I did a little thinking today about dogs; more specifically their high state of freedom. It took me to an interesting place.

We allow dogs more freedoms that we allow ourselves, in this current model of society. Think about it, we allow all of the following:
-Sniffing crotches
-Humping objects
-Public sex
-Pee and poo anywhere
-Shout in emotional outbursts
-Run around naked

When animals do this, we always excuse it with “Well he’s an animal, let him be”… But surely I can’t be suggesting that we allow humans to do this stuff too, can I? Human’s are above that kind of thing, right?… Here’s the thing, we’re not. Left to our own devices, a human being would do all of those things and find much thrilling joy and freedom in it. All of these things are raw animal ‘wants’ that humans have built-in, as much as dogs do: To defecate as soon as you have the need; to have sex when and where the mood strikes; to intimately know strangers; to be naked in the sun; to express emotions freely and honestly… The only difference is we’ve decided that these things are somehow below us, in order to have a nice clean society. There are basic ‘musts’ to have a society, which require the killing of wild ‘wants’. I ‘want’ to run free through the fields, but I ‘must’ tend to the garden if I want to eat.

Yes, it can make sense to put societal ‘musts’ before natural ‘wants’.

Now I’m not suggesting we adopt a social norm that makes it ok to poo on the sidewalk (based on the numbers alone) but my point is that we sacrifice core animal ‘wants’ to build these huge towers we call societies. In society’s name, each human sacrifices their ‘wants’ for society’s ‘musts’. It’s important to be aware that this trade-off happens because it’s always ongoing. The larger the society seems to get, the more animal ‘wants’ need to be sacrificed or suppressed, it seems. As things go on, we restrict more and more natural behavior in order to tolerate living in what is essentially a deeper and deeper cage. This is because by-and-large we are all work-horses here, with very few enjoying a life of freedom on top of the pile. The more work needs to be done, the less wild our ‘masters’ want us to be; because a wild horse might kick, if you ask it to work unreasonably hard. That pesky thing called freedom, which is built in to all of us by Nature.

We work unreasonably hard, for such ‘evolved’ societies. Not in brute force, but in the sense that we have sacrificed too many human pleasures. Most parents no longer have time to raise their children. In most places, an intelligent adult risks loss of freedom and employment to smoke marijuana or use psychedelics; both ancient human rites of nature. In the office, where most people spend their lives, sexual interest has been so demonized that natural relationships don’t happen: Meanwhile, both the man and woman remain miserably single because work grants them no time to go out and meet someone naturally. We have to bottle our emotions and true thoughts more and more, especially as the creeping police-state “suspect everyone” trend spreads lately. It’s not illegal to take your shirt off downtown, on a sunny day, but we have become so estranged from such flashes of nature that the gazes of others alone makes most keep it on… Hell most people wouldn’t even dare show their bodies to anyone anyway, because theirs has become so unhealthy by the sacrifice of the human ‘want’ to run around like an ape and use your body. Nature has been demonized so much that people barely even acknowledge their own bodies… For many people taking a walk isn’t even for themselves but for their dog, and is seen as an annoying chore… The average human being in a society today is a paralyzed neurotic mess of issues and dis-balance that mostly stem from one root : Being raised in an overly tight cage.

This is the slow breaking of the work-horse. Generation by generation, like aggressiveness was bred out of wolves, the free spirit is being bred and broken out of the average human. Except this isn’t being done genetically but by asking every generation to sacrifice more and more of these basic human pleasures in order to support society. Every new wave of children faces a more and more unwelcoming society that demands more and more of their human freedoms, and we don’t seem too worried about that… The weight of society gets heavier and heavier for every passing generation, and I believe we are well past the point of reason on that. The point of it all being ‘worth it’ has long since gone by. Now we are all out there doing our best impersonations of robots, as machines and automation take away more jobs every year. Like good work-horses people are throwing entire lives away just to eventually erase the need for a workforce at all! Do you think you’ll be retiring in comfort at that point, with machines serving on you hand-and-foot? That seems to be the suggested end-game, if sci-fi movies are a clue. How’s that working out so far, when machines take over someone’s job?

