Spiritually Inspired Free Enterprise
One time, during the 1990s, I read the Microsoft User Agreement for Windows 95, from start to finish. When I finished reading it, my answer was no. Of course. I do not agree that Microsoft owns the software on my computer.
A few years later, I made the transition to Linux. I’ve been using it almost exclusively since about 2004. I have used Windows a few times since then, when I buy a new computer, but I eventually install Linux. Windows is boring.
The GNU/GPL license says no one owns the software. That is not exactly what I wanted. I want to own my own means of production.
There is an advantage to having a community owned operating system. We need a large community of users, using a common computer platform. The computers all speak the same language and they can understand and work with each other.
Learn how to control your computer, instead of being controlled by it. Your computer is a very powerful weapon. Use it for the benefit of your self, your family, your community and for our one world wide web of artificial intelligence.
Private Property
Imagine a forest, with all kinds of plants and animals competing with each other in a cooperative dance of natural selection. They are all interdependent. Their innate characteristics depend on their relationships. Deer evolve to run fast, in order to get away from cats, which like eating the deer. Plants depend on soil, rainfall and other plants and animals around them.
Human beings are evolving within that cosmopolitan mixture of plants and animals competing and cooperating with each other.
Language is the primary impulse causing the human kingdom of life on earth, to begin diverging from the animal kingdom. Grammar and syntax, etc., are the rules that we learn to follow in order to understand each other.
Language is the basis of human consciousness. It is the original rule of law. At least at the level of human consciousness. The whole universe is governed according to natural law. Just like the fruit on a tree, the natural laws of human consciousness are a new dimension of the evolution of life on earth.
We naturally follow the rules of the language of our tribe, in order to understand each other. The rule of law is the difference between wild and free. Freedom is lawful. Wild is lawless. One common law makes civilization possible.
Wilderness is governed by natural law. It is natural. Human consciousness has additional capabilities that no other life form on this planet has. First of all, the executive function of a human is far superior to any animal’s executive capacity. Faith is a completely new feature of human consciousness that does not exist in the animal Kingdom. The divine rule of law, revealed in all true religion, is causing the evolution of troops of Homo sapien into tribes of civilized human beings.
Man has natural laws in common with plants and animals. What the human kingdom of life has in addition to natural law is, the divine rule of law, revealed by the Manifestation of God in the unchanging eternal Faith of God. The divine rule of law is included in the divine education revealed in the Religion of God.
Faith is our supernatural power to always seek the truth and to know and love God. Faith is not measurable. There is no proof that there is a God or that anyone is faithful or not. Voluntary submission to the divine rule of law, revealed by the Manifestation of God, is the true nature of freedom, equality and justice for all.
The face to face, eye to eye, intimacy is another distinctive feature of hominidae. One man and one woman grow together into one family. The divine law of marriage, uniting one man with one woman into one family, is one of the most primal features of human nature and of the unchanging eternal Faith of God.
Families are the basic element of civilization. They are a biological facet of human nature and civilization. Our nearest relatives in the animal kingdom, the gorillas and chimpanzees, live in troops. Small groups of individuals. They are mostly related to each other. Alpha males sire most of the children.
Private property was originally developed by humans as tools, weapons and jewelry. The agricultural revolution magnified it when farmers began enclosing land into private property, in order to harvest the food they worked so hard to cultivate. They rightly claimed the fruits of their labor at harvest time.
Agriculture is the basis of capitalism. People began enclosing land into private property in order to harvest the fruits of their labor. They worked hard to cultivate the crops. They gradually domesticated various plants and animals and began terraforming earth, from a wilderness, into a beautiful garden.
To increase their prosperity, farmers worked in a variety of cottage industries during the ebb and flow of seasonal activity. Most people worked on the farms. Some people worked in town, in stores and in a variety of small scale manufacturing.
The industrial revolution added enterprise class manufacturing to the economy. The concepts of private property expanded along with the economy. Family farming and imperialism were complimented with enterprise class companies and democracy. Big business is another example of humanity evolving into larger social units. The new social and economic institutions are in addition to the older families. They cannot replace them. The divine law of marriage will never change.
Private property is a good idea. Self-preservation is the most primal instinct of all. Self-determination, productivity and free enterprise are very advanced forms of self-preservation. Working in harmony with that human nature, instead of trying to control human nature, produces the most prosperity for the most people. Innovation is a result of private property and free enterprise.
Conscious, intentional and voluntary submission to the divine rule of law, revealed in human language, is the impulse causing the human kingdom of life on earth, to diverge from the animal kingdom of life. It is the difference between an animal and a civilized human being. God makes the rules.
I mention this spiritually inspired free enterprise in this story because capitalism, private property and free enterprise were invented by religious people, for religious people. It doesn’t work without that divine education governing your animal instincts.
Animals follow natural laws of physics, chemistry and biology, etc. Human beings have instinct and emotion in common with the animal kingdom. Instinct is an involuntary response to biological impulses and environmental conditions. Emotion is our motives. The executive decision making cortex in our brain, enables us to respond to our instincts and emotions voluntarily. Divine education teaches us that we are created to voluntarily submit to the divine rule of law revealed by God, and how to do that.
