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  <title>joshua.seigler.net - ethos</title>
  <subtitle>Personal homepage of Joshua Seigler</subtitle>
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  <link href="https://joshua.seigler.net/" />
  <updated>2025-06-28T00:00:00Z</updated>
  <id>https://joshua.seigler.net/</id>
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    <entry>
      <title>Finally, a Coherent Worldview</title>
      <link href="https://joshua.seigler.net/posts/finally-a-coherent-worldview/" />
      <updated>2023-07-14T00:00:00Z</updated>
      <id>https://joshua.seigler.net/posts/finally-a-coherent-worldview/</id>
      <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;Around the time of my previous post, I had just been received into the Orthodox church. Since then I have found it to be everything I was looking for, and a great deal more. There is such a wealth of wisdom, going back thousands of years. And it was all there, un-seen, un-read, as far as I was concerned not existing at all! It seems impossible to me that I was so unaware of these treasures by chance.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Father Seraphim Rose, Saint Paisios, Saint Porphyrios, Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica - to name only a few! - lived in this world, recently. They speak plainly and lovingly about modern and familiar concerns. Their example and guidance are a priceless treasure! And not only they help me, but participating in the tradition of the Orthodox Church has… I don’t even know how to say it all. I have experienced how the prodigal son felt when he took a few trembling steps back to his father, and instead of the rejection or anger he had earned, he received joyful, unearned forgiveness. His father &lt;em&gt;ran&lt;/em&gt; to him while he was still far away!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Here is what I know, now from experience: Jesus Christ is life and truth and love. To look for life, or truth, or love apart from Him is pointless! It’s a contradiction, like looking for light by marching into the shadows. God made me, and He loves me more than I love myself. Because this is true, I want to do everything His way, even if I don’t understand it at first.&lt;/p&gt;
</content>
    </entry>
    <entry>
      <title>Embracing Mysticism</title>
      <link href="https://joshua.seigler.net/posts/embracing-mysticism/" />
      <updated>2021-10-16T00:00:00Z</updated>
      <id>https://joshua.seigler.net/posts/embracing-mysticism/</id>
      <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;Logical arguments no longer work. This has been especially visible in the pandemic response in 2020. If you dug even a little below the surface of any mainstream narrative in the past two years, you likely found points of disagreement. But showing people scientific papers, charts, statistical analysis, or other types of evidence accomplishes nothing, or worse it invites accusations of being part of the Other Team, one of those backwards, wrong, stupid people.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In mid-2020 Vin Armani (now Cyprian) started calling this change “The Dim Age”&lt;sup class=&quot;footnote-ref&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://joshua.seigler.net/posts/embracing-mysticism/#footnote1&quot;&gt;[1]&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a class=&quot;footnote-anchor&quot; id=&quot;footnote-ref1&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;. He suggested that most people still see the world as exclusively physical, oblivious to patterns of reality that are plainly obvious to more mystically aware people.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In an attempt to remedy my newfound illiteracy, I started exploring symbolism, which as I understood it dealt with identifying and understanding meaning. I found Jonathan Pageau’s project &lt;a href=&quot;https://thesymbolicworld.com/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot; rel=&quot;noopener&quot;&gt;The Symbolic World&lt;/a&gt;, which has some very accessible videos breaking down movies and other pop culture artifacts from a symbolic perspective &lt;sup class=&quot;footnote-ref&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://joshua.seigler.net/posts/embracing-mysticism/#footnote2&quot;&gt;[2]&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a class=&quot;footnote-anchor&quot; id=&quot;footnote-ref2&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;. These commentaries did not seem arbitrary or speculative, but pointed to cultural trends that I couldn’t un-see once I understood them. I binged a bunch more of his material, including eventually a book his brother Mattheiu wrote, &lt;em&gt;The Language of Creation: Cosmic Symbolism in Genesis&lt;/em&gt;&lt;sup class=&quot;footnote-ref&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://joshua.seigler.net/posts/embracing-mysticism/#footnote3&quot;&gt;[3]&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a class=&quot;footnote-anchor&quot; id=&quot;footnote-ref3&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;. Through this I discovered a side of reality I had been almost completely oblivious to, and what’s more, an aspect of my faith which had somehow completely passed me by.