A Declaration.

I will not seek or accept the unearned in spirit or in matter.

Most people can understand the latter.  They understand the idea that you should not pay a dollar for something that is worth $.50 or nothing at all.  They hold this as self evident because it is a material value.  Unfourtanatly it is not so easy for them to understand the spiritual side of this.  When I say spiritual I mean that pertaining to the soul of a man, i.e. his conscious mind, that is the only spirit I recognize.

In order to understand what I say let me break it down.  Whether I talk about a loaf of bread or a friendship both of these are values.  They are something for which you need to act in order to gain or keep.  In a simplified manner both are things that are purchased; one at the price of a dollar, the other at the price of effort.  But both of these currencies reduce down to the only thing that a human can offer another, time.  All I have to offer is my time to any man willing to trade.  It is my time that all of the products that I trade come from.  The time of thought to create a new idea or reach a conclusion that allows a friendship and the time that I trade to my employer for the dollar to buy a loaf of bread. 

All interactions between men are acts of trade.

This idea is vulgar in todays' world because trade has come to mean a sacrifice.  Trade is the opposite of such a parasitic concept.  In order for a trade to take place each party must offer value recognized by the other as such and it can only take place to mutual benefit with mutual consent.  The man whom I buy a loaf of bread from has not sacrificed anything for me by my purchase, he is recieving the price he demands, and I am not sacrificing because I am paying a price that I accept as worth the bread.  I apply this same pricinple to my friendships.

I will no longer offer my time or mind to those who do not offer me a compelling value in return.  I am not in the business of sacrifice, neither the reciever or giver of such.  Irrationality is not a value I seek and I will not tolerate it's presence in my friendships.  If you would like offer me the best of yourself as trade for the best of me I will be more than happy to talk to you.  I will not accept your faults as a claim on my friendship or your need of time as a claim to mine.  Now that I've said this I can rest.

Last update: 4/6/2003; 1:06:47 PM.