“Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth.”

—Albert Einstein

     “There are two things over which you have complete dominion, authority and control—your mind and your mouth.”

—African Proverb

     “Think for yourself and question authority.”

—Timothy Leary

     “The current state of the news media is partially to blame for the public’s general lack of information vital for responsible citizenship in a democracy. The news media has become an aspect of show business, offering merely infotainment. It has evolved into an entity that tends to function as a public relations agency for wealthy and powerful multinational corporations, members of Congress, and the current Presidential Administration, including the administrations that preceded it. The news media is being utilized as a political tool of suppression and propaganda by those in power, and propaganda is psychological in nature. Full of half-truths and utter misinformation, it’s an arrogant and very commercial strategy that is implemented because it appeals to emotions—fear being the main one—relentless talk of national security, personal and community safety, meant to trigger childhood insecurities and indoctrinated views of authority.

     “The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out for himself, without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, and intolerable…”

—H.L. Mencken

       “A slave is not he who works without wages, it is he tries to stop working and discovers he is not allowed.”

—Anonymous

     “I divide men into two lots. They are freethinkers, or they are not freethinkers. Freethinkers are those who are willing to use their minds without prejudice and without fearing to understand things that clash with their own customs, privileges, or beliefs. This state of mind is not common, but it is essential for right thinking; where it is absent, discussion is apt to become worse than useless. A man may be a Catholic, a Frenchman, or a capitalist, and yet be a freethinker; but if he puts his Catholicism, his patriotism, or his interest above his reason, and will not give the latter free play where those subjects are touched, he is not a freethinker. His mind is in bondage.”

—Leo Tolstoy

     Politics has become its own kind of secular religion.  Political leaders are seen by many as saviors who will fix all of the world’s problems and will legislate peace and prosperity to all who follow.  Each party has a set of beliefs that must be followed or you become outcast.

     In the religion of politics, anyone who is not part of your party is to be hated, and if possible, their voices and freedoms eliminated through voting.

     In reality, it’s all a big show designed to perpetuate the illusion that we are “free people” who use our “freedom” to “vote” and “elect” our true “representatives.”  No free and educated person should ever fall for this, yet most do, and those who try to expose this charade for what it is are labeled “conspiracy theorists,” “traitors,” or “enemies of democracy.”

     Yes, unless people wake up―and wake up soon―the people in power will use technology to make it very, very difficult to ever resist them again (through government surveillance and the police state).

     Don’t get me wrong, I love the benefits of technology as much as the next person, but ultimately, our technological advances (namely, any technology that can or will give the people in power the ability to control and monitor us) will be the eventual instruments of our enslavement (enslaving us even more than they already do, that is.)

     That’s why people need to be as free as they can be.  We cannot continue to rely so much on letting other people do our thinking for us.  We cannot leave it to corporate leaders and politicians to figure out and solve everything for us instead of figuring out and solving things for ourselves.

     Everything―everything―begins in the mind.  We must actively investigate and educate ourselves and our children and encourage all people everywhere to think for themselves and not just swallow everything that government, religion, and society feeds them. 

     The future freedom of the world depends on discarding all of the things that bind us.  To progress as human beings and feel happy and fulfilled, we must be as free as we can be, spiritually, materially, philosophically, economically, and in any and every way that we can think of.

     When the ideals of freedom inform every aspect of our existence, life itself―the journey, the experiences, our relationships―are filled with joy … beautiful, abundant joy, and we can continue to grow and evolve and become all that we are capable of being.

     I will now present you with numerous quotes on the topics of freedom and government.  These are intended to help open your eyes and mind to the reality that very rich and powerful people really do “conspire” to gain power and control and to take away your rights and freedoms.

     What is presented here is just the tip of the iceberg.  Hopefully it will ignite in you a desire to continue to investigate more on your own, because ultimately, how much truth you know us entirely up to you.

Excerpted from Them and Us: A Philosophy of Freedom by Adam Soto

     Understand this: anyone involved in government automatically believes that there should be a “ruling class” of people called “congressmen” and “senators” whose primary job is to make rules for everyone else to follow (because if they didn’t believe that, they wouldn’t be there).  They are not concerned with your freedom.

