Gettin' Free 3

Getting free from the many masters who hold us in bondage is far from easy and may not even be possible for the majority. There are no abolitionists, no underground railroads and no armies or proclamations by tyrants set to "free the slaves" this go 'round. If it is to be done then you shall have to free you and yours on your own. Total freedom may not even be possible in today's world unless one is willing to adjourn to the farthest fringes of society and live amongst the trees in the wilderness, for it is certain that we have no North to run to.

Freeing yourself is no easy task given the reach of the tentacles of slavery in todays world. Some slave master or one of the myriad overseers touches or has touched virtually every facet of our lives. How free can we be? I'm not sure, given the reach of things. The best we may be able to hope for to get rid of the heaviest of our chains and try to work things out from there.

The first chain to dispose of is going to be the ones which tie us to our corporate masters. The ones which bind you to the desks, cubicles, assembly line or what have you, are the chains which need to go first. Many folks whom I know have commented upon this recently and it truly shows the need for a paradigm shift in how we choose to view and do our work. Too many people confuse jobs and work and herein lies the key to the corporate lock. Separating your work from your job is the key to freeing yourself from one master, the one who determines what you're worth on a day to day basis as an asset. Within every person lies an artisan or a craftsman just waiting to return to their pre-Corporate Revolution roots and become the masters of their own fates once again.

There are a great many chains to sever when fleeing the Corporate Master. There's the job itself, but there are also the smaller chains. Insurances, investments for retirement, regular income and all the myriad perks which may be concomitant with your current status. These are often the strongest links of the chains and can be the most difficult to release. They are a burden which you must shoulder as a free person, with no master to provide or subsidize them or you must do without them. What you do once you're free requires even more work. No-one will define you and your chosen work from the moment you choose to be free. If you've spent your time at a desk coding software you're going to have to find an outlet for that skill that keeps you free from corporate masters. If you were a company chef you're going to need to redefine how you use you skills. Perhaps you'll take up small batch production of a food and sell at farmers Markets or to local restaurants or start a small scale catering service. Regardless, you'll need to step outside the box if you wish to remain free. Think big!

Then there's the freedom and dread of freeing yourself from the theft by withholding which your previous "employer" was obligated to engage in for the Über Master of the State. You'll need to take a decision where this is concerned. Do you break this link to another master or continue paying gelt to make things easier. This is a tough choice and the decisions you take in this regard will be life changing, for good or ill.

Getting free from the Mastery of the State is nigh on impossible given the Brobdignagian reach of its tentacles. Eliminating their touch upon your life may require you to exit to the woods and live a quiet life, maintaining a small and obscure presence. Honestly, I have no tried and true answer to this one. You may choose to ignore the Powers That Be, but there is no assurance that it will choose to ignore you in turn. It could well be that they will make it a point to pursue you via their escaped slave hunters and make it a point to return you to the fold against your will. This has happened in the past to folks like the Weavers and the Branch Davidian's. There are no guarantees that you will make it to freedom or that you'll maintain it, even if you manage to achieve it, despite the numerous guidelines out there.

Escape it we must, tho. If those who desire freedom cannot come up with a solution of gettin' free then we, like Nat Turner shall be left with only one choice. A choice most of us have worked diligently to avoid. Breaking the chains of our corporate masters may well be the easiest way to attain a modicum of freedom and it is something we must all pursue in one way or another for ourselves and our descendants. Breaking free of the plantation, tho...that's going to take some work if we are to gain freedom without the spectre of burning down the plantation.