Capitalism, democracy and artificial intelligence all depend on faith. Faith, hope and love motivates us to work for the good of all people. It is the source of our sense of justice. Artificial intelligence is the most powerful weapon ever created. It depends on the people using it to, fear God and act according to the divine rule of law. Seek the truth. Let divine education replace your selfish ambition and competition with cooperation, unity in diversity and voluntary submission to God.
The Human Kingdom of Life on Earth
The original set of the rule of law, which evolved gradually over millions of years, is language. Language is a set of rules, like grammar and syntax, etc., which individuals learn by assimilation, which enables far more sophisticated communications. Thought is another function of language.
Animals feel, they do not think. Language is the cause, thinking is one of the effects. Another one of the effects of language is the evolution of more advanced relationships between people.
During thousands of years, influenced by language and families and the agricultural revolution, troops of hominins evolved into tribes of human beings, and tribes of human beings evolved into empires. The sun never set on the British empire for several hundred years. It was the most far flung empire in human history.
Private property is an ancient concept. I suspect that it is probably as old as language itself. Imagine an ancient hunter gatherer, gathering tools and weapons, to hunt and defend himself and his family and tribe. Or a woman gathering tools and supplies for food and shelter.
Families are a team. Men and women are equal partners. Always have been, always will be. We need our families to thrive, in order for our civilization to thrive.
The concept of private property has evolved in waves, along with human nature and civilization in general. Private property and free enterprise are good ideas. Selfish ambition is the dark side of human nature.
Even competition can be good or evil, depending on how well the competitors follow the rule of law. Competition is natural. The rule of law transforms this natural instinct into productive activity, instead of harmful or destructive behavior. Trustworthiness is exceedingly valuable.
Honesty, equality, justice and freedom are natural laws and spiritual principles. Submission to God, and only God, is the very nature of freedom.
Culture is a conscious, voluntary way of being. Agriculture is terraforming earth from a wilderness into a beautiful, productive garden. Civil is following a common law, in voluntary association with the people around you. Citizenship is taking responsibility for your community. Patriotism is loving your community, on a local, national and global scale.
This gradual, progressive emergence of unity in diversity in human consciousness is characterized by one of the most important principles; voluntary submission to the divine rule of law. God makes the rules. God reveals the rule of law through the Manifestation of God. The Manifestation of God is the Prophets and Founders of all the world’s major religions.
This voluntary submission to the divine rule of law is the very nature of human freedom. It is using your executive decision making faculty to train your instincts and emotions to voluntarily obey God and not any human being, including yourself.
Selfish ambition is the primitive, uncivilized, animal instinct run wild. For an animal, that is natural and healthy. For a human being, it is a gross perversion of human nature. Be a beautiful flower, not an ugly weed.
Capitalism harnesses the natural instinct to survive and thrive; and democracy and the divine rule of law, lead it into productive behavior within a community; instead of selfish, destructive activity.
Self determination is a universal human right. It is an integral attribute of healthy human consciousness. It just needs to be governed by divine education and voluntary submission to the divine rule of law, revealed by the Manifestation of God. Selfish ambition is the dark side of human nature.
Civilization
The idea of individual human rights, and that even the king is not above the rule of law, began to emerge in the Christian civilization flourishing in Europe. It was not the only or first time and place that human rights were officially protected. Its the magnitude of the value of individual human rights that evolved in Christian Europe, during the second millennium of the Christian era.
France became the first nation state, in response to an invasion from Islamic Andalusia, which is now Spain. The French people created the nation state to defend themselves against Islamic Jihad. All the pogroms and inquisitions and other suppression of anti-christian ideas, were a result of Islamic encroachment into Christian Europe.
I’m not saying either side is right or wrong, just that the competition between Christianity and Islam caused much of the scientific, cultural, social and political revolutions of the Renaissance, Enlightenment and Industrial revolution. Probably even the spiritual, Protestant Revolution.
The American Revolution, with its fresh impulse in the culture of western civilization, accelerated the progress in a massive tidal wave of social and economic development, very much like the Cambrian Explosion, referring to microbial mats on the coastlines all around the world, evolving into the millions of species of life, on land and in the ocean. Now, we drive cars and fly around in jet planes, instead of riding horses, donkeys and camels. We use electric lights, instead of candles.
William Marston described human motivation as concentric circles of emotion. Dominance and compliance are components of our appetite. Inducement and submission are components of love. Appetite and love are components of creativity. Creativity is the most central human emotion, i.e., motivation. Makes sense to me!
Private Ownership
Own the means of production, whether you work in your own holistic home office or in a large or small business. If you can’t do that because of your immediate circumstances, then invest in the stock market and start building up capital in our one world wide free marketplace. Invest in the productivity of the people of earth.
Gather a set of tools. Own your own tools. Take good care of them. Keep them well organized and clean and keep improving them, from now on. Get really good at your specialty. Be adaptable. Be ready to take advantage of unexpected opportunities.
