spirituality
Back in 1762 Rosseau Wrote the Social Contract, and Here We Are Today With The Same Issue
“Man is born free and everywhere he is in chains.” The opening sentence of Rousseau’s The Social Contract not only summarizes his entire philosophical system, it also proves how important he still is today.
Written in 1762, The Social Contract picks up where his Discourse on the Origin and Basis of Inequality Among Men left off, defining natural man as being free and happy and living in the forest. Rousseau explains how man went from this state of autonomy to the modern condition, dominated by inequality, dependency, violence and unhappiness. There were positive aspects to this process too, he admits, including the creation of families, the discovery of tools and technology, and the building of cities and social organizations. Unfortunately, this also gives way to what Rousseau called the “right of the strongest”, where a reign of inequality destroys man’s original state of happiness and freedom. Humanity becomes alienated, and the Discourse on Inequality ends unhappily in general war.
The Social Contract is an attempt to find a solution to this problem. For Rousseau, because of man’s “perfectibility”, the passage from a natural state to a social one is both an accident and necessary. Unlike animals, men are programmed to create and progress from one condition to the next. Rousseau discovers a way men can associate themselves with each other while maintaining their own individual freedom inside a social and political organization. He calls that concept the “general will”. Simply put, it is a form of association in which an individual alienates himself completely to the general will, and therefore regains his freedom in a political form. This of course has been criticized: some say it leads directly to dictatorship. Others, like Louis Althusser, say it is based on the premise that the people enter into a contract with nobody else but themselves – a logical impossibility.
However, Rousseau believed that in the form of the general will, the alienation of man would transform itself into freedom – this makes him nothing less than the inventor of modern dialectics, uniting the opposing concepts of nature (or freedom) and society (or contract), in their own opposition. All of Rousseau’s philosophy is an attempt to find a solution to the problem of alienation. For Rousseau, the only thing that made humans different from animals is his free will, something constantly placed in danger whenever man enters into society.
As a revolutionary thinker, Rousseau understood that the general will, or the will of the people, should be sovereign – and that is the catch. It is here where we regain our freedom inside social organisation. Only the general will – general interest as opposed to private interest – guarantees man his autonomy. No society can be free unless individuals understand that the general will or general interest should prevail over their own individual one.
Rousseau also wrote of the emergence of machines and the rise of technology. He was the first to say that nature has limited resources and that we are putting our own survival in danger by over-exploiting it.
“Man is born free and everywhere is in chains.” Centuries after that prophetic
opening sentence, we should ask ourselves if we can afford to ignore Rousseau’s warning, in a world dominated by flashing mobile phones and social media. Man may indeed be born free, but in the 21st century, the chains may be even harder to see.
Learn How To Play The Game Of Real Life
Why is it the best time to become an Entrepreneur? Because it sounds fancy and it’s the cool thing right now, duh.. WRONG! It’s because right now in this very moment we are so closely connected than ever before! Right now, writing this in Ohio, if someone challenged me to become best friend’s with someone over in Beijing, China. I could, very easily. The people that figure out how to utilize the internet as a tool to create a steady income right now are going to have it made in say, 5 to 10 years. Why’s that? Well, it only makes sense. All eyes are always on the internet. Whether it be Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, InstaGram, WordPress, Tumblr, etc. No one looks at billboards anymore, no one watches commercials anymore. In 5-10 years we probably won’t even have TVs anymore. 
Everything will (or should) be set up through one big main computer in the living room. Just my opinion though. Heck I bet more than half of you barely watch TV right now anyways. We can just get on Netflix and roll through a whole season of Prison Break in 1 day.
People need to get with the times. It’s 2016 ya’ll!! It’s the age of information and information is power! Unfortunately, it’s also the age if ignorance and most people don’t like change. But the worlds about to change FAST, don’t get left behind!
Also, who likes to be told what they’re worth? You, my friend, are worth $13.75 an hour. You, my friend, are working to survive and pay the bills. If you are working a job just to pay your bills, support your family, and put food on the table you really need to listen closely. Heck, all of you need to listen closely.
There’s no doubt about it $20 today isn’t what $20 was in the 90s. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Our economy is rigged. People do not have an equal opportunity to make it towards the top. Or so we have been brought up to think at least… just hear me out.
