The Foundation of Liberty

It all begins with a thought. But it also depends upon what that thought is. All too often thought is simply taken for granted. Some thoughts are merely inconsequential while others are central to what we are and define our very existence as human beings. Such thoughts have great power, the power to create and liberate, and are always intentional and require great effort. The opposite kind of thoughts, which are merely the byproducts of a lazy and unfocused mind, require little if any effort and all too often have the power to enslave and destroy. Short of that they are merely a waste of precious time, that is to say, of life.

One thought in particular has incredible weight and value yet is so obvious that it too is all-too-often taken for granted. This being the case, if stated overtly it is quickly acknowledged and its importance just as quickly dismissed. In this dismissal lies a great tragedy because in doing so people also unthinkingly cast away their freedom, although they are never fully cognizant of this fact. All for want of truly considering, examining and comprehending a fundamental thought, an idea.

A central fact of existence is that a person’s mind is part and parcel with his or her body, they are inseparable. The implications of this fact are rarely, if ever, carefully contemplated. The one thing that every person possesses that cannot be controlled by any other person is the contents of his or her mind. In this sense then it can be said that the first possession every person owns is contents of his or her mind. And since the mind and the body are inseparable it follows that every person owns him or her self in entirety. This thought is typically and most often stated in the simple maxim, “You own yourself.”

The full weight of this thought is more fully felt when spoken in the first person, “I own myself.” The power and responsibility of this statement is something that some people, many people perhaps, shrink from, and in doing so relinquish their very freedom. In that moment they also forsake the opportunity of taking control of their own lives, and as the poet said, all the remains is to lead lives of quiet desperation.

This thought, the concept of self ownership, is both the foundation and the pinnacle of what it is to be a human being. It encompasses the whole spectrum of human experience.

Without it a person is either a slave to circumstance, or to others. Grasping and embracing it a person gladly assumes the mantle of individual responsibility for life and all that comes with it.

It all begins with a thought - this self-evident truth of self ownership. From this springs a whole plethora of correlatives, inexorable and inescapable ramifications and conclusions that derive from the power, weight and import of this single concept. In an unfathomable turn of events it even contains itself, for an individual must own the idea before it becomes valid, reveals its value and makes available all its inherent power. At that point it becomes more than a thought, it becomes a principle.

And that principle is the foundation of Liberty.