Say the word "anarchy" and watch people recoil. Say the word "freedom" and hear them say "Of course freedom is important, but ..." People are scared of anarchy. People are scared of freedom. People are scared of what will happen if people aren't enslaved by an group which gives its employees a free pass to ignore the rules it forces on everyone else. Does that really sound so scary? Yes, freedom is scary, for those who have never left their cages.

Stockholm syndrome

It's no surprise that people are damaged after living their lives in cages. Jammed into a box, subject to the whim of whomever controls that box, made to perform any number of complex and strange acts... When you say to them, "We don't need the box any more, the box is gone - there is no box," they tremble, because the belief in the box is what kept them alive. They only know who they are in relation to the box. Without the box, who are they?

We are healers

"If shamanism is simply individualism in cultural context as explained by Terence McKenna, the shaman can fix the illusions of the culture because he is not subject to them. In this way anarchists are shamans." -Anam Paiseanta

If people are damaged souls, then it must be our task to heal them. Anarchists are healers; anarchists are shamans. We can show them what is beyond their culture, what they are, beyond the ideas they've been told that they must accept.

How do you heal a damaged soul?

To heal someone, they must want to be healed. How do you guide someone into desiring to be free of the fear - when they believe that it's this fear that keeps them alive?

Of course you can't make someone want something. You can't force good. But you can help them reveal what they really want. Every soul wants what it wants - every soul wants to be free. Set them free.

The space to transform

In November 2015, I took ayahuasca for the first time. At one point, it showed me a vision of my ex-girlfriend: first, as she was when I met her, a young girl of 20 years - surviving by hiding who she was from her parents - and when we broke up, an expressive, refined and sophisticated woman of 22.

"I transformed her," I thought.

"No," came the response. "You gave her space to transform."

You can never force someone into transformation, but you can give them the environment conducive to their growth - just like watering a plant.

Sitting with presence

When someone comes to another in anger, and attempts to start an argument, it's normal for the other person to respond with anger - only making the first person more angry.

What if, instead, the second person sat in quiet contemplation, becoming intensely aware of the sensations within his own body, allowing the anger to dissolve in his presence. Being free of any reaction, he gently guides the angry person into peace.

Anger leads to anger. Freedom leads to freedom. Freedom within, freedom without. Every moment is an opportunity to dissolve the fear that holds us back. The way to make others free, is to be free.

Conclusion

You don't have to convince anybody of the importance of liberty. You don't have to prove anything, provide stats, even present a logical moral case. You just have to show them what they really are - pure, beautiful and free.