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There are many of us who understand that the world we live in today is not synonymous with freedom.

There are those of us who strive to make it so in our own ways by informing the world via social media posts on Steemit and similar platforms such as y
Youtube or Reddit.

There are also those of us who are willing to take to the streets in protest at the injustices we see in our every day lives.

There are those of us who have no real knowledge regarding the subject of freedom and those of us again who have neither the inclination nor desire to know.

I would suggest that most of us, at least those of us who live in the west, are happy to remain ignorant to the ways of the world because we see ourselves as benefiting from the society in which we live. Even those of us at the bottom end of the imaginary, societal hierarchy in the western world feel like we are benefiting from the system because in a large way we are indoctrinated to believe that without the system in place to protect us we would be at the mercy of the biggest, baddest, ugliest elements of society who would enjoy free reign over our communities.

It is not hard to understand these sentiments since the narratives given to us by the mainstream media would certainly lead any 'rational' thinking person to the conclusion that democracy is the only way for us to peacefully co-exist.

**This is certainly not to my way of thinking.**

It is my strongly held belief that the vast, vast majority of men and women are good, honest and decent, who desire nothing more than peace and kinship with one another regardless of whatever differences we have.

The problem arises when we as a society allow our innocence and our trusting nature to be abused, combined with our inability to recognise that there are those among us who would seek to control and subvert our thoughts and feelings. In doing so, they are influencing the way we see the world around us and those with whom we share it. We must stop allowing our social and cultural norms to be decided in corporate boardrooms or by our selected representatives.

** He who controls the mind, controls the body, so it essential that we gain full control of our minds.**
It is the image and narrative that we are allowing to be constructed in our minds that is drawing us deeper and deeper into mental slavery and by doing so we are allowing ourselves to become physical slaves by default.
 
So freedom can be a very illusive and complicated issue with all manner of emotional attachments. Personal freedom, whether financial or in terms of lifestyle, can be achieved to a certain degree.....depending upon what your personal standards of freedom are.

If we are being honest with ourselves I feel we can agree that true freedom for the individual can only come with freedom for all.
**How can we truly be free whilst knowing that others are not??**

The journey to freedom is clearly and obviously a very difficult one that will not be made any easier by the determination of our opponents.

We must be active in our struggle not just in our words but in our actions and not just in our actions but in our convictions.

To peacefully protest a system that we diametrically oppose only lends legitimacy to it by acknowledging it and acknowledging the power that we as a society allow it to wield over us by our combined ignorance and apathy.

So we must find another. more productive way of protesting the system and it can be done just as peacefully if it is done properly.

We must turn our backs on the monster that we have created, whilst keeping a watchful, cautious eye over our shoulder.

**It is not to be trusted!**

One way we can move forward is by being the change we wish to see in the world. By being a positive example not just in the views we are happy to express online or as part of a peaceful protest against the state but by being a living, breathing example of freedom in its truest sense to those around us, whether it be in our families, our peer groups or our local communities.
We all learn by example and when those of us who are still ignorant to the true nature of the system and how it operates are able to see a real life example of a virtuous, principled human being in action in our own communities and working to make those communities better, it will surely inspire curiosity and respect in those around us and perhaps foster an appetite for change in those within our communities to do likewise.

>'Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans'. John Lennon

I would like to propose some real world, tangible measures we can take as true proponents of freedom for all in order to start fostering a different view of the world in those men and women around us.

Some of the things I will propose are easy things to do and can be done by anyone.

Others, however, may take you out of your comfort zone quite a bit but if you do indeed truly want to live in a free and open society for all, as opposed to the one we find ourselves living in today, then I fear that some of the more uncomfortable actions required will be unavoidable.

**We must learn to take personal responsibility for our own actions.**

# The Easy Things

Firstly, there are the simple, easy things that all of us can do. These things are not so scary. They include things like, rather than spending our hard earned money on overpriced fashion, which makes us walking sponsors for multi-billion dollar corporations or cable TV bills, fancy take away coffees or fast food etc,we must instead attempt to transition our lives in such a way that we become aware of the things that we need and the things that we want and know how to differentiate between the two. We cannot allow ourselves to be distracted from our goal by having to spend our time earning money in order to purchase frivolous things.