You ever hear of the Federal Reserve? You ever hear of a Pyramid Scheme? The definition of a Pyramid Scheme on Webster’s is this: a dishonest and usually illegal business in which many people are persuaded to invest their money and the money of later investors is used to pay the people who invested first. Hmm.. Well, the Federal Reserve should be illegal but since it’s the biggest Pyramid Scheme of all time and basically runs the whole planet it’s not. We invest “fake” money
into stocks, banks, houses, etc. Playing this make pretend game that the extremely wealthy have created. It’s just an exchange of cash from one person to the other without a tangible product such as gold or silver to back it. Crazy right?
Now why in the heck did I just bring all this up? Because to play the game, you have to know the game. People are finally waking up to the fact that, yes, this is a game and most of us are just the pawns in a chess match.
So, what’s the solution? Become an Entrepreneur. Become self-sufficient. Create your own Economy.
Lucky for all of us there’s this Industry that has already been dubbed The Business of the 21st Century. That Industry is Network Marketing.
Woah! You mean one of those pyramid things? You seriously better have not asked that question after just reading about the Federal Reserve! haha 🙂
Let’s dabble around the idea that it is a pyramid scheme for a second though. If the Federal Reserve is a privately owned business and they own over half of the world wouldn’t it be a pretty damn good idea to join one of these pyramid things?
In my opinion they’re not though, for these reasons. 1) We are vacating the corporate slave cycle. 2) We are putting money into people’s pockets who actually need the money and care about THE PEOPLE. 3) We actually sell a tangible product. This isn’t just a flow of cash from one investor to the other. 4) You get paid for what you’re actually worth. Not just what someone decides you are worth. 5) You don’t have to go to college just to end up with more debt than you can handle. Honestly, there’s so many reasons why/how Social Network Marketing could level out the playing field in our economy to the rest of the 97% of us but I’m going to leave it at that for now.
Sure, it’s shaped like a pyramid but so is our economy. Learn to play the game my friend, you won’t regret it.
If you would like to learn how to break free from those chains from me and take control over your financial situation. I teach multiple ways of how to create an income online just send me a message on one of the accounts below. You can’t afford not to hear me out. Much love, Quinn.
Twitter: @QK_Thrive
IG: @QK_Thrive
Facebook: www.facebook.com/addicted2thechains
Inside The Mind of Jaxon Cota: An 11 Year Old Genius
11 year-old Jaxon Cota looks like a normal boy, but he has something hiding within. That is, he is probably smarter than you, and most of us.
Cota was admitted to MENSA two years ago at the age of 9 after scoring 148 on an IQ test. That score was good enough to put him in the top 2nd percentile of all people on the planet.
Jaxon has a special affinity for numbers. He was able to read numbers up to 15 digits by the age of two, into the quadrillions. Now, he does high school level math to challenge himself when he’s bored.
He also is adept at math competitions. He was nearly perfect at MathCON, a national math competition for students in grades 5-12, where he placed 7th out of about 45,000 students.
“Numbers have always just kinda stuck out to me,” the boy told NBC in a recent interview. “There are just so many things about numbers that are fascinating and so many things to learn.”
“There’s a rhythm to numbers,” said Jaxon’s father, Matthew Cota. “And just something about that is, in a weird way, very simple for him.”
On the surface, he is a boy who loves to play baseball. Below the surface is the science. ”There is just naturally a lot of thinking that’s involved with it,” he said. “There’s statistics and where you have to be on each play.”
The boy is talented enough to skip grades, but both he and his parents choose to stick with his age-assigned grade levels. Regarding skipping grades, he says: ”It’s not something that I’d want to do, because I wouldn’t be able to do the things I love like play baseball or hang out with my friends.”
He is now in sixth grade, where he receives advanced instruction to keep him challenged. His parents believe that it is important that he grows up with his peers.
“Kids that are profoundly gifted are pigeonholed to be one way,” said Lori Cota, Jaxon’s mom. “He’s four years old and he can read, he can do all these things, but he can’t tie his shoes. There are things in every grade level that you need to learn.”
Check out the in-depth coverage of Jaxon Cota in the video below!
Three German Students Surprise a Homeless Man
I absolutely love the song these guys sing! What a great way to help the world one person at a time.