     Anyone who believes that they have the right to rule you should always be viewed with suspicion.  They are already starting from a place whose roots are based not in freedom for each person to rule themselves, but government ruling over them.  If they already don’t believe in self-rule, who knows what their real motives are or how far they will go to satisfy their own desires and ambitions?^[1]

     I realize that it isn’t every day that you hear someone questioning the morality and legitimacy of government, and it may be a little uncomfortable to do so at first, but remember, we said that we were going to question everything, so why not question government?  This is a completely valid question.  With enough questioning, perhaps people can find even better ways to construct society, just as people all throughout history have done.  We should never stop looking for ways to improve how we live together as societies.

     Again, to see the world you live in clearly, you must take into consideration the very real possibility that the people in power, the government officials, and the ultra rich people who get them elected and pay them off to shape the laws in their favor have an actual agenda of things that they want to happen.  Never underestimate the possibility that they could very well have intentions that are designed not only to benefit themselves, but are also designed intentionally to take away your freedoms and to control your mind and actions.

     For those willing to investigate this, they will find that there is a great amount of evidence that this is exactly the case, and that these people truly seek world domination and will do whatever it takes to achieve these goals.

     Like I said before, do your own investigations and decide for yourself.  I, for one, am completely convinced of the immoral and dictatorial intentions of those in power, and I believe that if current trends continue, they will ultimately achieve their goals.

     Unfortunately, the people of the world just aren’t paying much attention to what’s happening.  The people in power are using and have been using all kinds of psychological manipulation to draw us away from being as free as we can be and to control our hearts, minds, and actions.  (I’ll talk more about this later.)  These people study psychology and human behavior and use ever trick known to man (while developing new devices) to bend us to their will.

Excerpted from Them and Us: A Philosophy of Freedom by Adam Soto

     Now let’s talk again about politicians and the ideas of government.

     So much of our lives are devoted to politics, to electing other people to run our lives and/or the lives of our neighbors.  This is not an intelligent way to live.  We should run our own lives.

     Think about it: a small group of people get together and call themselves “government” and then they somehow have the right to take your money and property and tell you what to do and punish you if you disobey.  How does that make any sense?  How did we let this happen?  How will we ever get away from it?

     In truth, it’s questionable whether or not we ever will.  But the ideas of freedom, especially in relation to the ideology of “government” and all that it entails is a necessary ingredient if we are ever going to begin the process of finding better ways to live.

     The only truly free way to live would be to live in a voluntary community (or society) where no one had the right to “tax” or extort money or property from anyone else; where no one could make “laws” or rules for other people to follow; where the only interactions that people had with each other were voluntary.  (For a better understanding of how this would work, look into voluntary and intentional communities.)

     Human beings were never meant to give away the right to rule themselves to someone else; to any government, king, gang, or otherwise.

     Unfortunately, the fact of the matter is, it’s what we have right now, and unless enough people really want it to change, and take actions in that direction, it is what we will continue to have, and it will more than likely continue to get worse.  What each individual can do is fight to shape their own lives to be as free as they can be.

     The truth of the matter is that most people are not even free in their own minds.  Most people don’t even view the idea of government as a problem, and don’t think of themselves as slaves or servants of government.  Therefore, the first and most important thing that people can and should do is question for themselves the ideas of government, if it is moral, if having government is the best way for humans to live and interact with each other, and so on…

     Do you really believe that someone else has the right to tell you what to do, what to think, what to say, what you’re allowed to buy and sell, what currency you can use to buy and sell, that they should get a piece or share of everything you buy or sell, that they should get a share of all of your earnings, and so on, etc, etc … just because they call themselves government?  And it is not voluntary.  In fact, as political activist and author Larken Rose says, they’ll put you in a cage if you refuse.  Does that sound like freedom?

     In your experience, do you find that the people elected to represent us are normally morally good, outstanding, exemplary citizens who fight to carry out the will of the people (whatever that is; what exactly is the will of millions of individual people?), or do they usually seem to be consumed in self-interest, with their number one priority being to get elected and their number two priority to get reelected?  And once they have reached their term limits, don’t they usually seem to be interested primarily in doing favors for millionaire and billionaire companies who will reward them if they shape the “laws” to benefit them?