The current goal of this society, if the trend is to be followed, is actually to end up with a society that is completely automated with the then-elites being served. Meanwhile all others are left to fend for themselves like wild tribes, if not exploited like third world labor today or even wiped out like some kind of pest. We’re building a paradise for the elites who will lock us out as soon as we’re not ‘needed’ by their finished monuments. It’s a trick the peasantry has been falling for forever, from the pyramids to Angkor-Wat, humans have ruined themselves to build temples that serve only the schemers in power. By the way, how much further did any of those societies get? That’s right they’re all gone, probably collapsed under the weight of overly restrictive demands on the masses, most likely.

If you think you’re any smarter than an Egyptian slave pushing stone around, ask yourself right now, how much waking time is yours, on an average week? If it’s anything less than 50%, you’ve given too much. Are there natural freedoms that you know are harmless but have been taken away from you as a price of entry? You’ve given up too much. Hell what is even your option for leaving, if you don’t like it?–This endeavor of building restrictive societies has been spreading across the globe like a fungus and bureaucracies even impede your freedom to explore the world, or settle where there’s space, as a free human being. The entire planet has been turned into a cage, and every year more bastions of tribal freedom fall by its hand or are sucked in.

Why?

What is the point of working to ‘support’ a society if you’re spending most of your time only doing that? Why do we need to sacrifice 80% of our waking lives (the fattest and juiciest meat of 5 out of 7 days) sealed in offices or doing other grunt work? Where are we going with all this? What’s the big hurry that we couldn’t work 4 day weeks instead? We’re all so busy being busy that we’ve lost sight that the whole point of a comfortable society was meant to be ENJOYING LIFE!

I’ve been to two third world countries, I’ve been to small villages in the amazon jungle: The thing I’ve noted across the board is that the farther away you get from our model of society, the happier, more connected, more alive, and stronger the people get. The sad part is that I see many of them longing at our gleaming cities, aspiring to becoming like us someday. If we’re so determined to keep gobbling up all humans of the world, can we please do them all and ourselves a favor and make sure we’re at least as happy and free here as they are? This involves a present connection to nature, plenty of free time to explore it, and an open celebration that we are all animals with all the ‘dirty’ and ‘naughty’ parts that come with that.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but the original idea of us getting together and making societies was to reach a point where life was no longer so dangerous, wasn’t it? Then humans could focus on what matters, working on the important human questions, enjoying the human pleasures, and exploring the human mysteries. It’s abundantly clear to me that we no longer hold any of those as important. As I’ve pointed out already, most people in the middle and lower classes spend the majority of their time flushing the hours of their life into their own future generations’ obsolescence, while life drifts them by day after day. When’s the last time you had enough time to lay under a tree in the sunshine for a whole afternoon? When’s the last time you had your feet in a cool rocky stream? When’s the last time you were able to stop, just stop, and be with a beautiful moment for a moment?

There was a great unsung Greek philosopher who lived on the street with the dogs, laying around nude, masturbating at people, stinking up the place and having emotional outbursts at will. That man’s name was Diogenes, if you’d like to look into him: He was saying even back then that dogs were freer and nobler than his fellow citizens. Despite all his ‘crazy’ behavior, it appears he was a greater philosopher than most. He often showed a clearer vision and sharper intellect than the other philosophers of his time, who we learn about in school. I remember respecting Diogenes’ ballsy defense of his own freedoms when I first heard about the guy; now after seeing where pondering dogs has led my mind, I feel they might have been the gateway to his philosophical revelations.

Dogs are living better, freer and healthier lives in our own societies than we are. Maybe it’s time we try to live more like them and find some joie-de-vivre again. Further, maybe it’s time we stop and ask ourselves what our societies are even meant to be accomplishing anymore… I suspect we’d find a significant need for course-correction if we did.

In the meantime get out there and pee on a tree, go to a nude beach, have sex in a public place, sniff a crotch and have an emotional outburst! Take back some of the ground that was lost, some of which by your ancestors, to this creeping cage that is ‘big society’.
FOR DIOGENES!
-i