joseph campbell – Becoming American

Transitions

Last week my wife and I signed on a new house. I have spent the last week moving boxes, packing and unpacking, and finally this weekend I will have my own office where I can write to my heart’s content. I have come a long way in the last few years. As many of you know, I grew up in England, and immigrated here at the tender age of 20 years old. Since then I have worked my socks off and embraced as much information and wisdom as I could get my hands on. I have read everything from Joseph Campbell to Ayn Rand, and have held many schools of thought.

It’s hard to formulate a good post when you’re constantly on the move. Over the last few months my wife and I have spent our limited amount of free time searching for houses, while building up our business. It’s been a roller-coaster but I now finally have a place of my own to call home. I now have my own little patch of earth that is mine to do with as I please (for the most part) and I feel proud to have come this far.

Some people are mind boggled by my posts and can’t understand what I’m really about. To put it simply; I’m all about being free to do whatever the heck you want to do, so long as you’re not harming anyone else. In essence you could call me a libertarian, but I’ve been known to vote republican, and I’m an active member of the local Tea Party group, which is essentially a hash of Reagan conservatives and young libertarians, looking to change the country for the better.

It’s been a bumpy road, and I’ve typed out hundreds of posts, some thoughtful, some furious, but always along the same line; leave me the hell alone, don’t tell me what to do, and give others that same freedom. I’m all about the individual. It is individuals who move this world, not some murky collective, which always blames others for its problems.

As I transition into my new home, I look back at my life so far, and can say that I am proud of the stances I’ve taken, of the positions I’ve attended, and the decisions I’ve made. Nowadays we’re told to compromise and not to be divisive. But if you are not decisive and take hard stances, how will the world ever progress? In business, if you don’t make hard decisions; you fail, and ultimately, whenever government takes over an entity; it fails also, it just delays the inevitable decline.

Now that I own my own property, I will fight harder than ever against the statists and the collectivists who wish to drag me into ‘the nothing’ that is their creed. I am an individual, I am a capitalist, I will be who I wish to be, no matter what any authority may do or say.

The liberty movement is growing. Last week I was lucky enough to meet such people as Libertarian Girl and Brad Lowry during the freedom expo event. Last week the anti gun bills were rejected, and just today CISPA was defeated in the senate. As we transition into dark times, with martial law being declared in Boston, and evil politicians trying to usurp our constitutional freedoms through traitorous bills, there is still light at the end of the tunnel, and I’m one of the people holding up that torch. It is my generation that has the most to lose or gain in the next few years. I already shrugged socialism once, but now there is nowhere else to go. America is capitalism’s last stand, and what a place to make it. The only country in the world founded completely on freedom. When I swore my oath to the constitution, I meant it, with every fiber of my being. I’m no nationalist, but I will not stand idly by while the greatest ever written document is shredded by oligarchs and looters.

Now that I have my own patch of earth to call home, I will defend my right to own it, and the rights of others to own theirs until my last breath, because life is precious, and it is too short to be lived in slavery to half witted politicians bent on global collectivism.

Keep up the fight and keep learning. I’ll be back and posting more often soon, but for now, the liberty movement is growing, and there are many of us out there carrying the flames.

Thoughts on the meaning of life

“life is without meaning, you bring the meaning to it” – Joseph Campbell

Well it’s been a hectic past couple of weeks. I wrote about the previous week in my last article, and this past week has been busy too, with end of quarter at work, and with a wedding on Saturday.

I got a chance to relax on Sunday and sit in the hot-tub at my in-laws house. While I was allowing the warm water to relax my muscles and the jets to massage the stress away, I was thinking about the past few weeks and about the future.

The reason I get into politics, is because I can see an erosion of freedom and responsibility in daily life. It is because of this that I argue my points across and try to make sense of it all.

When I take part in life, particularly when I take pictures of families at weddings, I’m not thinking about all the silly politics that goes on. I’m thinking of the meaning of life, and all the family and friends who are supporting the new couple. I’m thinking about how happy everyone is, and how to capture their smiles in the most natural way possible without them even realizing it.

I found out this morning that the father of the bride of one of our previous weddings, died on Saturday, around the same time that we were taking pictures of a newly wed couple and their families dancing and having fun. It is with bitter irony that you realize how fragile life is, and that while one family is singing and dancing, another is going through the terrible pain of loss.

This is the second time this year that a close relative of a newly wed couple has died shortly after us taking the last pictures of them. Its a haunting feeling to know that you took the last ever picture of them alive. The comforting aspect is that you know that you captured a memory of them for the family to treasure even long after they are gone.