Excerpted from Them and Us: A Philosophy of Freedom by Adam Soto

     Now I would like to get back to the influence of any organization, whether it be government, religious, or any other group of people who claim to hold a set of beliefs in common.  Always bear in mind that the purpose of any organization is to perpetuate and expand their own power and influence.  That in and of itself is not necessarily evil.  An organization that tries to perpetuate and spread noble and mutually beneficial principles such as morality and freedom could be viewed as a benefit to society.  I would say that it is only beneficial if it can be certain (or as close to certain as possible) that all of their intentions and teachings really are noble and beneficial, and that the organization doesn’t become more important than the message they claim to represent or the goals they are trying to achieve.

     When investigating the claims made by any person, group, or organization (no matter what walk of life they are from or whatever kind of truth they claim to represent), an intelligent person should always question whether their claims are true, beneficial, and/or necessary, or whether their claims are really just authoritarian control mechanisms designed to control and exploit people.

     As I said earlier, there do exist very evil and manipulative people in the world, and you’ll find them in all walks of life.  To think that there wouldn’t be those out there who are in it just for themselves and their own power and greed would be naïve.  A free person must always be on guard for these people.

     Here is another extremely important lesson for you―it’s significance cannot be stressed enough: evil, controlling, exploitative, manipulative people are well aware of the good natures of those that they are trying to control and deceive.  They know that most people believe in the inherent goodness of those around them.  They also know that most good people never truly understand the depths unmoral people are willing to go to achieve their objectives.  They are counting on the people who are good to give them the benefit of the doubt, to believe that no one could really be that evil―that cunning and ruthless―to hurt or destroy their enemies or even innocent people to get what they want.  As long as people continue to give them the benefit of the doubt, they will continue to exploit and take advantage of them.

     One aspect that I think most people just don’t want to admit to themselves is that the world is or ever could be such an ugly place.  They want to have hope, to believe that everyone around them is essentially good, and that they’re not being lied to and manipulated.  A free person faces all of the facts regardless of how uncomfortable they may be.  It is part of maturing along the path of truth.

Excerpted from Them and Us: A Philosophy of Freedom by Adam Soto

     Let’s break it down a little more.  Whatever nation you’re from you were first taught the customs and beliefs of your particular family.  Take a moment to think about the beliefs and customs your family taught you.  Are they true?  Have you ever investigated them?  Did they accurately describe the nature of the world?  Did they teach you good morals?  Where did any of the things they taught you come from?

     The truth is, if your family was like most they were simply teaching you what they had been taught by their parents, family, religion, and society.  Did they ever question any of their beliefs?  If not, how did they know that what they taught you was true?

     Perhaps your family wasn’t religious or spiritual; where did they acquire their understanding of the world and our purpose here?  Where did they acquire their sense of morals?  What was their method for recognizing truth or untruth?  Did they simply believe whatever any authority figure told them to believe, whether it be president, politician, scientist, reporter, or professor?

     Or maybe you were brought up in a religious or spiritual background.  What was your family’s method for recognizing truth or untruth?  Were they free-thinkers?  Did they investigate and analyze spiritual matters for themselves, or did they simply accept whatever was taught to them by some religious authority figure?  Maybe the Bible was their religious authority; did they ever question the Bible?

     These are all things which each person must explore, investigate, deduce, assess and reassess for themselves.  Only then will it really make any sense to them.

Excerpted from Them and Us: A Philosophy of Freedom by Adam Soto

     The world we live in is run by power junkies who will do anything to gain and keep their wealth and power.  People of moral integrity will never do what these people are willing to do, and therefore, will never be on top.

     Until you accept this as a fundamental truth, you will forever misunderstand the world you live in.  And until the majority of people in the world understand this, we will continue to be dominated by these people.  If people continue to live in ignorance to the ploys and schemes perpetrated against them on a daily basis, nothing will change, but if people were to wake up and stand together, the people in power simply could not dominate millions of people who refuse to be dominated.

     Like I said, don’t just take my word for it.  At the same time, another important practice in the quest for truth is to form a habit of not brushing things off without investigating them.  Everything deserves investigation.