Commercialism is one of the biggest distractions we face in our struggle for freedom. We need to be free from corporations just as much as we need to be free of government. We need to stop portraying the message of others and start representing the message that we want to spread. Instead of walking around with a crocodile on our shirt or a man playing polo, why don't we start buying plain shirts and have them carry our message instead. All it takes is a sharpie and a bit of imagination.
We don't need to follow the same path as everyone else, we can make our own.

We need to regain control over our own needs and desires. By this I mean that we must understand what it is that we need and what it is that we want as well as why we want it and why we need it.

We must learn to reduce our costs in all areas of our lives by eliminating the things that we simply desire so that our need to earn the money to pay for these things is greatly reduced and thus our 'free' time will be increased, allowing us to focus more energy on attaining the freedom that we say we seek.


**Our needs must come before our desires!**

>'It is the preoccupation with possessions , more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely and nobly.' Bertrand Russell

**So do we need freedom?**

**Or is it simply something we desire?**

In order to be free we must first know ourselves and in order to know ourselves it is imperative to actually take a look at ourselves, and a good one at that. We need to understand what it is that we truly need to be happy rather than what we have been programmed to believe we need. We need to know exactly what we want from our time here and whether or not we are willing to accept anything less.

If freedom is something that we truly need then other easy things we can do on our journey involve those closest to us in our communities.

To start with, we must learn to build relationships with those that share the same physical location as us. It's a great thing that we are all connected around the world at the click of a button but we need the support, understanding and assistance from our real life neighbours as well if we are to succeed in our goal.

By doing this we are again providing ourselves with the opportunity and means of saving more money (which allows more free time) not just for ourselves but for those in our community. If we could get to know our neighbours better than we do now and are able to build friendly, respectful relationships with them then it would make sense and be financially beneficial to both parties to, for example, to share in the cost of grocery shopping and the preparation of meals, which would save everyone money, reduce waste and provide everyone with more free time. The more free time we have, the more time we have to think about and understand the world in which we live. More time to scutinise the things that we previously did not have time to. More time to live!

Due to the nature of the cities that most of us occupy these days it is very likely that our neighbours are no more than a few feet from our own front doors and as most big cities nowadays are multicultural hubs, it would surely provide us the opportunity to not only enrich our diet by allowing us the opportunity to try other foods from around the world but would also open us up to new experiences and new ideas about the world from all different cultures.

We would probably find if we were to succeed in this endeavour that we would cut our food shopping bill drastically and end up only cooking maybe once a week.

**So much time gained to do the things we need to do to attain our freedom!**

Many of us these days are not as close to our neighbours as we were in days gone by.

The never ending game of musical chairs that the housing market has become combined with other influencing factors have had a devastating affect on community spirit and morale. It is important to remember however, that our communities are just that...Ours! We need to be the ones that make them so by determining what we as a community stand for. Not allowing this to be decided for us by those from outside. Our communities and community connections are becoming more and more fractured, in some cases even becoming dangerously so.

We need to build our communities up again and show our neighbours a better way. We need to build support for the feedom we seek in those men and women with whom we have the ability to interact with physically in our everyday lives and this can only be done from the ground up.

We need to take responsibility for ourselves and our local communities and that should be our limit. We shouldn't over-extend ourselves. Our actions should serve as a beacon to other like minded individuals who are looking for an example but we shouldn't try to take on responsibility for the entire world. This is too much for any man or woman alone.

We know that freedom is something that must be taken and never be given so it is up to us and us alone to step into our freedom. No-one else can do it for us and we cannot do it for anyone else.

Whilst our words can spread our message around the world , it is only our actions that have a real chance of inspiring those who see them first hand.

