I've observed a cultural narrative that seems to equate joyfulness and pleasure with foolish immaturity at best or even immorality and selfishness.

What is 'play' to you and what is the value of 'playfulness?'

For me, being playful is essentially being vulnerable and graceful with the potential for failure. In many different contexts, following creative impulses has been disparaged as a waste of time or a cute hobby, in other words a waste of time. I have experimented for myself, and found that this perspective does not serve me. In fact, it seems to slow or halt my momentum in life.

Ultimately, all that we are/have in life is our experience, the integrity of our word, our physical body and what we create.

The raw creative impulse of human beings, is the closest thing that I can imagine to be "divinity."

Can being goofy be good for your health? I think so.

I think that Pleasure is the experience of Creative Energy in motion and the freedom to ride the waves as it ebbs and flows.

There is a reason for the turn of phrase, "I take pleasure in…" Especially within the context of a culture where it has been normalized that everybody ought to bow to some external authority, pleasure and joy can seem elusive. Sometimes I can see it and still find myself unable to feel it or reach that state of being. Taking pleasure in the sunlight on my skin for instance, is so easy that it's almost completely passive. It requires being receptive and perhaps actively choosing, but the experience is often available, without being specifically sought out.

Being delighted in small and simple things can bring a fractal-like pleasure. Have you ever felt moved by watching a dog playing or a bird in a bath, only to then also find humor in your ability to be entertained by the simplicity of what you were watching and every adorable little twitch?

The magic is in being intentionally aware, being receptive, and actively choosing.

This is one of the gems that I found while digging my way through a shit-pile (Perhaps, more on my childhood later). Alternately, we might say, "I find pleasure in..." I'm not saying that we must hunt or chase after anything. However, there certainly can be fun to be had playing chase.

Why would anybody try to control the creative energies of other people?

A person or group of people who seek to control others, and who have the wit to identify that in order to do so they must convince you that you neeeeeed what they ~~contract others to~~ provide, knows that they must prevent you from accessing and strengthening your abilities to provide the same or better for yourself. That means they would find it necessary to devalue creativity and discourage cooperation and community.

Energy vampires do not produce any authentic value of their own and therefore they MUST shun competition for their purported "services."

It is necessary for them to regulate, contain and direct the creative energy of “their flock” within certain boundaries. They require other people to produce enough to support the parasites and also enough to sustain themselves (minimally, only so that you can continue to support them). It is much easier for the vampires to deceive "their constituents" into believing that the parasites are providing value which could only be provided by them, than to admit that they hold a monopoly on the use of violence. They will face less dissent if they pretend to be protectors, providers, saviors.

Can you see how having an elite class of people who are permitted to use violence and who force people to ask their permission to create anything new, could stymie innovation? Can you see why this is necessary for a ruling class to survive?

Parasitic people need to thwart Creative Power, Individuality, and Agora (uninhibited exchange of services and goods) in order to survive.

Who are the (energy) Vampires?

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A so-called "authority" who can only accomplish their will by threatening to use force, stands in denial of freedom, individuality and ultimately person-hood.

The kind of satisfaction that comes from following my creative impulses to their natural end, empowers me not only when I succeed in producing my desired outcome but also when I fail to; it would seem there is often greater power to be found in failure. This led me the insight of seeking pleasure in navigating challenges and the heat of friction. Although there is certainly a sweeter pleasure to be found in success, bitter, sour and pungent flavors are equally nutritive and illuminating. If I am being persuaded that I do not have the power to create sufficiently to fulfill my own needs, or that I ought to be doing something else with my time, I can bet that I am being manipulated.

Energy Vampires are the people who lay claim to a portion of what other people produce, because they themselves can add no value to the world, or they believe that they cannot, or perhaps they are supremely lazy.

Any person who would try to hold a position of authority over me, would not want me to think that I have the power to author my life because acknowledging self-ownership means recognizing the illegitimacy of claims of rulership. Authority being imposed by the threat of the use of force, stands in denial of freedom, individuality and ultimately personhood.

Essentially, I find that when I am joyful I feel fulfilled and I feel powerful, when I feel free to try and to fail. When I commit myself to fully experiencing the creative process and it's effects, I feel more and more strongly that I have everything that I need. I am all that I need. I do not mean to disparage healthy and harmonious interdependence. But healthy and harmonious interdependence describes voluntary and mutually beneficial relationships. Anybody who seeks to wield power over me, would not want me in that state of being at all, if possible. (although it would benefit the power-pigs, to have me be confused into believing that they were protecting my freedom by restricting it, were I able to be so deceived.) A person or group of people laying claim to any portion of what others produce is an energy vampire. To claim a right to control other people's actions by conjuring up 'crimes' where there are no victims, is to deny the basic human right of autonomy. It is also doomed to failure. Take for example, the "war on drugs."

Playing sick afforded me time to be an artist, growing up. I still fantasize sometimes about what it would have been like to have mentorship and guidance toward rather than away from my innate abilities and passions, as a child; thank Goodness, for my World Book Encyclopedia, and the Internet!

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From as early as the first grade public school began to seem to be largely counterproductive leading me to wonder,

“who is this benefiting?”

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You know what I mean?

In what I refer to as the factory-schooling indoctrination camps, as well as in my home, I was shown that to enjoy life a little bit is acceptable, but most of all to enjoy sacrificing, caring for others over myself and that the things that I enjoy doing the most are things that I only deserve to enjoy after I have put in most of my time at some form of tedium made out to be obligatory.

Who would want children to be squandering their precious creative energy?

Is it a natural human right to possess power of choice over an unwilling other? What kind of person would want power over the lives of others anyhow, and why? Can I appoint somebody to have rights that I myself do not possess, such as power over your choices that harm no body?

Externalization of Authority requires denial of the Individual's Creative Instinct

Parasitic people feed on other people’s falsely perceived need. And of course, they require an environment where those perceived needs can only be filled by them.

(The way that I see it, this type of externalized authority is distinct from the connotation of the word authority as synonymous with “expertise.” The distinction is that an adult is free to choose and seek out the expertise that they think they will benefit from, when and IF they choose to. If I am not free to choose whose authority I seek and when, including none at all, then I would not be a sovereign individual.)

If you want to, you can count on me, to continually re-frame pleasure and joy, which I see as the essential experience of pure creative impulse. I do this for myself and I offer it to other people as often as possible. I hope that you will un-school yourselves, deprogram yourselves, find the information and grow the skills that you need to do exactly what you most desire. I believe that you can change the conversations that the world is having, for the better.

Thank you to the makers of Steem Img: that makes it so much easier!

Thanks to @Caly for the exciting teaser for The Hatter Dialogues; I hope to see more soon.

About Me

I'm Melissa. Some people call me Honeybee. Therapeutic Massage; ; and teaching Yoga, Meditation, and Conscious Relaxation; and caring for families and babies before, during and after Birth are some of my skills (I'm a doula and placenta encapsulation specialist). Recently I have been delving into audio editing and also narrated an audio book for the first time. Visual arts and writing are also some of my favorites. About a year ago, I moved to New Hampshire, inspired by the growing community of Anarchists and Activists here. I'm committed to living free from fiat currency to the best of my ability, and am a great proponent of Agorism and Community Building. Whether camping/hiking or tending the gardens, I tend to be happiest out of doors. Informative Intactivism is one of the ways that I contribute to steering the cultural conversations toward supporting the Freedom of the Individual. I believe that all interactions should be voluntary and that honoring bodily autonomy is essential to a peaceful world.

What else would you like to know?