     The ruthless kind of people that I’m talking about are the ones who really run the world; international world bank owners, corporate owners, billionaires and soon-to-be-trillionaires who have the power and influence to control nations, governments, and politicians.  They do not want you to be free, but rather want to control every aspect of your life.  (When I say “they,” I’m not including every single ultra rich person in the world; there may be some who are less evil than others or who inherited their wealth.  I’m just generalizing for simplicity’s sake.)

     Below the ultra rich are the government leaders and “representatives” who have figured out that they would rather be “takers” than “makers,” who are also addicted to the power of being able to take people’s money and run their lives, who have the power to make laws that you and I must now obey.

     Below them are people in non-profit/for profit organizations, religious organizations―any kind of organization that you can think of that doesn’t have the power that government has to force you to give them money and follow their rules, but can convince you to do so voluntarily.  I’m not necessarily saying that all of these organizations are bad or immoral, but all of them do run the risk of creating agendas simply to promote their own continued growth and existence, and therefore, it is in their interest to possibly manipulate their followers/donors emotionally and psychologically to ensure that they continue to support the organization financially.

     In the case of churches, for example, it would be like a church saying that there is only one way to God (and it just happens to be through them), and if you don’t support them and believe exactly what they believe, God will be mad at you and you will spend eternity in hell.  (Sound familiar?)

     Below them are people of influence; entertainers, athletes, specialists, gurus, and so forth, who may make alliances with certain corporations or ultra rich people, and therefore, do and say things with the agenda of promoting themselves or a cause or benefactor that they support, and whose intention is to sway people one way or another, and who may or may not have moral or noble goals.

     Influencing us at various points in our lives are educational schools and programs, ranging from preschool all the way to the end of college.  Considering how much influence government has in these areas, the potential for brainwashing and manipulation should clearly be a concern, especially when we consider what education must be like in countries where state propaganda is a way of life.  What about the country you live in?  What are the agendas of those who control your education system?

     And finally below them we have the family unit.  Now I’m certainly not saying that all family influence is bad; I’m sure most of it is quite well intentioned, but nonetheless, nothing that a family member says should be taken as truth just because you’re related to them.  Everything should be questioned and investigated.

     So now that I’ve covered that, hopefully you have a better idea of what I mean when I say that part of the journey for truth and freedom is to free ourselves from any outside control or influences that may exist and to question everything for ourselves.

Excerpted from Them and Us: A Philosophy of Freedom by Adam Soto

     Let’s break the question down into smaller bite-sized questions so that it’s easier to digest.  Are you free to live as you please?  Can you say what you want to say?  Are there any forces in your life that impede your freedom?  Are you free mentally?  Do you think for yourself?  What beliefs do you hold? 

     Take your beliefs about government, for example: Have you completely questioned all of them?  Any of them?  Or were you taught certain things about government by others and then accepted them as truth?  Are they true?  How does one know whether they are true or not?

     The answer is simple―you must investigate!  You must take the time to do research, look under every rock, behind every curtain, and around every corner until you gather enough information to make a sound conclusion.  You must investigate, and investigate deeply, to uncover truth for yourself.  If you’ve never investigated philosophical matters for yourself but only accepted what others have told you (others being your parents, teachers, and/or leaders), how could you possibly know that it is true?

     Actually, let’s press the pause button for a moment, okay?  Before we go any further, we must acknowledge a very important ingredient that is essential to helping us investigate and understand the people and world around us.  If you’ll indulge me for a moment, I’m going to make some statements that I have investigated (and believe to be true), but that you should also investigate for yourself.  Here we go.

     There exist in this world extremely selfish and evil people.

     When I say evil, I mean morally bankrupt, without conscience, power hungry egomaniacs whose ultimate goal in life is to accumulate as much money, power, and possessions as they possibly can, and they don’t care who they hurt or kill in the process.  Although money is beneficial to them in and of itself, and they always seek more of it, it is really only a means to an end.  The more money they get, the more they can use it to buy power and influence … power and influence over nations, over corporations, and over people―to control people’s minds and behavior.  This kind of power is the ultimate rush for them, like a 24 hour drug, and like any drug, they need ever more power and influence to achieve their high―to get their fix. 