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;From there I started listening to the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.ancientfaith.com/podcasts/lordofspirits&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot; rel=&quot;noopener&quot;&gt;Lord of Spirits&lt;/a&gt; podcast. I learned that commonplace, obvious understanding of existence as material &lt;em&gt;and spiritual&lt;/em&gt; has been mostly lost, displaced by modern confidence that the material world is the limit of reality, over which sovereign mankind rules. The ancient faith of Christianity, known now as “Eastern Orthodoxy”, corresponds with reality, especially spiritual patterns of reality as we see more plainly every week, better than anything else I know.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;For a while I think my highest values have been freedom and truth. A desire to be solely responsible for myself, and a desire to understand myself and the world fully and accurately. But I didn’t realize that my chief obstacle is hardly megacorps and governments: I am ruled by my own out-of-control desires: for comfort, pleasure, control, satisfaction, even self-mastery. In a paradise where my every whim was manifested, I would still be a slave to desire, consuming and &lt;em&gt;wanting&lt;/em&gt; more and more.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Investigating eastern orthodoxy, this ancient Christianity, revealed a better path to freedom and truth: aiming higher. Every action and choice is in service to something. Instead of serving little tyrannical gods like comfort or pleasure, or potentially nobler gods like a country or even a “liberty movement”, I will attempt to serve the Most High.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr class=&quot;footnotes-sep&quot;&gt;
&lt;section class=&quot;footnotes&quot;&gt;
&lt;ol class=&quot;footnotes-list&quot;&gt;
&lt;li id=&quot;footnote1&quot; class=&quot;footnote-item&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://freemanbeyondthewall.libsyn.com/episode-478&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot; rel=&quot;noopener&quot;&gt;Free Man Beyond The Wall episode 478: We’ve Entered The ‘Dim Age’&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://joshua.seigler.net/posts/embracing-mysticism/#footnote-ref1&quot; class=&quot;footnote-backref&quot;&gt;↩︎&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li id=&quot;footnote2&quot; class=&quot;footnote-item&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://thesymbolicworld.com/videos/symbolism-propaganda-in-popular-culture/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot; rel=&quot;noopener&quot;&gt;Symbolism and Propaganda in Popular Culture&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://thesymbolicworld.com/videos/the-fall-of-loki-into-the-multiverse/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot; rel=&quot;noopener&quot;&gt;The Fall of Loki (Into the Multiverse)&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://joshua.seigler.net/posts/embracing-mysticism/#footnote-ref2&quot; class=&quot;footnote-backref&quot;&gt;↩︎&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li id=&quot;footnote3&quot; class=&quot;footnote-item&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://amzn.to/4iBOExr&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot; rel=&quot;noopener&quot;&gt;The Language of Creation: Cosmic Symbolism in Genesis: A Commentary&lt;/a&gt;, ISBN 978-1981549337 &lt;a href=&quot;https://joshua.seigler.net/posts/embracing-mysticism/#footnote-ref3&quot; class=&quot;footnote-backref&quot;&gt;↩︎&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ol&gt;
&lt;/section&gt;
</content>
    </entry>
    <entry>
      <title>Authority - Consent&#39;s Blind Spot</title>
      <link href="https://joshua.seigler.net/posts/authority-consents-blind-spot/" />
      <updated>2020-07-02T00:00:00Z</updated>
      <id>https://joshua.seigler.net/posts/authority-consents-blind-spot/</id>
      <content type="html">&lt;blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;2025 disclaimer: I haven’t thought through all these ideas in a while, but I probably would change some of this or soften/rephrase it.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Consent occurs when an individual voluntarily agrees to the proposal or desires of another. It comes from the concept that who should decide what happens to your person, is you.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;There are two ways people interact: with consent, and without it. Some people care a lot about consent, but overall, most take whichever route is easiest, or more convenient.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;People respect consent in most of their face-to-face dealings with others. Violating someone’s consent in person is usually met with resistance, possibly very strong resistance with a long-lasting impact. But there are covert ways to violate consent, so that the target must not notice the violation—or if they do notice, they must be unable to determine who is to blame.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Pretty much everyone has had circumstances where they did something because another person, or group of people, compelled their compliance. Classic examples include paying taxes, being drafted, and avoiding certain activities, beliefs, or substances.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Here are some popular excuses for violating consent that you may have seen:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I am actually helping you.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;
