My dear friends, have you ever seen people being led around, as though they have not a thought of their own in their own heads?
Have you scratched your head wondering, how did this come to be?
Have you read or seen the news, followed tweets and other social network posts, watching the downfall of loved ones, hated ones, and celebrities as they devolve from free people into bot-like minions?
Have you ever gasped in disbelief at their stupidity, knowing that you would do so much better than they ever would?
If you have answered “yes” to even one of these questions, if you have ever felt this way for even one second of the precious life that the Fates have gifted you, my good dear friends, I can tell you this with utmost confidence:
That you, good friends, are correct in your way of thinking, to be puzzled at the naivete of your fellow citizens who seem so weak in their character. It is more than the right thing to shake your head in disgust, when free citizens who have been loved, nurtured, and educated by the society around them turn their backs on the goodness that was showered on them, by defying the good morality given freely and generously by falling prey to the violence of bullies and tyrants.
And why, pray tell, did such individuals get to such an accursed place in their lives? Why did they fall headlong into the morass of stink that is cowardice and weakness?
Why, it is simply because they forgot to think for themselves.
They are the weak ones of the herd, the ones who fall prey to the wolves around them.
This, my good friends, are how those among you become the fallen, the ones who must be culled. They follow blindly the first one who walks into their path, and they do so at their own peril.
Living in a free society, one which is as blessed as ours, comes with a very weighty price. There are many, many choices you must make. And there are plenty of people out there who wish to lead you in a direction which does not match the good morals that our free society upholds.
Those with a weak nature will be the most vulnerable, and will forsake their own soul while listening to the voice of others, telling them what to do.
They are the ones who are lured with promises of power, of pleasure, and of easy choices that are made for them.
I am certain that you, my friend, have seen many of these wolves dressed as shepherds, leading those of flaccid character into hearths that turn to fiery pits.
You have seen this, of course. It has happened over and over, no matter what warnings have been issued to the masses, or what clarion call pleaded for those mindless followers to step back from the abyss of doomed dominance.
It is a horror, is it not, to see such mayhem that the weak allow themselves to fall prey to?
Watching your fellow humanity fall on their proverbial anuses in such a manner, how can you be assured that you yourself do not slip into the same elusive trap as they did?
Well, my good friends, all you have to do is learn how to think for yourself. Make your own decisions, and not ones which follow the trend of the day that will take you down the moral path of depravity and indecency that so many of your follow citizens are prey to.
You have an obligation to yourself and the world to learn how to think well. Citizens of the world who can think are the ones who can teach. They are the ones who lead.
Peer pressure comes in many forms, my friends. It isn’t just the bully kid on the playground who becomes the tyrant, or the popular teens who threaten to cancel you if you don’t take the drugs that they insist that you scarf down so they can laugh at you while you mindlessly kowtow to their demands.
No, peer pressure is far, wide, and vast. It encompasses all that you read, hear, and see. At any given moment, anyone or everyone could be trying to sell you something.
You need to do what you can do to tune those voices out. You must learn how to think for yourself in order to survive the jungle that has been set up to eat you alive while you are sleeping within yourself.
My friends, my good dear friends, you can trust these words of this heartfelt message to you as being the message that you must hear to set you on this right path. You will know the truth of these words here in this essay if you really are honest about yourself and really pay attention to all that is said here.
Listen to this message, I implore you, and set your soul right before you alight yourself upon the world’s demons that wish to eat you alive. You will discover the independence within yourself, and you will know how to be free if you just listen carefully, and follow these instructions as precisely as you can to the best of your ability. Because you don’t want to be led astray by false words and promises, my good friends.
Let’s begin right now, your most important lesson to be a free citizen, with several tips that you can follow and repeat so that you can remember in a spot.
DO: You must begin with a strong sense of mind in order to be able to think for yourself. And to have a strong sense of mind you need a strong sense of self.
That means, knowing the reasons why you do what you do. If you make decisions without understanding yourself, then you are led astray by the ramblings and false promises of other people. They will tell you who you are, and what your values should be.
So, how do you find out who you are in the midst of all the voices that will clamor for the integrity of your soul?
This is how, my friends. I will tell you exactly and specifically.
