If you have recently started to identify as a Voluntaryist or an Anarchist, it is likely certain feelings have been rushing through you like a huge bull in a tiny china shop. What these feelings are, in my experience, one could only describe it as what I’ve coined Escaped Cultist Syndrome(ECS); it’s a mixture of betrayal, hate, anger, hopelessness, acceptance, rage, and cultural displacement, topped with a bright red cherry of sullenness.
DID HE JUST SAY ESCAPED CULTIST SYNDROME....?
The first step to understanding this position would be to realize statism is a cult. Ever notice how you and individuals who believe in the State rarely see eye-to-eye on anything ever? It feels like you are talking to brainwashed cultists all day, because that’s exactly what it is. They believe in a superstition that is clouding any rational thinking processes they might have towards how individuals should interact; it’s providing a lens for them to see the world, but this is a false world: the State doesn’t exist.
Why do you have this Feeling?
Like Neo taking the Red Pill, he couldn’t believe what he saw. His whole world was a lie that was thrust upon him unwittingly, and we humans hate, above all else, being duped. Being duped and realizing it can be a pill too big for most to swallow, but to realize when you have been duped is to accept reality. The State is a superstition that almost all people you know, or ever will know, believe, and it can be a dread inspiring to attempt to grasp the utter fact that most of humanity is indoctrinated slaves.
So, you get a dose of this new reality. The statist lens you once saw the world through is like a distant memory fading from your brain, hardly recognizable. When going out to talk with your friends and family you naturally try and bring up this new thing you have found called Voluntaryism. IT FAILS MISERABLY. You then feel alienated. Cultural Programming and rejecting your own programming as well as theirs can lose you friends. Rejecting statism can make you feel so alone in the world, but this is just your natural reaction to mentally rejecting cult brainwashing. Anger can take over all of your emotions, peer pressure can cloud your principles, hate can fill your heart, disdain for the mentally enslaved will make you want to crawl in a hole and hope this is all a dream. DON’T DO IT!!!!!
You have many options, but let me tell you about two of them
Consider this for one moment: you have knowledge that can save lives, but this knowledge is very difficult to understand and can feel hopeless to try and convey. There are two choices. One of these will cause more sullenness, and more hate, and more anger, and more frustration. One may make you happier and provide a remedy for ECS.
You can stay quiet and keep to yourself and be left to your thoughts, shunning society, family, friends, and become a recluse that blames everything on those damn statists.
or
You can spread the knowledge and better humanity. Get active in your community. Show others how it's supposed to be done; teach others about Voluntary interactions and Consent. Refuse to self-silence, and walk boldly into the unknown.
How to treat ECS?
My suggestion is don’t bottle this up. It will make you less happy. Love of your fellow humans will destroy any latent Escaped Cultist Syndrome symptoms. The idea of heading for the hills far away from any statist heathens, that most likely will not fix your “ECS”; it will most likely make it worse. You may even start to have great EMPATHY for those around you. If freedom matters to you and you matter as well then, show it through your actions. Fight statism by Getting independent. Growing your own food. Starting a business. Building a charity. Most of all, help others by showing them the Truth, If you love other individuals then don't they also deserve the Truth. Don't let others fall victim to the horrors of the cult of statism.
About the Author
Thanks for reading this was my first article ever please let me know what you think.
My name is Dave, and I am a co-host on The Seeds of Liberty Podcast and a co-host on the Downfall with Jared and Dave. Check out our RSS Feed here http://seedsofliberty.libsyn.com/rss we are also on Itunes and Stitcher under Seeds of Liberty
If you’re asking others to not collectivize you, then stop collectivizing them. Only Individuals Act. - dp