&lt;blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;You like some of the things I do, so you must accept this as well.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;
&lt;blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Everyone else lets me do this.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;
&lt;blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Everyone else said it was okay if I do this.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;
&lt;blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I am doing this, but someone else is responsible for my actions.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;
&lt;blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;You agreed to this by being born here.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;
&lt;blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I am allowed to do this.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;That last one combines all the others into one argument, called authority. This is the idea that certain people are justified in violating consent. Usually there is a vaguely religious ceremony associated with the granting of authority—something like a holy document, large gatherings of people, formal outfits, or important sounding titles.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Sometimes consensual relationships are described as involving authority, such as a boss at work having “authority” over an employee—but the difference is clear: if the boss says to do something but the employee no longer consents, they could exit that relationship.&lt;br&gt;
Sometimes people refer to an expert as an “authority” on a certain matter, but this definition is also not of use here. I refer to authority here as the ability to act upon another’s person, without regard for consent.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;One problem with authority is that all the people on earth are humans. There’s nobody better than humans who would obviously deserve special treatment, nor is there some obviously superior category of human, so people expect some excuse for how an ordinary person obtains authority.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In certain belief systems, the excuse was “God chose me and made me worthy.” Contemporarily, the claim is based on “the will of the people”. Whoever wins a special regional popularity competition is considered to have authority over everyone in that region, even people who disagree.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;You would think acting on someone in a way they don’t allow is difficult, but people are impressed by ceremonies of authority, and they are confused by the way everyone involved claims that their actions are someone else’s responsibility. Even if people manage to see through the tricks they are usually still afraid to resist authority out of a belief that nobody will help them. So almost everyone obeys.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id=&quot;solutions&quot; tabindex=&quot;-1&quot;&gt;&lt;a class=&quot;header-anchor&quot; href=&quot;https://joshua.seigler.net/posts/authority-consents-blind-spot/#solutions&quot; aria-hidden=&quot;true&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt; Solutions&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Once you have seen through this trick, what can you do?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id=&quot;look-for-ways-to-sidestep-authority-altogether.&quot; tabindex=&quot;-1&quot;&gt;&lt;a class=&quot;header-anchor&quot; href=&quot;https://joshua.seigler.net/posts/authority-consents-blind-spot/#look-for-ways-to-sidestep-authority-altogether.&quot; aria-hidden=&quot;true&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt; Look for ways to sidestep authority altogether.&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Since very few people accept &lt;em&gt;absolute&lt;/em&gt; authority, there are all kinds of limitations to its scope. If you can find ways to move your activities to areas of life that are not “covered” by authority, you will be able to ignore it more.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://theconsciousresistance.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/How_to_Opt_Out_of_the_Technocratic_State.pdf&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot; rel=&quot;noopener&quot;&gt;How to Opt Out of the Technocratic State (PDF)&lt;/a&gt; by Derrick Broze&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.kopubco.com/pdf/An_Agorist_Primer_by_SEK3.pdf&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot; rel=&quot;noopener&quot;&gt;An Agorist Primer (PDF)&lt;/a&gt; by Samuel Edward Konkin III&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.seasteading.org/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot; rel=&quot;noopener&quot;&gt;The Seasteading Institute&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;h3 id=&quot;teach-other-people-how-to-see-these-tricks-more-clearly.&quot; tabindex=&quot;-1&quot;&gt;&lt;a class=&quot;header-anchor&quot; href=&quot;https://joshua.seigler.net/posts/authority-consents-blind-spot/#teach-other-people-how-to-see-these-tricks-more-clearly.