From: Hara Ra (harara@shamanics.com)
Date: Sun Jul 13 1997 - 05:29:04 MDT
Apologies to those who have seen this already...
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| Hara Ra <harara@shamanics.com> |
| Box 8334 Santa Cruz, CA 95061 |
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attached mail follows:
Sent from: PStuart <PStuart@aol.com>
THE DECLARATION OF INDIVIDUAL AUTONOMY
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for people to
dissolve the political bands which have connected them with others, and to
assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which
they may choose to aspire, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind
requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the
separation. We hold that no truths are self-evident, but must have their
usefulness demonstrated. That all people are created with equal freedom from
tyranny, but frequently accept domination or obedience to a legal code, to a
greater or lesser degree from person to person. That people are endowed with
only what rights they have chosen to be endowed with, through wisdom or
common folly, for wealth or ilth. That people can secure for themselves, with
understanding of their own unique situations, those rights which best allow
them to live in fruitful harmony with other people. That whenever any person,
Government, or other entity, not fully recognizing the unique situation of
each individual, becomes in any way oppressive or destructive, people may
choose to ignore, alter or abolish such an institution, and to live in
whatever manner they decide, with understanding of the situation, will allow
them whatever conflict or harmony they so require for their happiness and
survival. That man can choose to resolve any conflict through intelligence,
with, adequate communication and a full understanding of each and every point
of view involved, by each and every person involved. Prudence, indeed, will
dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and
transient causes, but only after calm consideration of the True Will and
mutual goals of all those individuals involved. All experience has shown that
people are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right
themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a
long train of abuses and usurpations evinces a design to reduce them under
absolute Despotism or Dogma not chosen by the individual concerned, it is
their right, it can be their choice, to throw off such a Governmentand to
accept responsibility, each for their own future security.
The most apparent difficulty herein lies in the general inability of people
to understand the specific direction of their unique organism, or,
understanding it, to make the firm resolve necessary to shake free the
shackles of cultural conditioning and Dogma accepted through poorly
considered indoctrination. Therefore, those of us who now declare their
individual autonomy (and this document speaks only for those who freely
choose to do so) are faced with a potentially arduous task of
self-examination, compounded by the resistance encountered from those who do
not comprehend the changes engendered by this individual declaration. But the
rewards of this liberation are enormous, being the very fulfillment of each
individual's own nature, and therefore the nature of the human race as a
whole. Those of us who choose to accept this self-responsibility do so, we
believe, for the advantage of all.
The crimes against individuals by those who blindly group together under the
flags of Governments, religions, and other institutions are too numerous to
fully discuss, but can be categorized in the following way: Actual
legislation which limits the freedom of individuals in speech, worship,
thought, and any actions which do not, themselves, infringe upon the freedoms
of others; Cultural norms, taboos, peer pressures, moral codes and any other
influences which likewise limit the freedoms of individuals.
It should be strongly emphasized that we recognize that various dogmas,
models and systems are necessary for the harmonious growth of humanity, but,
in all things, these can be the choice of the individual. If one person and
another believe that it is their will to band together for a specific
purpose, under delineated restrictions, then they are free to do so, given
that their purpose still respects and allows the differing beliefs and
actions of those who stay apart from their group. If one person believes that
it is his will to stand apart from all others, then he is free to do so,
given that he does not interfere with the free behavior of any other. In the
same manner, the dogma or meta-dogma of this Declaration is intended to apply
only to those who freely choose to accept it as being beneficial or useful in
the attainment of their own True Will.
We, therefore, the people of the planet Earth who choose to accept
responsibility for our own lives, do publish and declare that we can be FREE
AND INDEPENDENT PEOPLE, that we are absolved from all allegiance to any
dogma, system or code that we have not chosen for ourselves, that we as
individuals have full power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances,
establish Commerce and to do all other Acts and Things which individual
People may of right do.
(c) copyright Philip H. Farber -- The Declaration of Individual Autonomy may
be reproduced freely in any form, as long as it is unaltered and contains
these lines.
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