Music Can Make You Smarter, Happier, and More Productive at All Stages of Life
Music has played an important part of every human culture, both past and present. People around the world experience universal responses to music. We’re all familiar with how certain pieces of music can change your mood, get you motivated, or help you concentrate. And now, advances in neuroscience enable researchers to quantitatively measure how music affects the brain.
Their discoveries are exciting — and good news for music lovers.
Music is a fantastic brain exercise that activates every known part of the brain. Music can make you smarter, happier and more productive at all stages of life. Let’s take a closer look at some of the latest findings on the many ways both playing and listening to music can enhance your brain.
Musicians Have Better Brains
If you want evidence of how music affects the brain, it makes sense to look at the brains of people who play a lot of music — professional musicians. Brain scans show that their brains are different than the those of the rest of us. Their brains are noticeably more symmetrical. Areas of the brain responsible for motor control, auditory processing, and spatial coordination are larger. They also have a larger corpus callosum, which is the band of nerve fibers that enables the two hemispheres of the brain to communicate with each other.
Change Your Mood with Music
Science has now proven what music lovers already know, that listening to upbeat music can improve your mood. Listening and playing music reduces chronic stress by lowering the stress hormone cortisol. Music can make you feel more hopeful, powerful, and in control of your life. And listening to sad music has its benefits, too. If you are going through a tough time, listening to sad music is cathartic; it can help you get in touch with those emotions to help heal them.
Even if you aren’t a professional musician, listening to music can still enhance your work performance. Listening to music at work can make you a happier, more productive employee — especially if it’s music you’ve chosen. Office workers allowed to listen to the kind of music they like complete tasks more quickly and come up with better ideas than those who have no control over their musical choices.
Music Boosts Brain Chemicals
One of the ways music enhances brain function is by stimulating the formation of certain brain chemicals. Listening to music increases the neurotransmitter dopamine, which is the brain’s “motivation molecule” and an integral part of the pleasure-reward system. It’s the same brain chemical responsible for the “feel good” states obtained from eating chocolate, orgasm, and runner’s high.
The World’s Poorest President Is Here To Explain Why We Need To Kick Rich People Out Of Politics
Do you love money and want to control the world? Then you’re not going to like what former Uruguayan President José Alberto “Pepe” Mujica Cordano has to say about the wealthy in politics.
“We invented this thing called representative democracy, where we say the majority is who decides,” President Mujica said in the interview. “So it seems to me that we [heads of state] should live like the majority and not like the minority.”
President Mujica became popular worldwide after the BBC circulated a piece dubbing him the “World’s Poorest President.” The story reported that he donated 90% of his salary to charity during his time as president and, instead of living in a presidential palace, he opted instead to live on his modest farm with his wife and drive his two-door beater of a car.
Now, he’s lashing out at politicians who only care about themselves and their wealthy donors. And he may have a point. Today, the average member of congress has a net worth of a million dollars and corporations give huge amounts of money to Super PACs without having to disclose their donations.
“The red carpet, people who play — those things,” Mujica said, mimicking a person playing a cornet. “All those things are feudal leftovers. And the staff that surrounds the president are like the old court.”
I can hear the cries of “socialist” already, but Mujica denies that he has any problems with rich people. He just doesn’t think they do an especially good job of doing the business of a nation.
“I’m not against people who have money, who like money, who go crazy for money,” Mujica said. “But in politics we have to separate them. We have to run people who love money too much out of politics, they’re a danger in politics… People who love money should dedicate themselves to industry, to commerce, to multiply wealth. But politics is the struggle for the happiness of all.”
When asked why rich people make bad representatives for poor people, Mujica pulled no punches.
“They tend to view the world through their perspective, which is the perspective of money. Even when operating with good intentions, the perspective they have of the world, of life, of their decisions, is informed by wealth. If we live in a world where the majority is supposed to govern, we have to try to root our perspective in that of the majority, not the minority.”
“The tie is a useless rag that constrains your neck,” Mujica said during the interview. “I’m an enemy of consumerism. Because of this hyperconsumerism, we’re forgetting about fundamental things and wasting human strength on frivolities that have little to do with human happiness.”
Today, he continues to live on a farm on the outskirts of Montevideo with his wife, Senator Lucia Topolansky.