With the birth of my second nephew, and the thoughts of starting a family of my own, I return to the political spectrum and wonder how much of a future there will be in the world without peace.

If the death of one person can upset so many people, how would a huge war make you feel? When you realize that many thousands of people die in conflict each year.

If we cannot balance a budget or restrict government growth, if we cannot stop the lobbyists and the corrupt politicians from sending our young men out to war, and continue to restrict growth through legislation. Then how much of a future will there be, not just for us, but for the world?

A friend sent me an email this morning of the space shuttle discovery. It shows the cockpit, and all the instruments. After many conversations with him about Star Trek and space travel, it seems as if we are going backwards as a civilization. Why are we not out there traveling the solar system? Why are we constantly bombing each other and starting wars? Why do we have a ‘war on drugs’? Why can’t we just leave each other alone, and only punish those who actually literally harm others?

Why do we feel the need to use the government as a way to redistribute wealth? Why do we feel the need to use the government to create benefit programs, when charities are perfectly capable of taking care of those in need?

Life has no meaning unless you bring meaning to it. When you are born, you are an empty vessel. It is up to your parents to teach you how to walk and talk. After that, it is up to you to continue the learning process. It is up to you to advance yourself. It is up to you not to hold yourself back. You must do what you feel is right. You must hold yourself to your own highest moral standards.

Life moves forward when you cherish it, and advance yourself through productive means. When you embrace knowledge and creativity, when you learn all that you can, and work toward your goals. You can and will achieve anything.

When you reject the old, the useless, the warn out policies of the past, and embrace new ideas built upon the learning of successes throughout the world, then you will have achieved a bright new future in which anything is possible.

I reject the two party system in politics because it is broken and it does not work. From an outside perspective, and can say they are almost identical.

I reject war because it is a racket. I am perfectly capable of defending myself.

I embrace the US constitution, because it is the most well written document to protect and embrace freedoms that the world has ever seen.

I embrace liberty and free markets because they allow the individual to create whatever he or she desires, and then sell that product to others to enhance their own lives.

I embrace value, true value, because if you value your life, the lives of others, the value of the inventions created by men of the mind.

I embrace new technologies. These new technologies were invented, and without them, we would still live in caves and would not have a civilization to begin with.

I embrace nature, because nature is abundant, and everything erupts forth from it.

I embrace respect. Because without it, fights ensue, and ideas get squashed. It is not the better idea that succeeds in battle, but the person with the largest hammer. Battles are necessary from time to time, but logic should always be supported by fact, and then brought forward as the successor.

Life has meaning when you bring meaning to it. What is the meaning of your life? What have you done today? What have you done to enhance and enrich your own life? And in turn, what have you done to enhance and enrich the lives of those around you?

Your hard work pays off when you keep going despite bumps in the road. Sometimes you have to stop and alter your course slightly, or even go off road, but if you stay on track you will get to your destination.

When was the last time you looked up at the stars? Can you imagine a better future?

What did you do to make your life happy today?

Are you living a happy life?

We live for our own happiness. If we are not happy, or able to find contentment, then our lives are wasted. You only get one shot at life. So make it a good one.

Life is without meaning. You bring the meaning to it

There are certain stages we go through in life. We have our childhood, our teenage years, our twenties, thirties and so on into old age. I believe that we are all supposed to become more intelligent as we grow older, and pass that wisdom on to our children and grandchildren.

For me, I suppose you could say I’m in the third stage. I’m currently in my twenties, but I’ve often been commented on in having wisdom beyond my years. It is a great feeling to hear this, and I am very humbled when I am told that. The reason is simple really. I read a lot, I participate in the world the best I can. I work hard, and when I’m home I study. I don’t study for some college exam or write an essay to please my ‘peers’. I study for the love of knowledge. My wife and I are getting close to the stage where we’re ready to have children, and I want to pass on the knowledge I have gained to them.

I’ve mentioned it a few times since I started my blog, that I love the book ‘Rich Dad, Poor Dad’. It is not so much about becoming wealthy in monetary terms, but becoming wealthy in knowledge so that you can get ahead and make the most out of life.

After meeting my wife, I entered a more mythological stage. A stage that many teenagers do not enter, and hence later get lost into alcoholism through high school and college. They ignore the realities of life, while submitting their minds to whatever their professors teach them in college. I took a different path. The second visit I made to see my wife (at the time girlfriend), I was 17 years old, it was the middle of summer, and we had 2 glorious months enjoying life, free of the burden of bills, exams and schedules. That summer I read ‘the hero with a thousand faces’ and in the fall time I read ‘reflections on the art of living’. Between Rich Dad Poor Dad, and Joseph Campbell’s two mythology books, I was changed forever.

