This Gathering of the peoples of all nations, races, and tongues - living independently and together as One Humanity - in truth and harmony as one race, and speaking the one language of the heart - is a possible dream. It can be made by an evolutionary leap in consciousness - from the mind of greed to the heart of love. Only a free people - free of the intrinsic violence of the State - can accomplish this evolution. If it is to be, it is up to us - only we ourselves can save ourselves from extinction. What is the ultimate value of a person’s life? This is our question. The answer is in whether we live by heart of love or mind of greed. The choice is whether we live by love, or die as a failed evolutionary experiment. We proclaim our right to liberty. We write against oblivion. That we may live. And you. And all of us. We shall be free. Oppression and exploitation cannot exist without public acquiescence. We refuse to finance murder. We shall be free, that love and reason may prevail The Path Is Made by Walking We strive to walk together, yet independently, and in agreement Truth / Satyagraha Truth for us is the Law of Nature. It precedes, is senior to, and independent of Man. It is unaffected by Man and is as immutable as gravity. It is a Law that cannot be made or manipulated by Man, but it can be discovered by Man. For us, this means Truth is Law of Nature, as manifested in the Law of Cause and Effect and the seed-fruit relationship of means to end. Mahatma Gandhi said, “Truth is God.” Satyagraha – a word coined by Mohandas Gandhi – means steadfastness in truth at any cost. He called it “truth force.” He said, “We hold it to be a crime against man and God to submit any longer to a rule that has caused this disaster to our country …” And further, “Civil disobedience becomes a sacred duty when the State becomes lawless and corrupt … non-cooperation and civil disobedience are branches of the same tree called Satyagraha.” Liberty / Swaraj Liberty for us flows from the self-evident principle of inalienable self-ownership. Every person has a right to his own body, as well as a right to the product of his labor, which is necessary to sustain life of the body. He also has the right to seek happiness in his own way provided it does not damage the life, liberty or property of another. The right to life itself necessarily includes the right of possession of the product of one’s labor. Liberty means the absolute freedom from coercion, force or threat of force - by any person or “constituted authority” - to force a person to act, or not to act against his own free will, except in the case of self-defense against aggression. It means consensus self rule and no government by others. Tolstoy wrote, “Government is an association of men who do violence to the rest of us.” Swaraj means self-rule. It is thus equivalent to liberty. V.K. Desai defines Swaraj as self-rule and self-restraint, not freedom from all restraint. It means continuous effort to be independent of government control of any kind. He says real Swaraj will not come through authority of a few, but by the capacity of all to resist authority when it is abused. It means complete decentralization, fully unimpeded economic freedom, and complete localization of judiciary in the form of “people’s courts.” It means direct self rule and no government by others. It is a voluntary association, governed by consensus, from which it is the right of any member to secede without fear of consequence to his life, liberty and property. Thoreau wrote, “The law will never make men free.” Nonviolence / Ahimsa For us, Nonviolence is not merely the absence of actual violence. It is the absence of coercion by “constituted authority.” It is the absence of force, threat of force and fear of the threat of force. It is the prerequisite of all peaceful relations among human beings. Since the State is founded upon and maintained by coercion, deceit and violence, a non-violent human society is not possible so long as the institution of the Nation-State exists. Ahimsa is the Hindi version of Nonviolence, and it goes deeper. It is the doctrine of non-injury, of abstaining from killing or giving pain. It is abstaining in thought, word and deed from violating the Rita, the natural order of the Universe and Time. Mahatma Gandhi considered it to be part of the discipline common to all sections of society. He promulgated Ahimsa and Satya (truth) as the supreme principles of individual thought and action. Mohandas Gandhi wrote that Ahimsa and love are one. Ahimsa means the largest love, the greatest charity. Ahimsa is the active force of love. It is not merely the absence of violence. It is an active engagement in compassion. It requires one to dissociate himself and remove his cooperation from men and institutions that employ violence. There can be no question of paying taxes while denying one’s active support of violence and murder. Peace / Shanti “Peace connotes absence of fear. There would be peace only when no part of the world is afraid of or exploited by any other part.” ~ Vinoba Bhave “Where there is no justice, there can be no secure peace.” ~Aung San Suu Kyi “There is no happiness greater than peace. Without peace, where is happiness?” ~ Indian Proverbs (Buddhist-Hindu) “The one condition of peace and liberty is to acquire self-restraint.” ~ Mohandas Gandhi “When your premise is ‘Thou shalt not kill,’ you can skip a lot of boring and distracting discussions and just get to work.” ~ Alia Johnson “Hatred is never appeased by hatred in this world; by non-hatred alone is hatred appeased. This is an eternal law.” ~ Dhammapada “I pay no tax to anyone. I strive on, my conscience completely clear, for I live by the Law of the Universe, as felt through my heart, and not the laws imposed by a corrupt and deluded State.” ~ Jan, co-founder of eco-village For us, Peace is a state of mind that arises naturally from a process of mental purification through introspection. Shanti is the Hindi equivalent of mental peace. We have offered quotations that seem to elucidate the mundane peace of human relations, even though we believe that ultimate peace involves transcendence. The Hindi-English dictionary definition is “calmness, quiet, tranquility, quietude, stillness, silence, humility.” Our logo is an interpretation of Da Vinci’s The Man. Da Vinci’s original shows the balance and symmetry of the natural human form, the inherent strength to be found in each individual. Our logo, affectionately known as “Seed-of-Liberty Man,” expresses the same strength and vital energy with fluidity and grace. Seed-of-Liberty Man has burst through the paradigm of perceived restrictions, reaching beyond in an extension of self, stretching past known boundaries to go where none have gone before. He is framed by the organic shape of a seed pod, a natural potency of vital growth to the full potential of innate pure goodness of the unconditioned human mind. Grounded in the Law of Nature, growing from the soil of resolve, sustained by the water of hope, nourished by the sunshine of truth, he grows upward toward a higher possibility, while deepening his roots of inner strength and steadfastness. He is strong and graceful, grounded on earth and reaching toward heaven. He is a volunteer, DNA coded by the Law of Nature to make manifest among men the Law of Equal Liberty. Ellipse represents the sacred hoop of life. It is in shape of seed pod - organic, fertile, sprouting, growing. The human figure inside represents the seed of Liberty in the human heart - the seed of life itself. The figure is strong, balanced, yet fluid - bursting from its seed into expansion of the human spirit. The four interior spaces represent the four quadrants of the Universe and the four material elements of earth, air, fire and water. They are also the spaces in which can grow our website precepts of Satyagraha (Adherence toTruth), Swaraj (Self Rule, Liberty), Ahimsa (Nonviolence), and Shanti (Peace). The five interior lines formed by by two arms, two legs and trunk represent five of the bases of Dependent Origination at the level of human incarnation: the human body, together with the four charactersitics of mind, namely consciousness, perception, sensation and reaction. The four interior spaces together with the five interior dividing lines add up to the number nine, known as the perfect number and the number of completion. The line marking the ellipse brings to ten the total of lines plus spaces. This number ten reduces to one, and thus symbolizes unity, wholeness and new beginning. Our intent is to convey symbolically a joyful hope of the seed of Liberty in our consciousness. May it be nurtured by the Happy Warriors of Truth and Nonviolence to elevate us from the muck and mire of of the Corporate Warfare State. May branches and leaves of the Tree of Life sing in sun and rain. Let the voice of Liberty become the voice of mankind, not limited to a particular people. May it never be silenced. Finally, the representation is of all of us together on what Native Americans call Turtle Island. “Aho Mitakuye Oyasin” - All My Relations
