water you drink. Governments fluoridate water under the guise of ‘teeth whitening/health’. Capturing rainwater is illegal. That is in no way the role of the State as incarnated.

This stretches on eternally—so I’ll spare you the laundry list…for now.

You must see where this goes, yes?

We got a glimpse during COVID. Vaccine passports. Carbon social credits. Socialized private property. We are far closer to needing permission to have children under dubious 'Climate Change Radical Action' mandates than you're ready to admit. You are always one day, one moment, one regulation away from 'your house/land is the Property of the State and will be returned to it, and we suggest you do so voluntarily'.

Sneak Preview: this is why Bitcoin—private property that cannot be stolen—is a revolution. Everything else can be taken from you. But with 12-24 words in your head, your wealth is safe from foreceful rehypothecation. It changes the game theory of the State<>Citizen dynamic.

The U.S.—the current bastion of freedom in the West—would not exist were it not for free men who did not ask. They acted. They claimed. They stood sovereign in their divinity as men equal under God.

It's so easy to forget: the revolution ignited over a 3-cent tax on tea. My oh my have we strayed far from the path of our forefathers.

They realized there was not one man on this Earth fit to tell them what they could and could not do with their lives. You are accountable to your Creator, that is all. 

There's the Thelemic maxim, “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.”

Or… in perhaps the greatest expression of this sovereign lifeforce, pushed up against the scrag rock of Hell’s Gate, the two words uttered by Leonidas, then King of Sparta, in defiant response to Xerxes’ demand that they lay down their weapons and surrender:

“MOLON LABE.”

Ancient Greek for 'come and take them'.

We’re not going to get into the weeds of political philosophy, anarchist theory, or play mind games about how to govern under these axioms... yet.

I am hunting something far more subtle in you:

• ...why are you waiting for permission? 
• ...who are you asking for it? 
• ...when did you ever need it?
• (And maybe most important) ...who do you imagine is going to grant this to you?

Starting your company. Quitting your job. Moving countries. Paying taxes. Saying the heretical thing. Eating what you want. Making choices for yourself. Changing your beliefs. Whatever it is. Anything. Everything.

The permission roadblock you perceive in front of you is nothing but a self-created, self-imposed, self-reinforcing story. Airy nothing.

You are a free human. You do not need permission. You are the sovereign ruler of your Kingdom. Make your choice. Claim it. ACT.

• Yes, actions have consequences.
• Yes, you should respect the freedom and humanity of everyone else.
• Yes, given the current world setup and the global nanny state, some things are difficult/impossible to do without jumping through 'proper hoops'.

But I will not let you forget your fundamental freedom.

And as we'll come to see—neither will Zen. Zen is the Gateless Gate to fundamental freedom. Radical, raw, natural, wild freedom. Betchya didn't see that tie-in coming did ya. 😉

Remembering—re-membering, re-embodying—your fundamental freedom heals illnesses you didn't know you had, like the chronic disease of permission-seeking. Surrendering your sovereignty. But you need to claim it. Own it. Embody it. Live it. Breathe it.

You do not need permission. You are great enough, wise enough, strong enough, and far beyond capable enough to decide and act for yourself. 

It is so easy to forget. After centuries of indoctrination and the slow erosion of freedom, it is almost lost to us now. And yet… deep inside of you, the indestructible fire of truth burns:

Free men don’t need permission.

Free men don’t ask.

They act,
EB.