Evasion?
We inherently distrust the act of evasion in others, the evasion of questions, taxation and obligation, it marks people out as unreliable and to be avoided, social outcasts that should be excluded. It has the reputation of being a tool of clever, manipulating people who tell half-truths without lying but a lack of real honesty. That they conceal what they want and their intentions behind a pleasant façade. However I would like to reclaim this act for the non-compliant, nonconformist, rebellious minority, those who wish to lead their own lives free from the judgement of others and acts of social force that the majority can exert upon individuals. Which is every bit as real and violent as physical and economic force. Evasion in its honest form is an act of self defence, evasion is a tool, it can be used for good or bad, those who act out of fear use it for self-gain and influencing the actions of others for their benefit, but it can used from a place of love, kindness and compassion, to protect and defend those who are different and out of step with their society.
That is one of the reasons it generates discomfort for those with a stake in social stability, which includes the elites, the authorities, the collective interests of business, education and institutions, and the majority of people who live within a society who are stakeholders that enjoy benefits from the system and have an interest in its rigidness and continued unaltered existence. Those who like the current order and are frightened of change and wish to resist it, who believe in the absolute preservation of current situation and resist anyone that wishes to challenge the status quo as a danger to all, which should be eliminated. And all societies has this tendency to some degree or other, traditions spring up like flowers after snow and they become entrenched so quickly due to our tendency to think that what is true now has always been, we are capable of extraordinary acts of mass amnesia.
A good example of this is that we all know that cellphones have only existed for a decade or two, and yet it is almost impossible to think back to a time when this technological marvel did not exist, even for those who lived most of their lives without it. We forget the way things were so quickly, how much change has happened, and yet resist future change so determinedly. We like the sensation of things being the same, even when it is manifestly not true. And those who evade and challenge that equilibrium and stability, undermine the intention of our social structure because they are not playing the game honestly and with the spirit that is intended, they do not share society's values and mark themselves out as dishonest actors, that are to be rooted out and exposed as frauds. That is why we have the legends of shape shifters, vampires and a shameful history of burning witches at the stake. They are examples to us all that anything that is different is automatically bad and evil, we fear individuals who fail to act according to the rules, we stigmatise them and we justify destroying them.
Which in a perfect society would not be a problem, we could justify reconditioning if it was to help the less than perfect grow as beings of consciousness, if it was not accompanied by consequences, acts of force and punishment, if it was just a loving act to help evolve, teach and develop another person's consciousness. However that is not the situation we find in today in any society in the world, it takes are special, crazy sort of patriot who thinks their country is a perfect utopia to defend the position that we have found our Eden. We are developing society, still fumbling with our fingertips in the dark towards something that is better, more aligned with our inner nature and that is supportive of all. Yet so many societies act like any sort of change is abhorrent, that evolution is a clear and present danger and threatens their existence and stability.
When facing such a unreasonable overseer, that expect you to conform and not just respect the current situation but embrace it wholeheartedly. Societies that give you a predestined pathway through life, a check-list of duties and obligations to be fulfilled to be a good citizen, where you ignore your own wants and boundaries so that you can sacrifice yourself for the greater good. Though what is that greater good and who is it actually good for, apart from the elites and those hoping to climb the ladder towards the top who knows. It offers nothing for the masses, other than a thankless life of hard labour with no reward. Society around the world have set up a vast machine of cogs that are powered by human treadmills, you get to choose which particular cogs you power if you live in a liberal society, but nevertheless all those cogs are assigned, and indeed people fight over who gets to have which one. And if you think they have not, just look at the poor and homeless in your country and see what happen to people who refuse or are unable to become cogs in that machine.
However there is a choice, you can choose a different path and it will look different for everyone, you can to choose to evade, to undertake such an adventure, you have to first be aware of the machine's existence, how it works and its many traps that sucks you in. You have to decide whether you want to being entwined and caught by the machine, or whether to evade its claws, the status of qualification, student debt, expensive toys, taxation, obedience to social norms, family obligation, shame, the capitalist system, they are all levers of social pressure and force, they dictate your behaviour, they draw you into the system.
It is important to note that evasion is not the same as opposition, the system loves a little opposition, it knows how to deal with it, it absorbs the energy they require is, it makes it stronger because it gives it a reason to have tools of strength, it justifies the existence of the criminal legal system, police enforcement and surveillance and control of its resources including but not exclusively the people, land, technology and capital.
Evasion is quite different, it does not confront rather it subverts, it bypasses and steps out of the way of the systems of control. It refuses to engage in either argument, discussion or confrontation, it is like water, it finds its way around, it ignores the obstacles in its path and simply travels around the things that tries to stop it. By being malleable and flexible, it finds the freedom to travel to its destination, and whilst water displays the characteristics of intelligence flow, humans gets to deliberately choose where they want to go, we get to choose what we want and what is important to us, we are capable of intentional flow. What is astonishing is that we are able to appreciate how time affect our purpose, we can understand that a river starts at the top of mountain as a spring and travels all the way to the sea.
The stream does not set out to become an ocean, but we can, we can envision every part of our journey before even taking the first step. That can generate fear and expectations that can prevent us from even starting the journey, we can allow ourselves to become boxed in and trapped in a man made lake, stuck in the same routine. However there is always the option to evade what you should be doing and chose to make that journey to a better life. And you can start in small ways, you can just decide what you truly want to do today and flow towards it, just by knowing what you want, you start to allow life to give you the opportunity to move you towards that goal or want. It allows you to quickly choose whether this action moves me closer or further away from my destination, and then you get to ruthlessly discard anything taking you in the wrong direction, even if it would look good on your resume, feel good in the moment or is what you should be doing.
And once you have practised on the small things, and you have done so for a week or a month, you start to build your competence and confidence that it is possible. You can then start deciding about bigger things, where do I want to be in a month, three months, a year, ten years time, but if this seems overwhelming, the easiest step is the first step but it is also the hardest step. So just experiment, try things, do not start an epic journey, just take a small walk and if you do not like where it is going choose another direction and you never know where you might end up. And if a tree falls down across your path, you can move the tree or jump over it, and there are going to be a lot of obstacles in the way of any path you choose, so have the awareness that much easier to evade them than it is to change or remove them.
