When we look at outside circumstances, we're looking at the manifestation of ideas. This is why you'll often hear libertarians use the phrase "ideas rule the world."
That phrase is not just an arrangement of empty words. They're literal and powerful.
The best way that this writer can explain exactly why "ideas rule the world," is by using an analogy. The analogy will be one of a garden.
Imagine you are creating your own garden. You've done all the necessary labor to get it started, and now you're staring at nothing but a patch of fertile soil. In other words, it's just a potential garden at this point.
The soil is figuratively 'waiting' for the seeds that you will provide. You must initiate what this garden will look like by making choices.
Which seeds will you plant?
The soil doesn't care. It'll grow whatever you want. Plant a watermelon seed, and it'll produce a watermelon. Plant lilacs, and lilacs you will have. The soil will not, however, give you a cucumber if you plant a lilac. It'll return what you initiate.
The soil doesn't care where the seed came from either. Whether or not you bought it, or if a friend gave it to you, doesn't matter. The soil only cares that it's a seed.
Don't try to trick the soil. There are no shortcuts or "free lunches." Don't bury a stone into the ground with the expectation that something will grow. The soil doesn't recognize the fake, or the untrue, or the make-believe. Give it the truth, not the delusion. Give it the seed.
The moment you make your choice, and place the seed into the ground, miracles begin to happen.
Not only does the soil play its part, but so do all the elements; the sun, the seasons, the air, the rain ... Everything moves on that seed to manifest what you have chosen.
You play a very small part going forward. Maybe you spray some water if it's needed. But all the action that is taking place does so without any control exerted by you. Your most important job is to guard that seed, and keep the weeds away. There are always weeds that are ready to attack.
After enough time passes, the outward manifestation of your seed appears. You look out at your garden and see the results of the choice that you have made!
If you're happy with what you see, you let it be and enjoy your garden. You may even plant more of what you like and enjoy an even greater abundance of it.
However, if you're unhappy with what you see, it's up to you to rip it out by the roots and begin again. Hopefully you learn from your error and subsequently make a better choice next time.
Now...
Let's get to "ideas" and why they rule, not only your own life, but the entire world.
Our outward lives are the manifestation of our ideas. It's the same exact principle.
We each have our very own individual garden, our mind.
The seeds that we plant are the ideas that we choose to believe. The mind doesn't care what we plant. It'll return what is planted, and nothing else.
The mind doesn't care where your idea came from either. You could have thought of it yourself, heard it from a friend or family member, or (God-forbid) heard it on TV or the media.
The source of the idea does not matter.
But again, there are no shortcuts, or tricks. The mind doesn't recognize the fake, or the untrue, or the delusion. It will not make 2+2=5, no matter how hard you focus or concentrate on it, proclaim it, or believe it. Give it the truth.
If you believe in the false, you'll never see it manifested. It's equivalent to planting a stone in the soil. You'll forever look at a blank patch of soil if you expect anything to grow.
So the job that each of us individually has is a very BIG and important job.
We have to each choose:
"Do I believe this or not?"
"Do I accept this? Or do I reject it?"
The moment we make the choice, the moment we say "I believe this," we have planted the idea, and everything moves on that idea.
If the idea is true and in harmony with reality, we begin to notice all sorts of unexpected things that begin to occur. The phone call comes, the person that you need shows up, the opportunity opens, the nagging problem is resolved...
But how?
How does it happen like that?
Well, how can a massive oak tree be contained in a tiny seed? How does the perfect mixture of all the elements, the seasons, the sun and rain, turn it into a giant oak?
How can a bunch of American "traitors" separate from the British Empire; the biggest and most powerful empire in the history of the world at that point?
Be wary of anyone who claims to know exactly how the unexpected manifests an idea.
Now, unlike seeds, human beings are conscious and always acting with a purpose or goal in mind. We're always making plans, adapting, refining, reacting...
But our outer choices and actions are always based on our inner choices.
Action always follows the idea.
Every action has a consequence. You cannot have one without the other. And it is in these consequences that we see the results of the ideas that have been planted. We see the manifestation of them.
If you're happy with what you see, you enjoy it and can do more of it if you so choose. You can have a greater abundance of what you like.
However, if you're unhappy with what you see, it's up to you to replace the bad idea with a good idea in your mind, and begin again. Hopefully you learn from your error and subsequently make a better choice next time.
What does all of this have to do with Liberty?
Well, when we look out at the "land of the free" today we do not see the manifestation of the ideas of Liberty. Quite the opposite, and it's a result of the ideas that far too many have embraced.
Just as there are always weeds that are ready to attack the garden, so there are always the mental weeds of authoritarianism and tyranny that are ready to attack Liberty.
Liberty and tyranny are ideas.
They are beliefs.
One must always dominate the other.
While in America's early history, the ideas of Liberty dominated people's minds, and subsequently their actions, so today do the ideas of tyranny dominate people's minds, and their actions reflect it with pinpoint precision.
So what do we do when we look out at our garden, and don't like what we see? We rip out what was planted by the roots and plant again.
Likewise what do we do when we look out at society and see authoritarianism running wild?
We go right to the source...to the idea...to the mind.
The task at hand is to speak the words of Liberty, over and over, in as convincing a manner as possible.
The idea can't be forced on anyone, just like it can't be forced on you.
It can only be accepted by one person, followed by another, followed by 10 more people, and then 1,000 more, and then 100,000 more.
