Wednesday, March 30, 2005

Anarchy and utopia

From Thorn Coyle (3/28/05):

I am a utopian realist. Though I am an anarchist, I believe we are not currently ready for anarchy, but that, through internal and social change, we can become ready. That is why my spiritual practice is so important to me. I need self-discipline and self-examination. I need to grow stronger and more compassionate and expand my capacity to both listen deeply and take action. I really do believe we can evolve, and that is the thrust of my work. Anarchy is one outcome of that. But we are not ready yet. The old ways are too entrenched. Most people have no desire to govern themselves, nor are they even close to ready. And you can't impose anarchy on anyone. If you do, it isn't anarchy, is it? I really believe that by learning to govern myself and bringing myself into a state of balanced power, I can help others who are trying to do the same. We can work toward economic and political decentralization of power, individual and local autonomy (and we can already see the value of worker's collectives). But we have to become totally responsible first, for ourselves, our actions and our creativity.