Now I want to talk about polarities. You know, in groups and out groups. When you label yourself as an anarchist, vigilante, communist, capitalist, free-marketeer, Austrian economist, left-wing, right wing - it is just blah blah blah.

These are just words. They're big hefty ideological concepts which don't really mean anything. Let me explain

For you to be something, you need an enemy

The Anarchists' enemy are the Statists. For the free creative-spirits, it's the conformists. For the open-minded individual, it's the dumb unthinking sheeple. For the poor, it's the evil greedy rich people. For the rich, it's the lazy unemployed poor living off welfare.

Anything you identify with requires you to draw battle-lines. In order for you to be something, you need something to oppose

If you didn't have an enemy you wouldn't notice it

Lots of things work naturally without your conscious attention. Your lungs breathing air. Your heart pumping blood around a complex network of pipes. Your supermarket ordering and buying food. Your garden growing.

It all happens by itself.

What works well and goes smoothly doesn't get noticed. Our minds focus and gravitate towards conflict because that's where there is danger and rewards.

Humans have a need to belong

In primitive cultures you would hunt animals to feed your offspring. You'd also go to fight against another tribe. This focus on conflict helped keep us alive and safe - in the presence of threats.

We now live in a modern society where the dangers are much lower and don't really exist. It's very unlikely you'll die or be physically attacked by others. As much as you can hate our economic system it provides material abundance. Even with a minimum wage job you can afford food, a roof over your head, transport, warmth and clothing. You're expected to live until at least 80 years old if you live in a Western country.

However our brains work the same way. We still look for groups to belong in and be accepted by. We still look for enemies that endanger us and fight against them.

We have a need to fit and belong in a group. Yeah - even me, who hates being with others most of the time.

Our brain is hard-wired to give feelings of positivity and happiness when we're accepted by the group. And when we're shunned by the group, or criticised - it creates feelings of anger, depression, disappointment and shame.

You're not that good. And your enemy isn't that bad

If we lived in a totally anarchist world there would possibly be no health service, no fire service, no police if your house was burgled. These services would only exist for rich people. If we lived in a totally Statist, communist world we would probably all get enough money to survive and get our basic needs met. Everyone could have a job.

(For the record, I prefer individuality, anarchist, self-organising groups and ideals - but I'm saying the alternative may not be the apocalypse as everyone makes it out to be.)

If we lived in a world where everyone was a hippie, free-spirited, arty-farty type person - then who would work on lots of the systems we rely on today? (E.g. Air-traffic controllers, supermarket deliveries, warehouse packers, accountants who plan demand for iphones).

If everyone had smart ideas like you - then we wouldn't have any "sheeple" to communicate them to. They'd be too busy sharing their own ideas.

Your enemy isn't all that bad. You need him to define yourself (as the thing to oppose). He may also do good things - like all the jobs you don't want to do.

Furthermore, you're not that good. Telling people they're sheeple makes them feel bad, stupid and inadequate. Being arty might mean you create art that the world doesn't necessarily need or want or value. (You might get personal satisfaction, but that's something else)

And if everyone was an anarchist, and if 'taxation is theft' - then there would be no government revenue. There wouldn't be food stamps, welfare programs, housing benefits, unemployment benefits - and other things that prevent poor people from rioting and stealing from your expensive house.

The Tension between Yin and Yang is what makes life interesting

Just remember that you don't necessarily want to win your battle. If you totally beat your opponent and get everything you want then you've won. But you will lose having anything to fight for. Your life may become meaningless after that.

A boyfriend/girlfriend that agrees with everything you say isn't interesting. One who has divergent, independent opinions, is interesting. It's exciting to have someone and something that's NOT you.

Life is a constant flow of creation and destruction. Life and death. If there was no conflict in a TV show, book, film, soap opera, sports game. Then it would not be interesting. Some conflict is healthy.

Let's move beyond labels

The conclusion I'm arriving at here is that we need to move beyond labels. Instead of being this or that - we should accept that we're all humans. We all act in ways that are most beneficial to our self-interest.

And despite all the problems in Western society and it's economic/political system - it works fairly well for most of us.

As the internet, social media and Steemit grows and decentralises power, more and more of us will have a voice. More and more of us will have influence. More and more of us will make higher-value contributions to society. More of us will have access to resources and capital to work on projects.

Many of us have been marginalised for a long time by oppressive jobs, schooling, bosses, relationships.
But that's because they didn't see the abundance that we see. They see the world as a battleground for scarce resources. They see the best way to act is by joining the sheeple group - then they impose that on others.

But ultimately we'll all gain so much abundance, nobody will have a mindset of scarcity. Then we can start to respect others more. We can look to work together rather than fight. We can go beyond labels, see where others come from, and respectfully debate. (This is already happening strongly on Steemit)

We are one hivemind of consciousness experiencing itself. Let's give ourselves the gift of self-respect.