A) First, it’s important to tell the difference between the voices that speak. We will distinguish between those voices that mean you well, mean you harm, and those who have no idea what they are talking about. Let us examine each of the specifics behind these so you know exactly what to do at any given time.
i) There are the voices that mean you well. These are the people that want only the best for you and will do anything to make sure that what they see as good in you will come to fruition. They will tell you the instant that you are off course, because they watch you and know you, better than you know yourself. They are the ones who can call you on your nonsense, and will not hesitate to intervene to stop you from walking down a course that they know will lead you away from what they have seen as being the best, perfect course of action for you.
ii) There are the voices that really don’t care about you, one way or another. My friends, in this harsh, impersonal world, I am sad to inform you that the individuals in this category are the majority. Additionally, these indifferent folks are not restricted to the unseen masses that you will never meet except for a haters’ session on social media or cutting you off on the highway. They are, unfortunately, the majority of the people you meet. And they can be lurking right under your nose, perhaps even in your own household. You must know exactly what to do to help yourself in this situation and how to specifically evade any trap that may set you up due to expectations you have that they will care.
iii) Although the indifferent are the vast majority of those you encounter, there are unfortunately a great, great many who seek to do you harm. And the most dangerous category of these wolves are not the one who come to with with baring jaws and rabid fangs at the ready to tear you to pieces. No, my friends, destruction many times comes with a smile, with charm, with compliments, and much flattery.
These are the people who seek to harm you by dominating you with their claims of concern for your welfare and an ear for your woes. They are the ones who tell you who is good, who is not, and claim to have your welfare in mind when what they seek is your destruction, the better that they can hear themselves talk. They look to destroy the competition against their dictates and missives through a veil of helpful but insipid insights and slogans, through speech that claims to bring the best out of you but only serves to dull your senses, the better that you can be swallowed by them only to be spit out when you are no longer useful to their ends.
You must never listen to people like this, who claim to have your best interests at heart when they know little to nothing about you and only have magical thinking at their behest.
These are the most reprehensible people, worse than an axe murderer. For at least with the axe murderer, you see the violence coming for you.
B) It is imperative take these guidelines to heart:
DO:
1) Listen to what you are saying to yourself.
You should do this as much as you can.
You need to make sure all of your decisions are in line with what your conscience dictates.
2) Let go of all old friends who have brought you down.
This means all of them. This cannot be emphasized enough, the importance of letting go of anyone who causes you any confusion, the ones who question you or tell you what to do when you know where the only place they will take you is far away from yourself and your freedom.
3) Check yourself often.
Ask yourself whether what you are doing is what others would want you to do or what you want to do. It is very important to keep your goals in mind. You need to write down your goals, repeat them as much as possible to yourself so your mind is focused on you and what you want.
4) Get new friends.
a) Ask around and find out what other people have done. You will learn to think for yourself from those who have shown that they know how they how to think for themselves.
How can you discern these people from those who have not? They follow people who have learned to think from themselves, versus those who have just gone along with others just because it was expedient at the time.
b) Get a buddy system.
A buddy system will allow you to be accountable for your goals. It’s imperative that you choose a person who has what you want so when you speak to them, they will be able to guide you in the goals you want.
c) Tell your buddy that you want him/her/they to keep you accountable.
It is vitally important to make sure your buddy keeps tabs on you. It is so easy to fall prey to people who will lead you astray. Your buddy will keep you in line, and remind you of what you need to do, and what goals you have.
You should at least contact your buddy once a week, but daily is preferable.
DON’T:
1) Let anyone tell you who you are, because you are one of the strong ones!
By being this way, you will never be a victim to anyone who wants to tell you what to do, who to be, and what your life should be!
2) Pay attention to anyone who goes on and on about what you should do.
They are fools with big mouths and don’t have anything better to do than tell others what to do and to put them down. They are the kind of fools that do worthless things with their lives, and you should never pay attention to anything that they say.
3) Pay attention to commentary, negative or positive.
The former will fill your brain with angst, nonsense, disarray, confusion and a whole army of dysfunction that will only serve to make you a servant of what others say, and anyone who does this is a complete fool to waste their time to listen to any of this. The latter will wind up buttering you up and fattening you, so that you are lulled into submission.
You as a worthwhile, free-minded citizen have too many valuable enterprises to do with your life to waste your time with their nonsense! You are worth it, you are valuable, and don’t ever forget how much you mean to the world with all that you can give to it!
Think of all the valuable things you can do with your life and don’t let anyone sidetrack you with flattery that is intended to fill their agenda and not the one that you know is best for you!
BOTTOM LINE:
Refer to this list as much as possible, and if you are so inclined you will be grateful to know that the more that you pay attention to everything you say, the more you listen to everything you do, the more that you learn the lesson of who you are, you can be the you that everyone else will want to follow so they can learn the ways of independence through you!
Check in with your accountability buddy! If you are unsure of who is trustworthy, just consult anyone that is an advocate of what this treatise posits. You can’t go wrong if you stick with guidance you can trust in this world of deceit and machinations! You will remain independent and free if you follow the right people who think for themselves, just like you strive to do!
REMEMBER AND REPEAT:
You are not a follower! You are a leader, seeking truth!
Do not be the follower! Do be the free one! You can do it!
Follow the dreams of the winners you see! And you will never lose!
MEMORIZE THIS LIST AND KEEP IT CLOSE TO YOUR HEART! YOU NEVER KNOW WHO IS OUT TO GET YOU IN THIS WORLD TO STEAL YOUR HEART AND MIND!