Tyranny begins in the mind
Have you ever uttered the words, “I had no choice”?
You might have really felt that was true at the time. Maybe you felt backed into a corner with no way out. Maybe you saw only one pathway forward, only one viable option. Maybe you felt the choice was made for you by others.
But the truth is, we always have a choice. We have a choice about everything, from the sublime to the mundane – from the type of toothpaste we buy to whether to keep breathing.
And every choice begins in our minds, with our thoughts, with the ideas we choose to accept.
We’ve witnessed in recent times how ideas can influence people to give up their freedoms. We’ve seen people take actions that made no logical sense or were downright harmful to them because of ideas. It’s shocking what a well-crafted idea can do.
But even a well-crafted idea is no match for a person with a critical mind and a strong sense of self.
On that note, I’d like to call our attention to a specific group of people who made a conscious choice not to engage with the COVID tyranny, and in fact exercise far more autonomy in their lives than most of us: the Amish.
The Amish are a people who have chosen to live according to their own ideas and values, rather than those that society would lay out for them. They live in self-contained communities where everything revolves around four core values — faith, family, community, and simplicity. They avoid many modern conveniences such as cars, smartphones, and electricity, preferring a more modest, unworldly lifestyle. Self-sufficiency is praised in Amish communities, from making clothing at home, to agriculture, to owning businesses. The Amish are not interested in the big systems of government, public school education, conventional medicine, and mainstream media.
So, when COVID came around and so many others unquestioningly followed government direction — masking up, shutting down, and getting jabbed — the Amish largely ignored the mandates and stayed open for life as usual.
Maybe it was easier for them than others to realize they actually had a choice, because they already exercise the power of choice every day to create a life that sets them apart. They knew they could say no to COVID mandates because those tyrannical ideas aren’t compatible with their way of life. And they couldn’t be penalized because they aren’t dependent on external entities for their needs or sense of validity. It comes from within.
But you don’t have to be Amish to build such a life. It all starts with the kind of ideas you choose to accept into your mind. Tyranny or freedom? How will you exercise your power of choice today?
