When people put forward the question, “What do you want to do with your life?” the answer that comes forward is almost invariably career-related, or relating to family, or something. But… is that really what people want to do?

I can only speak from my own experience and thoughts here, but… I know that I want to do more than that. I’ve always wanted to do more than that.

I mean, sure, I want to have children someday (now more than ever, actually), and I’d like to have a fulfilling career, but I want something more… something greater.

Really, truly? I want to change the world.

I’ve wanted this for a very long time… and it’s most definitely a long-term goal. It is something that requires a daily grind, a routine, almost. It requires one to pursue specific things at the cost of other things. It is much more like being physically healthy or financially secure.

I think that I’ve approached “changing the world” as something like winning the lottery. It can really only happen by blind luck, but if it happens, it’ll be big! Huge!

But personal health doesn’t work like that; going on a crash diet to lose fat often causes more trouble in the end. Financial security doesn’t work like that, either; you get more use out of your money if you burn it for fuel than if you play the lottery.

You can only attain personal health by pursuing daily habits that promote health. You can only attain financial security by pursuing daily habits that promote financial security. Likewise, I will only change the world by pursing daily habits that promote changing the world.

First, let’s identify what is actually wrong with the world as that might give a clue as to what needs to be changed! Certainly, governments commit evils in the world, ranging from killing people outright by shooting them to stealing from and torturing their own citizens… but thinking I can change the government by getting elected and… doing whatever is like thinking I can attain financial security by winning the lottery. The problem is that even if I did get elected, I would have had to compromise my position on violence by saying that it is OK for me to use it to get what I want, but I eventually want to stop using it altogether. I’m not going to change people’s minds by getting myself elected and using my position as a bully pulpit–people are hardly going to take me seriously if I start preaching about how government is evil and violent if I am personally benefiting from the very thing I decry.

I think that violence is certainly key to what is wrong in the world, but the larger question is, why does it persist? Why do people put up with threats and pay off the thugs through taxation and such?

Consider the example of the Quakers in the early American colonial days. These guys were pacifists that ended up participating in an anarchy for a number of years in Pennsylvania. They had been left alone, essentially, and a free market had spontaneously emerged. There was little need for governance, and when the political representative came back after having left, people just laughed at him when he asked for taxes. These people had, at the very least, the strength within to realize that they simply did not need imposed governance. Now, to be true, this guy didn’t have any muscle to back up his claims. However, eventually, as we can all see, the anarchy eventually was subsumed by an influx of people who were used to coercive governance.

So part of it is that people are used to being threatened and caving to pressure. But where do people get this from?

The answer that Stefan Molyneux provides in his articles and (many) podcasts on Freedomain Radio is that it starts in the family. I invite you to explore his arguments, see where he’s coming from… I think it’s fairly compelling, but it’s really something you have to see for yourself.

I cannot possibly change all of the families in the world. To do that, I would need a magical power (which would only be slightly less probable than winning the lottery).

What needs to change? Parents need to stop lying to their children. Obviously, they also need to stop physically abusing their children, but fundamentally, they need to admit to themselves and to their children that they don’t have a clue when it comes to morality. They need to realize that they’re taking the worst advantage of their children by not even trying to be good people, but instead relying on the biological and psychological dependence the child has on them to warp the child into believing that he has an obligation to them.

So, that’s what my voice post early last week was about. I want to change the world, but I can only do that for my own world. Unlike my own physical health or financial security, however, my world influences the worlds of others around me.

I can begin to live in the world I want to live in right now. I can’t change the politics, I can’t change my relatives, I can’t change anybody else, but I can change myself.

And this is a step-by-step process… a daily climb. This is a way of life. This is, fundamentally, about my psychological health. Much like my physical health might inspire others to live as I do by my example and financial security might do the same, having a high degree of psychological health (evidenced by, at least, a deep-rooted overall happiness) will attract those who are healthy or those who desire health, but it will also repel those who are unhealthy and do not desire health.

So… that’s really want I want. I want to change the world… my world… and it is possible, because I am doing it.

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