Once enough people say: "I believe in, and want my individual liberty," everything will move on that idea.
Liberty built civilization.
It can rebuild civilization.
The best way that this writer can explain exactly why "ideas rule the world," is by using an analogy. The analogy will be one of a garden.
Imagine you are creating your own garden. You've done all the necessary labor to get it started, and now you're staring at nothing but a patch of fertile soil. In other words, it's just a potential garden at this point.
The soil is figuratively 'waiting' for the seeds that you will provide. You must initiate what this garden will look like by making choices.
Which seeds will you plant?
The soil doesn't care. It'll grow whatever you want. Plant a watermelon seed, and it'll produce a watermelon. Plant lilacs, and lilacs you will have. The soil will not, however, give you a cucumber if you plant a lilac. It'll return what you initiate.
The soil doesn't care where the seed came from either. Whether or not you bought it, or if a friend gave it to you, doesn't matter. The soil only cares that it's a seed.
Don't try to trick the soil. There are no shortcuts or "free lunches." Don't bury a stone into the ground with the expectation that something will grow. The soil doesn't recognize the fake, or the untrue, or the make-believe. Give it the truth, not the delusion. Give it the seed.
The moment you make your choice, and place the seed into the ground, miracles begin to happen.
Not only does the soil play its part, but so do all the elements; the sun, the seasons, the air, the rain ... Everything moves on that seed to manifest what you have chosen.
You play a very small part going forward. Maybe you spray some water if it's needed. But all the action that is taking place does so without any control exerted by you. Your most important job is to guard that seed, and keep the weeds away. There are always weeds that are ready to attack.
After enough time passes, the outward manifestation of your seed appears. You look out at your garden and see the results of the choice that you have made!
If you're happy with what you see, you let it be and enjoy your garden. You may even plant more of what you like and enjoy an even greater abundance of it.
However, if you're unhappy with what you see, it's up to you to rip it out by the roots and begin again. Hopefully you learn from your error and subsequently make a better choice next time.
Now...
Let's get to "ideas" and why they rule, not only your own life, but the entire world.
Our outward lives are the manifestation of our ideas. It's the same exact principle.
We each have our very own individual garden, our mind.
The seeds that we plant are the ideas that we choose to believe. The mind doesn't care what we plant. It'll return what is planted, and nothing else.
The mind doesn't care where your idea came from either. You could have thought of it yourself, heard it from a friend or family member, or (God-forbid) heard it on TV or the media.
The source of the idea does not matter.
But again, there are no shortcuts, or tricks. The mind doesn't recognize the fake, or the untrue, or the delusion. It will not make 2+2=5, no matter how hard you focus or concentrate on it, proclaim it, or believe it. Give it the truth.
If you believe in the false, you'll never see it manifested. It's equivalent to planting a stone in the soil. You'll forever look at a blank patch of soil if you expect anything to grow.
So the job that each of us individually has is a very BIG and important job.
We have to each choose:
"Do I believe this or not?"
"Do I accept this? Or do I reject it?"
The moment we make the choice, the moment we say "I believe this," we have planted the idea, and everything moves on that idea.
If the idea is true and in harmony with reality, we begin to notice all sorts of unexpected things that begin to occur. The phone call comes, the person that you need shows up, the opportunity opens, the nagging problem is resolved...
But how?
How does it happen like that?
Well, how can a massive oak tree be contained in a tiny seed? How does the perfect mixture of all the elements, the seasons, the sun and rain, turn it into a giant oak?
How can a bunch of American "traitors" separate from the British Empire; the biggest and most powerful empire in the history of the world at that point?
Be wary of anyone who claims to know exactly how the unexpected manifests an idea.
Now, unlike seeds, human beings are conscious and always acting with a purpose or goal in mind. We're always making plans, adapting, refining, reacting...
But our outer choices and actions are always based on our inner choices.
Action always follows the idea.
Every action has a consequence. You cannot have one without the other. And it is in these consequences that we see the results of the ideas that have been planted. We see the manifestation of them.
If you're happy with what you see, you enjoy it and can do more of it if you so choose. You can have a greater abundance of what you like.
However, if you're unhappy with what you see, it's up to you to replace the bad idea with a good idea in your mind, and begin again. Hopefully you learn from your error and subsequently make a better choice next time.
What does all of this have to do with Liberty?
Well, when we look out at the "land of the free" today we do not see the manifestation of the ideas of Liberty. Quite the opposite, and it's a result of the ideas that far too many have embraced.
Just as there are always weeds that are ready to attack the garden, so there are always the mental weeds of authoritarianism and tyranny that are ready to attack Liberty.
Liberty and tyranny are ideas.
They are beliefs.
One must always dominate the other.
While in America's early history, the ideas of Liberty dominated people's minds, and subsequently their actions, so today do the ideas of tyranny dominate people's minds, and their actions reflect it with pinpoint precision.
So what do we do when we look out at our garden, and don't like what we see? We rip out what was planted by the roots and plant again.
Likewise what do we do when we look out at society and see authoritarianism running wild?
We go right to the source...to the idea...to the mind.
The task at hand is to speak the words of Liberty, over and over, in as convincing a manner as possible.
The idea can't be forced on anyone, just like it can't be forced on you.
It can only be accepted by one person, followed by another, followed by 10 more people, and then 1,000 more, and then 100,000 more.
Once enough people say: "I believe in, and want my individual liberty," everything will move on that idea.
Liberty built civilization.
It can rebuild civilization.