Cultivate your art, your science, whatever you can contribute to our economy. Learn how to be a very high performance producer and trader. Trade things you like. Find something you like doing and get really good at doing that and trade your art, your skills and talents in our global online shopping mall.
The Internet is one big market place. Learn how to use it to your advantage. Don’t be selfish. Selfish ambition is the dark side of human nature. While you may harm a lot of other people, you will harm yourself more than anyone else.
Justice is a feature of reality just as real and constant as gravity. Oppression is the absence of justice. Justice is the absence of oppression. We will obviously need to cultivate a truly free and fair marketplace of ideas, values and ethics for the information age. Be fair.
Make sure everyone you trade with gets a good deal. Add value to society. Have fun making the world a better place. Own the means of production. Take responsibility for yourself. Exercise your self-determination and free enterprise, in harmony with the people you are trading with.
Use free and open source software, free and open source education and free and open source health care to set yourself free from the culture of dependence that our academy is teaching, big business is selling and government is enforcing.
Spirituality is the most important facet of human nature and civilization. Family values are inherent attributes of human nature and civilization. Nutrition and exercise and taking good care of your body is another important dimension of healthy human nature and sustainable civilization.
How you work, how you produce your food and shelter, your prosperity, and how you accumulate capital, how you exercise your creative freedom is the fourth dimension of human nature and civilization. There is no one right way. There are many productive ways to earn a living. Make sure you do so honorably.
Free Enterprise
Family farming and independent stores, operated by the family that owns it, is capitalism. Cottage industry is a good idea. Corporations are a good thing too. They are voluntary associations, big teams, cooperating in economic productivity. Big businesses can accomplish things no small business can.
I grew up on a family farm. I like that true, original form of capitalism. I encourage you to unleash your free enterprise, your creative freedom. Creativity is the most primal instinct in all life. Conscious submission to the divine rule of law is uniquely human and unleashes our creative freedom.
That’s how we can invent machines that fly, not by breaking the laws of nature, but by seeking the truth, exploring, discovering and then following the natural laws of aerodynamics. Human beings are consciously aware of this. Animals are not.
Human beings can understand that the sun is relatively stationary and the earth is revolving and orbiting around the sun. Animals cannot understand that. Humans thought that the sun rose in the east and moved across the sky to the west until not that long ago.
I like the idea of employees owning and operating the factory they work in. They should definitely get a fair share of the profits of the factory, in addition to their base wage. Some form of progressive taxation is a good idea, in my opinion.
People should not be able to hide in the crowd in corporations. Personal responsibility is an integral aspect of self-determination and free enterprise. Giving your responsibility away, is giving your freedom away.
I recommend that you do not do that. Take responsibility for yourself, whether you work in a giant corporation or in your own private enterprise.
Of course, having insurance against accidents and catastrophes is a good idea, but using corporations to shield individuals from suffering the consequences of their own selfish ambition and harmful behavior is nothing but corruption.
I want big business to thrive. They make life on earth much more pleasant in many ways. We, the people of earth, are terraforming earth. We’re building cities as fast as we can, all over the world. That’s a good thing. They are our 21st century pueblos.
The one idea that I add to the traditional capitalist idea that, if everyone does what’s best for themselves, that will produce the most prosperity, is that you should definitely work on making your productivity profitable for yourself, your family, your community and our one universal commonwealth.
Selfish ambition is the dark side of human nature. Of course, your business needs to be profitable in order to be sustainable. You also need to be mindful of how your business affects the people around you. Your business needs to be profitable for everyone, not just yourself. That’s the difference between business and corruption.
We are just now awakening into a class one civilization. One global, space-faring, federation of self governing nations. The nations will probably, gradually dissolve and fade away, as the one universal and divine civilization, the Kingdom of God promised in every true religion, arises and advances in waves of progress from now on.
Hire poor people to clean up the trash and build sidewalks. Make our cities pedestrian friendly. Prevent stop and go traffic every chance you get. Make our towns and cities safe, clean, decent and fun places to live.
Own your means of production. Exercise your creative freedom, your free enterprise. Make something valuable and trade it in our one world wide web of artificial intelligence. Have fun making the world a better place.
Increase your productivity. Defend your private property. Just do so in a way that is not selfish or harmful. Practice harmlessness in your free enterprise.
Remember, conscious, voluntary submission to God is the true nature of freedom. Forcing people to obey the rule of law is more like raising domestic animals, rather than governing civilized human beings.
Use your language and creativity, the most primal instincts in human nature, to educate people to be honorable citizens of one universal and divine civilization. Be an honorable citizen. Be productive. Be harmless. Be a high performance servant of God.
Photo by Maria Vonotna, iStock Photo by Bob Mccoy using Canon EOS Rebel SL2 Photo by sakkmesterke, iStock Photo by Bob Mccoy using Canon EOS Rebel SL2 Photo by Bob Mccoy using Canon EOS Rebel SL2 Photo by crstbrt, iStock