I’m continuing my reporting on the current installment of Conservative Estimate, the recently founded website that is devoted to demolishing Conservatism.
Yesterday Mr. George discussed what it will take to overcome the pervasive force of Fear: aligning ourselves against Fear and alongside Creativity and its companion, Freedom.
Today he reexamines the fears underlying conservatism, and shows how they prevent us from aligning with the force of Creativity.
Please join me on the other side of the orange smoke trails.
Mr. George begins by reminding us that his earliest posts uncovered the two primary fears that undergird the Myth of Scarcity and the Myth of Self-interest. He also reminds us that he has shown these two fears to be severely limiting factors in our lives:
They are the principal reason why the baby boom generation has made such a mess of things. Because they fear scarcity, they have tried to pile up wealth beyond all reason. By doing so, they hope to convince themselves that they can’t be touched by scarcity. And because they fear others, they have tried to maneuver themselves into positions of power, so that they can take advantage of others if they consider it necessary.
The result of all this fearful activity is man-made scarcity. This scarcity in turn generates more fear of scarcity and more fear of others, in a never-ending cycle of fear for those trapped in the Myther world view.
The solution, he suggests, is to break free from the Myths, since they all stem from Fear.
Then Mr. George goes on to discuss just how devastatingly limiting the Myths are.
[N]o one can be truly creative, truly the author of his own life, and truly a benefactor to his fellow men if he remains under the spell of the Myths. The reason for this is that the Myths, as we have seen, are all about Fear, and Fear limits severely what one can do, what one can see, and what one can imagine.
Why does Fear cripple us like this? Because as soon as we fear someone or something, we instantly give it power over us. Suddenly we become reactive, always watching to see whether and how we can avoid falling into the situation we fear. Suddenly we are no longer the prime mover in your own lives, but the slaves of others.
He then gives several examples of how Fear limits our potential. Fear of heights will prevent you from seeing the breathtaking sights that can only be viewed from on high. Fear of authority figures will forever prevent you from getting close enough to them to learn what they have to teach. Fear of public speaking will prevent you from experiencing the rush of an appreciative audience’s response. Fear of risking money will prevent you from investing wisely.
Finally, Mr. George shows us the connections among Fear, Freedom, and Creativity:
By controlling you this way, Fear prevents you from being creative. If you are under the control of someone or something outside of yourself, you cannot create at all; you can only follow the promptings that come from the person on thing that controls you. And even if you are relatively free in areas that don’t touch one of your fears, you can only go so far in that area—only up to the point where it collides with the area of your other fears. So your whole life is cramped and squeezed by your fears. The more of them you can clear away, the more creative you will be.
You can read the whole post
here.
Tomorrow, Mr. George will explain why the Major Myths actually increase our fears, rather then alleviate them as Mythers imagine.
I’ll be reporting back each day as a new installment appears.