~LOVE REPORTER AND FIRST CONTACT TEAM MEMBER WILL HARADER~
~WE NEED RULES RIGHT?~
We need rules right? Well, let's look at what rules have brought this world. The American Indians lived in relative peace and harmony for thousands of years. Not that they never fought with each other, but it was nothing compared to the wars going on in Europe at the time. They lived in cooperation with their neighbors and never had any need for strict sets of rules. Then the white man came and brought so-called civilization. He introduced things like property ownership, religion, all sorts of rules that we're supposed to keep people from fighting with each other. Then the white guys proceeded to slaughter the Indians by the hundreds of thousands. Their rules said they could do it. Even their religions, supposedly based upon a guy called the Prince of Peace, allowed for it. So the rules, that people swear up and down bring harmony to the world, brought the exact opposite and actually endorsed genocide.
But that wasn't the case in the 20th century was it? That was a century when all sorts of rules were passed to enforce human rights, peace and equality. So did the rules achieve these things? Well, let's look at what happened after World War I. Nearly every country involved swore that would happen again and the leaders all made flowery speeches about peace. International organizations were founded and all sorts of rules were passed to make sure a war that destructive would never happen again. People went back to sleep naively believing all their rules and treaties would protect them. Then, about a generation after WWI, when a new crop of young men was ripe for the plucking, the bloodiest war the world has ever known broke out. And there have been constant wars since then despite the United Nations and all the peace treaties and the disarmaments and so forth. We have heaps of rules designed to enforce morality upon the world, and yet the same countries who penned those rules are, at this very moment, dumping millions of dollars into finding more efficient and destructive ways to kill their fellow human beings. So, do rules work? Well, after looking at the facts, any rational human being is going to have to start questioning the assumption that rules bring us peace and tranquility.
The United States has thousands upon thousands of rules designed to create peace, freedom, equality and prosperity. And yet for all these rules designed to prevent crime and injustice, the US has the highest prison population in the world. A country founded on freedom, with all sorts of rules to enforce this, has far more people it keeps in tiny cages than countries far larger than the US. The rules simply don't prevent crime, they encourage it. They don't prevent injustice, they are the injustice. In trying to make people obedient to the system, the rules mostly just breed resentment of the system. In a democracy people are supposed to be passionate about their government. We've created a system where people are mostly just apathetic. Many "criminals" no longer care if they go to jail anymore. They're persecuted just as much, if not more, on the outside. At least in prison they're guaranteed a meal and a roof over their head.
Now I've given examples of the rules not working, but why is it that they don't work? Simple, rules and morals deny the very essence of what it means to be human. We all have a conscience, everyone is able to tell right from wrong, to determine what they should and shouldn't be doing. Through seeing the results of our actions, assisted by our expanding understandings, our conscience matures and grows. How do outside morals and rules interfere with this? They teach people to ignore their own conscience. When we follow outside rules, we don't develop our personal sense of right and wrong. Without that, it's quite easy for others to convince us of all sorts of things. Conscience is a "use it or lose it" type of deal, and it's the same with intelligence. The external rules teach us not to use our own brains. So all these morals and rules forced upon people only cause their own conscience to atrophy. It doesn't teach them to behave like a moral human being, it teaches them to behave like an unquestioning machine.
Now, there's one argument that always comes up when someone suggests that rules aren't needed. It is: "If we didn't have rules people would just run around killing each other". I have only to point to all the wars in the past, and those occurring right now, to show this isn't true. Not only do the rules not prevent people from killing each other, they often force people to kill each other. The governments and religions that tell us "Thou shall not kill" are the same organizations that tell us when it's okay to kill our fellow human beings. Talk about insane. So what causes people to kill each other if it's not a lack of rules? The military knows all about this, just ask them. They know damn well that people aren't born to kill, they're trained to. It takes months of heavy brain-washing to get people to kill each other, it's simply not a natural human behavior. You have to train them not to think for themselves, but to behave like machines and you have to get them to view their fellow humans as machines as well. Human beings don't kill human beings, only machines kill machines.
There's a very damaging belief I'd like to address here, the idea that people are born evil. Take Hitler for instance, many people believe he's evil incarnate. People believe his crimes were unforgivable and the world's much better off with him dead. I could go say these things publicly and people would probably cheer me on. What most people fail to realize, is the way so many people feel about Hitler, is the same way Hitler felt about the Jews. Hitler thought the Jews were born evil, just like people think Hitler was born evil. Hitler thought he was doing the world a favor by killing off the Jewish race, just like people think Hitler's death was a favor to the world. It's the exact same line of reasoning. In thinking Hitler was just pain evil, people avoid questioning why he did the things he did and what led him to such poisoned beliefs. It's no wonder people don't want to look at this, because many would find the roots of Hitler's madness planted within their own minds. In thinking people are just plain evil, we don't prevent such atrocities, we actually encourage them. It's the exact same reasoning that allowed for the Holocaust.
Now, what does the idea that people are born evil have to do with the original subject of rules? I mentioned before that many people believe that without rules there'd be nothing to stop people from stealing from and killing each other. So if this is the case, then people must be inherently lawless and immoral before they're taught rules and morals. I say this simply isn't true and that each being is born with Love in their Hearts. Peace and tranquility is humanity's natural state and all the rules that we teach people do nothing to encourage this. In fact, to get people to accept a system of rules, you have to teach them that their current way of thinking is somehow flawed. Religion figured this out long ago and called it "original sin". People are taught that humans were flawed from the very beginning and the only way around this is to follow all the rules religion gives us.
The implication behind all rules is that without them we'd do "bad" things. Now, thought is creative and when you teach people that they're inherently evil, some people are going to play the part. If you tell a person that humanity is selfish and greedy for long enough, that person's going to act selfish and greedy. The ignorant point to this as evidence that we need rules. I say it simply shows the awesome Creative Power of thought. Imagine if people saw nothing but Love within themselves and their fellow human beings. Do you think they'd treat each other the way most do now? Do you think we'd need thousands of rules to stop people from wronging each other? I tell you that Humanity living this way is fully possible right now. When people find Peace in their own Hearts, having external system to enforce a false sense of peace is absurd.
Love,
Will
