Welcome to Resilient Citizen.
This blog has been inspired by the works of countless people all over the world who have dedicated themselves towards developing the future of human civilization and society at a time when we are faced with tough challenges across the spectrum of our existence. Their efforts have yielded important insights into what it will take to create a stable, prosperous, and above all, free community in the coming years.
Most of what you will find here will have to do with the idea of “resiliency”, where the idea is to be as robust as possible in order to deal effectively with as many potentialities as possible. It does not mean becoming a completely self sufficient individual, such a thing is more fantasy than reality, but it does mean that one learns the necessary skills, and acquires the necessary tools to help produce as much of what one needs to survive and prosper as possible. This means learning to grow food, learning to build, maintain, or repair, and learning to be part of a real community again.
Fortunately this does not entail living as isolated villages across the face of the planet, doomed to weather the storm alone and without support from larger organizations and structures. The power of our technological know how, especially the Internet, allows us to cooperate with each other from remote areas of the globe, maintaining a common human solidarity even though we may be thousands of miles apart.
The idea is not to replace the tyranny and impersonality of the centralized state and economy with the controlling eyes of the town, but rather to emphasize the need for people to make as many decisions about their lives and their destiny as possible. Thus the resiliency ideal is one of essential liberty and decentralized approaches to solve as many problems as possible. It is born out of the notion that what works for Karachi may not work for Mexico City, that what works for the large metropolis may not be appropriate for the smaller suburb, and finally that what works for Pablo, may not work for Vanessa. Of course there are problems which we can only face together, and which will require common frameworks and alliances for the common good. But the impulse to centralize control must be resisted, for as the current history of the world shows, power concentrated is power abused.
Make no mistake though, embarking on this path will be arduous and perhaps even dangerous. The elites who currently control the world, like the elites of old, see themselves as the rightful masters of mankind. Many have noble intentions, and many do not, but all share in the lust for power and control which has plagued us as a species since our beginnings on this planet. They see the salvation of humanity in their own coercive powers, whether it is combating terrorism, eliminating the scourge of drugs, or keeping the economy afloat. Blinded by their own utopian visions and fanatical belief in the power of technology, they ignore the simple solutions and propose dense, bureaucratic, and ineffective half-measures for the plethora of problems confronting the world today. From Washington, to Beijing, to Moscow and London, the faces change, the details diverge, but the underlying impulse is the same; control. They use the violence of the state, the purse of business, and the apathy of the masses to continuously revoke the fundamental right of individuals to chart the course of their own ships.
This is not about class warfare, envy, or simple hatred of those who have achieved, it is simply a reminder to those in power that Harvard does not guarantee wisdom, and Yale does not imply virtue. It is to remind them that we will not be silent forever, that we will not allow others to decide for us how the future will turn out.
The retort has been made though, continuously now for centuries, as far back as the time of empires and absolute monarchs, that the people can not be left to their own devices, that they are too weak to stand alone. We are too dumb to not smoke, so it must be banned, we are too to frail to stop the criminal, so we must be guarded by thugs, we are too innocent to know truth, so the state must have its secrets. The task of this website is to prove such assertions as wrong today as they were two hundred and more years ago, when the tyrants of Europe were still debating whether or not to “give” us our rights.
It is not enough though to claim our rights, we must demonstrate our capabilities. Thus we must learn to defend ourselves as much as possible from brigands and terrorists, we must master the arts and sciences of our world, we must participate fully in our community, and we must exercise creative independence in all areas of our lives. Depending on unseen forces and unknown entities is what led us down the path of subservience, ignorance, and the herd mentality.
For those who are not ready for the challenge of becoming a man or woman of the 21st century, leave here and never come back. We shall meet on the symbolic field of battle as enemies in the struggle for the soul of humanity. For those who are not afraid though, stay and contribute to this and other places. Learn what you need to fulfill your true potential, train yourself to whatever perfection you can find, and stand resilient against the demonic forces allied against you. Become who you were born to be so that as a noble soul you may have the claim to freedom and the means to sustain it.