     Think about it logically for a minute; which kind of person do you think rises to the top in this world: the good person who really cares about people and doing the right thing, who has limits to what they will do and lines they won’t cross out of a feeling of moral obligation to themselves, God, or their fellow man?  Or is it the person who is without a moral code, who is ruthless, has no lines that they won’t cross, who will do anything―and I mean anything―to achieve their goals and dominate those around them?  I think the answer is quite obvious.

Excerpted from Them and Us: A Philosophy of Freedom by Adam Soto

     On the journey for truth there are certain tools which you must carry with you at all times.  The most important of them all is the tool of questioning.

     The question is the gateway to nearly all understanding and awareness.  The question can be a key that unlocks doors to new ideas or a knife that cuts away faulty thinking.  It can bring joy and pain, respectively; joy if you are free enough to accept new truths, pain if you resist or are not ready for what these new truths will mean for your life and how you now must live if you want to live in truth.

     The path of questioning and philosophical awakening is not for the faint of heart.  It takes courage, determination, and perseverance.  But once truth is accepted, experienced, and embraced, nothing can bring more joy, peace, or freedom.

     So the question is, Are you free?

     Be 100% honest with yourself.  Self-honesty is another essential tool that must always be present in your quest for truth―you must always be honest with yourself.

Excerpted from Them and Us: A Philosophy of Freedom by Adam Soto

     “The world you think you know is not the world that is.  There is a man behind the curtain.  That’s why the world needs a spark—a flame—something to burn away the curtain, to open the eyes of the common person.  As long as our eyes remain closed, we deserve to be in our current positions as servants and slaves.”

—Adam Soto

Part I: Freedom

     When analyzing and observing most people in the world, I find that the majority of humanity spends very little time contemplating their own freedom.  This is a very serious problem.  In fact, one could logically conclude that most of the problems in our world result from a collective inability to understand and defend our freedoms against those who wish to take them.

     To understand this better, I’m going to break the world down into three kinds of people.  First are those who live intentionally, who have clear cut ideas of who they are, who they want to be, and what goals they wish to achieve, and put all of their energy into making their intentions materialize into reality.  In all honesty, these people are rare, though they needn’t be; anyone can become a person of intention if they put their energy there.

     Intention can be used for noble or not-so-noble purposes, and it works either way; it’s simply the application of energy toward specific goals (we’ll talk more about this later).

     The second kind of people are those who don’t live very intentionally, who don’t have very clear cut ideas of who they are, who they want to be, and what goals they wish to achieve.  These people sort of bounce around from here to there, easily swayed by other people, circumstances, trends, and their own whims and fancies.  Lacking any clear or deeper purpose, they often seem quite unfulfilled and are frequently disappointed with life in general.

     The third kind of people are simply a mixture of the first two, having and achieving some goals, but still swayed at times by other people or their own whims and fancies, and feel somewhat fulfilled by the life they live.

     I believe that it is essential to the progress and fulfillment of every human being that we become as free as we can be, living lives of pure intention.  We should be free and intentional in the way we think, live, act, and relate to the people and world around us―living, experiencing, and exemplifying freedom in all that we are and all that we do.  I believe that it is only when we are living this way that true joy and fulfillment can be experienced―not just momentarily―but on a constant basis.

     Freedom―itself―is a type of philosophy.  As a philosophy it seeks to permeate all of our thoughts and actions and inform us as to which thoughts and actions truly encapsulate the ideas of freedom.

     As free people, we’re not meant to let other people do our thinking for us.  We have minds and the ability to reason so that we can think for ourselves.

     As free people, we’re not meant to let other people decide how to live our lives for us, granting them the power to make rules and laws for ourselves and our neighbors to follow.  We’re meant to decide for ourselves how to live and interact with our fellow man.

     As you read further on, please remember that it is through your own philosophical explorations and life applications that truths can be experienced and realized.  If I happen to offer something that makes sense to you, test it in your own life; don’t just take my word for it.  Only then can you know for yourself whether something is true or not.

Excerpted from Them and Us: A Philosophy of Freedom by Adam Soto