It is essential also that we become as self sufficient as possible in our communities so it would be wise to start up local projects for things such as food provision, caring for the vulnerable, finding local, community serving work for those who want it and repairing infrastructure such as roads etc as well as projects aimed at informing and making individuals more aware of the societal structures that are put in place to confuse us.

# The Uncomfortable Things

As I mentioned there are several steps we need to take which may be a little uncomfortable for some but only so because of the way we have been conditioned throughout our lives to resist these things or any mention of them. Unlike the easy things to do, which can all be done without much or any attention from 'authority', these things will almost certainly draw attention to you in an unwelcome way.

#### The steps are ones of defiance and resistance!

If we do not agree that the government has any authority over us or that it should have the ability or 'power' to interfere with our lives for any reason that we do not consent to, then there is no reason why we should be appeasing it by interacting with it in any way. We need to stop co-operating with the government i. It is not intended to help us and should not be trusted!
Some of the things we need to do that may be uncomfortable but necessary are,

1.	We need to stop paying all taxes. This includes income tax, council tax, car tax, inheritance tax, death tax, etc, etc, etc. There are too many to list.

2.	We need to stop complying with licensing and registration requirements such as driving licenses, marriage licences, TV licence, birth registration, vehicle registration, etc, etc, etc. The list is endless.


3.	We need to stop complying with and paying statutory fines for statutory offences. We need to abandon statute law altogether and pay it no notice. It does not apply to us.

As well as a myriad of other everyday things we suffer from at the hands of those who have betrayed us.

**Stop letting the state tell you what you can and can't do!**

**Stop letting the state decide what is best for you and for your family!**

**Stop letting the state indoctrinate your children!**

**Stop letting the state medicate your children!**

**Stop listening to advice from state approved experts!**

>'It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society!' - Jiddu Krishnamurti

These are clearly all difficult things to do on our own as they will undoubtedly draw attention to us in such a way that we may not be able to deal with ourselves, which is why these things must be done with the knowledge and support of those around us. Strength in numbers is our real strength. It is true that united we stand and divided we fall so we must be united in our efforts.

This is not an easy path to travel. Not at all. It is however, a path that must be traveled in order that we may reach our destination.

If we do decide to step foot on the road to freedom and can convince those around us in greater and greater numbers to support our actions by the power of our example, we should find that the money, effort and time saved should allow the community the opportunity to build itself up into a respectful, knowledgeable and happy one.

If, for example, the community as a whole decided that they were not going to pay council tax but instead decide to put all of the money that would have gone to the council in tax into a community fund, that money could then be used by the community, in the community and for the betterment of that community.

Those who are without work in the system we have now could find pride in working for and in their own communities. We could maintain our local infrastructure the way it should be maintained such as roads etc. We could do the job we pay the councils to do but much better. This money would be more than enough to cover any and all works needed and would not include payments to middlemen for doing nothing of any benefit to anyone.

Add to this the money and time saved from not participating in other state sponsored schemes such as income tax and the possibilities for improving our communities and our lives ourselves are limited only by our imagination as opposed to now being limited by our cognitive dissonance.

**We do not need these self serving middlemen and women interfering in our affairs for their own gain and political or corporate advancement.**

>'Happiness depends on being free and freedom depends on being courageous!' - Marie Rutkoski

There is of course a lot more that could be said but it would appear that for now I have said enough. I don't want this to be too long but just wanted to express some of my thoughts on the subject.

I would just like to say that unless we begin to literally take matters into our own hands in the physical world we may never be able to escape the system that keeps us from truly expressing who we are. I for one am conflicted on many issues surrounding this subject and expect that many others out there are of a similar mind. I don't have all, if any, of the answers. This is just my way of getting my thoughts out there so please take from it what you will.

The banner on my homepage reads, 'A different man today, from the man that I was yesterday!', so none of the views I have expressed here are are set in stone and I reserve the right to change them given new information or a better understanding of the information I currently have.



Thank you for taking the time to read my post and please enjoy the rest of your day.

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