&quot; aria-hidden=&quot;true&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt; Teach other people how to see these tricks more clearly.&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Relatively few people claim to have authority. If even a moderate fraction of people resist authoritarian demands, it becomes impossible to compel them all by force.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4jzSARXHuuwhBfzGNYhSVE4gJ8zmRnTH&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot; rel=&quot;noopener&quot;&gt;Playlist: Thomasz Kaye Animations&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://fee.org/stories&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot; rel=&quot;noopener&quot;&gt;Foundation for Economic Education&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;h3 id=&quot;promote-alternatives-that-respect-consent.&quot; tabindex=&quot;-1&quot;&gt;&lt;a class=&quot;header-anchor&quot; href=&quot;https://joshua.seigler.net/posts/authority-consents-blind-spot/#promote-alternatives-that-respect-consent.&quot; aria-hidden=&quot;true&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt; Promote alternatives that respect consent.&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p&gt;For every authority-based solution to a problem, there is a more effective consensual solution, and usually the consensual way of doing things is already being used somewhere, and has lower costs and better outcomes.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://daviddfriedman.com/The_Machinery_of_Freedom_.pdf&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot; rel=&quot;noopener&quot;&gt;The Machinery of Freedom (PDF)&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://daviddfriedman.com/The_Machinery_of_Freedom.prc&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot; rel=&quot;noopener&quot;&gt;(Ebook)&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTYkdEU_B4o&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot; rel=&quot;noopener&quot;&gt;(Video)&lt;/a&gt; by David D Friedman&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;h3 id=&quot;use-the-ceremonies-of-authority-against-itself.&quot; tabindex=&quot;-1&quot;&gt;&lt;a class=&quot;header-anchor&quot; href=&quot;https://joshua.seigler.net/posts/authority-consents-blind-spot/#use-the-ceremonies-of-authority-against-itself.&quot; aria-hidden=&quot;true&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt; Use the ceremonies of authority against itself.&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p&gt;If someone with authority asks your opinion on some topic, steer them away from choices that violate consent. It may even be appropriate to support people who seek positions of authority if you believe they will prevent it from being used, but don’t be surprised if their encounter with power changes their values.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://lp.org/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot; rel=&quot;noopener&quot;&gt;Libertarian Party&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;h3 id=&quot;surround-yourself-with-people-who-care-about-consent.&quot; tabindex=&quot;-1&quot;&gt;&lt;a class=&quot;header-anchor&quot; href=&quot;https://joshua.seigler.net/posts/authority-consents-blind-spot/#surround-yourself-with-people-who-care-about-consent.&quot; aria-hidden=&quot;true&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt; Surround yourself with people who care about consent.&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p&gt;If you know the people around you care about consent, then when someone claiming authority makes demands of the community, it will be much safer to ignore the demands since you would not be alone.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.fsp.org/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot; rel=&quot;noopener&quot;&gt;Free State Project&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;h2 id=&quot;additional-resources&quot; tabindex=&quot;-1&quot;&gt;&lt;a class=&quot;header-anchor&quot; href=&quot;https://joshua.seigler.net/posts/authority-consents-blind-spot/#additional-resources&quot; aria-hidden=&quot;true&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt; Additional Resources&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://spot.colorado.edu/~huemer/1.htm&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot; rel=&quot;noopener&quot;&gt;The Problem of Political Authority (Chapter 1)&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;https://amzn.to/2AyQxw0&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot; rel=&quot;noopener&quot;&gt;(Amazon)&lt;/a&gt; by Michael Huemer&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://ia601208.us.archive.org/27/items/236222899TheMostDangerousSuperstitionLarkenRose2011/the-most-dangerous-superstition-larken-rose-20111.pdf&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot; rel=&quot;noopener&quot;&gt;The Most Dangerous Superstitition (PDF)&lt;/a&gt; by Larken Rose&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://bastiat.org/en/the_law.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot; rel=&quot;noopener&quot;&gt;The Law&lt;/a&gt; by Frédéric Bastiat&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
</content>
    </entry>
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