Having noticed the differences between England and America was one thing, but seeing them on financial, and mythological terms, meant that I began to seriously question the world around me, and why people acted the way that they did, and why many never do anything to fix their problems.

Now that I am in my twenties, and having read many more books, such as ‘thus spoke Zarathustra’, ‘the art of war’, ‘the book of five rings’, among many others and more recently ‘Atlas Shrugged’. My view of the world is far different than that of an ordinary citizen of any given country.

Having moved to a different country, married the girl of my dreams, become a citizen of that country, and having spent a reasonable amount of time talking to another mythological mentor, I have shaped many contrasting opinions to others, based on found facts and thinking outside of the box.

The heroes journey talks about adhering to the call of adventure, and that is one that I have taken. Now that I am in my twenties I am fully constructing my life as I see fit, and again it is much different to that of others. Never be afraid to do something different, and never be afraid to question the world around you. Many people fall into the trap of debt slavery, and many never bother to look outside of the box.

My intentions with this blog are not to have the FBI start watching me. I am not interested in spreading conspiracy theories, and I have no intentions to harm anyone. I took an oath to defend the constitution of the United States, and having studied history, and learned the difference between constitutional republics and oligarchies, and the difference between capitalism and communism. I can honestly say that what this country was founded upon, is the best system in history. Having sworn my oath, it is my duty to help protect the constitution, and flash a light on those who would destroy it. I must help preserve it, because freedom is worth saving. Without it, our lives become ever more meaningless.

“Life is without meaning. You bring the meaning to it.” – Joseph Campbell, Reflections on the art of living

Our lives are supposed to become more and more meaningful as we grow older. Our knowledge and our hard work is supposed to fill us with abundance, and carry us up toward new levels in life. We are not supposed to become burdened by taxes and debt. We are supposed to be free to live our lives how we please.

And so, as I build my life, and I see all the forces that be, conspiring to destroy the republic, with all their silly little schemes to make an extra buck off the encroaching slavery of millions. I take up my sword and shield of knowledge, and run into the fray. For the hero cannot claim the day unless he is willing to charge head long into the belly of the beast. The fear of death becomes a wasted life, in which the fruits of your labor become sour, and your life ends up forgotten. The heroes of the past knew that they must do everything in their power to preserve and fight for freedom, for without it, we are nothing.

I am building my life for the better, and I write this blog to help expose the truth, so that you might help yourself build yours, and together we will preserve and restore freedom to this great nation. We will restore this beacon of hope to the world.

Life is without meaning, but we will bring back the meaning to it, and our lives will become more abundant because of it.

Bravery and the heroes call to adventure

So you’re beginning your education, and you have history as your guide. But what about your fundamentals? What is your drive? What is at your core? What are your belief’s?

Some people turn to religion, and some are drilled into a certain way of thinking from a young age, whether it be through a state education, private education, or some military academy. Others; like myself, fell between the cracks and began a path all on our own.

Joseph Campbell wrote about the heroes journey, and the call to adventure. At just 17 years old; I took that adventure, and it all leads up to where I am today.

The Hero with a Thousand Faces (first published in 1949) is a non-fiction book, and seminal work of comparative mythology by Joseph Campbell. In this publication, Campbell discusses his theory of the journey of the archetypal hero found in world mythologies.

Since publication of The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Campbell’s theory has been consciously applied by a wide variety of modern writers and artists. The best known is perhaps George Lucas, who has acknowledged a debt to Campbell regarding the stories of the Star Wars films.

The mythology, and the standards that you live by, are what define you. Without them, you are easily swayed in one direction or another. Like the saying goes: ‘You either stand for something, or you’ll fall for anything’ this becomes true without a set of core principles that you feel strongly for at heart.

Personally, I believe in freedom, independence, self preservation and reliability. I believe each man and woman have the right to make whatever they want of themselves, so long as they are not taking something involuntarily away from others.

Ayn Rand wrote about the ‘virtue of selfishness’, that determining your own reality was the most important step you could take, and not letting other people stop you.

So what is your life’s calling? What will make you get up and start doing what you really want to be doing? What will make you stand up and start walking toward your dreams?

As you begin to take the first steps, you will face many challenges, but as you meet and face those challenges, you will begin becoming more yourself, and the person you were supposed to be.

Take the heroes journey, explore the truth, be yourself, and discover the wonders of life.