Author’s note
I wrote this to shed light on Max Stirner’s egoism for individuals who live in the so-called “Philippines,” but it can also be for any individual that is interested regardless where they may live. For whomever is reading this: I want to inform you that this contains my interpretation of Stirner’s egoism and my views at the time of writing; however, I hope my interpretation and views can be of use to you.
The Archipelago is haunted!
In the archipelago called the “Philippines” dwell many ghosts! These ghosts in every corner haunt the people that live in the archipelago…where can you find these ghosts you say? In your mind! What exactly are these ghosts? Let us find out together…
Spooks
Currently, many are being haunted by concepts like religion, state, authority, morality, nationalism, God, law, rights, duty, patriarchy and various other concepts that are treated as higher than their selves—concepts that they think they really have an obligation to follow—sacred concepts.
The people that are possessed by these ghosts, which are also called “spooks,” are doing things to serve the cause of the spook; an example would be a person that believes they and other people have an obligation to follow the law. Because of this, they are slaves of the law, because the cause of the law is to convince you that it is your obligation to obey their command. Because of this, the police are regarded as the servants of the law that you need to obey. If you don’t obey, they say the police have a right to arrest you or even kill you in the name of the law. It could be that a police officer thinks that they are only doing their job because they say it is their duty to fulfill the law. Oh my! This individual is being possessed! If this police officer shot a gun, why blame a concept called “duty” which they say is the reason why they fired the gun when they were the one holding the gun? Was the concept of “duty” the one that pulled the trigger or the police officer? The person fired the gun, not the concept of “duty.” Duty is merely a spook and nothing else! Why would you blame things that aren’t real such as ghosts? These spooks possess people to do the spook’s cause, but these spooks are only in their mind and are not actually real—because even though it looks like they are doing things to serve the cause of the spook, in reality they are doing these for their selves and they are not actually being possessed because there are no ghosts to possess them. But even though these ghosts are only imaginary, because of the people’s belief that there is really a ghost, it is like they’re actually there. Because of the people’s belief, these spooks are affecting their lives and can also affect others. The apparition that cannot be touched now has the ability to affect those that can be touched!
Spooks are excellent tricksters. The concept of a promise is one example of a skilled deceitful spook—because at first—it looks like they’re not a spook, but don’t be fooled! That is also a spook! Promises give you an obligation to obey your past self, it wants to bind you to the wishes of your past self—it wants you to treat your past desires as higher than yourself, it wants to make your past self’s desire sacred. Promises enslave you to obey the desires of your past self. But if in the past you let yourself be a fool to want to do that, why fool yourself again if you know now that you don’t want to do it anymore? That is the spook known as promise, just another sacred concept. An obligation is sacred—something inviolable they say—something an individual treats as higher than their self. Since no power is above you, since nothing is sacred, there are no obligations. Obligations are not real; remove those imaginary shackles! Don’t let yourself be fooled by a feeling of indebtedness. You owe nothing to anyone! Including yourself.
The spook is one really skilled trickster, it will convince you that you do things not for yourself, but for its cause. Oh! Really? Is that really the reason why you do the things you do? Do you really not do things for your own sake? Even if you say that you were only ordered to, aren’t you the only one that can decide if you will follow or not follow what was ordered of you? Didn’t you do it because there was something you wanted or not wanted to happen? Orders are sacred; it is a spook. In the end you were the one who decided what you will do because you were concerned with what was more beneficial to you, because you are selfish. Continue reading “Philippines: The Haunted Archipelago by Isang Alipin (English, Tagalog, Taglish)”