Freedom Is Reserved For The Superior Mind
On the Inferiority of the Many and the Freedom of the Few
Most people believe freedom is about money. They believe that if they had enough money, they would never have to listen to any single person again except themselves. They think that money will buy them freedom of choice and luxury that will elevate their status. They think money is the answer to all the problems in the world. This common societal norm is a belief that is idealistic and ignorant. In reality, even among the wealthy, the largest limiting factor is a person’s own perception. This is not just among the wealthy but also among the masses. This is why true freedom is rarely achieved in any modernized society today.
Even the wealthiest and most powerful people are stupid. They believe their perceptions rule the world, not reality. They believe whatever they want will be achieved simply because they have money. This is also a common occurrence among the masses’ perceptions as well. They believe that a change in the political order or a change in economic systems will grant them true freedom. This is false. This is not how reality and power function. But they cannot see that because power and its effects on society are never thought about. They are hardly ever thought about in the circles and factions among the masses. In the factions of the wealthy, they believe money is power, but that is simply not true. Money can be power, but it must be wielded by those who understand how power and influence truly operate; otherwise, their wealth can be diminished or taken by someone who does. The reality is that most wealthy individuals are not smart; they simply have the right people around them to operate with such power and influence. The same goes for institutional authority. The people at the top are rarely intelligent, but the people who understand leverage, outcomes, influence, and games of strategy make the institution seem or be authoritative and powerful.
Men in general judge more by the sense of sight than by the sense of touch, because everyone can see but few can test by feeling. Everyone sees what you seem to be, few know what you really are." — Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince
This reveals something very interesting about the functions of how power operates at the heights of modern society. Power is not granted because of resources, because of status, or because of position of authority. It is granted by intellect. Money means nothing without somebody directing it who understands the mechanisms of modern power. Status means nothing unless it is utilized by someone who recognizes how status can create opportunities to influence and change the order of society. Positions of authority in institutions and government are meaningless without those who understand how to utilize those positions to advance interests effectively. Those who understand how power truly works have an advantage in every society.
The few do not let insight pass.
They act while momentum is present.
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Power is a fluid mechanism for exerting one’s will. It must be understood and evaluated from every angle in every situation to find the best possible angle to produce leverage, outcomes, or advance interests. That is why the real power brokers in a society are nameless, faceless, and formless. They are intelligent, and they understand that to be known is a severe disadvantage. Once they are known, their movements can be tracked by those who seek power or seek to gain from their proximity to power. That is, of course, one strategy. Others reveal themselves fully and flaunt their reputation of power to show public dominance and exert their influence openly with no real challenge. The advantage to this strategy is, of course, your enemies seeing what you want them to see. You can take specific actions to produce reactions from your enemies who believe they are moving to uproot you, but in reality you are setting a trap for them. This may seem contradictory and may even start to become convoluted. That is because power is fluid. It does not have a specific form; it takes only the form it needs to appear as. That is why those who study power, and are intellectually able to understand it and how it truly operates in reality rather than in comforting moral illusions, have an advantage in every society.
“The reputation of power is power.”
— Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan
Most people cannot understand power because they are simply intellectually unable to see it effectively. The masses are not known for their ability to hold two competing issues in their mind without an obvious conclusion. That is why you get false dialectics in every part of society, not because they are specifically manufactured, but because that is how mass human thought forms into two binary choices rather than complex systemic issues that don’t resolve neatly. Those who understand and are intelligent enough to hold such competing, seemingly contradictory thoughts are rare. They are the brokers of power; they understand things that are not so obvious to others.
"The difficulty is to try and teach the multitude that something can be true and untrue at the same time." — Arthur Schopenhauer
This is why egalitarian thought will always be incomplete. Reality is not fair. The intellect people possess is not fair. The ability to have sound reasoning and logic and translate that into strategies of power is not evenly distributed. That is why hierarchy and inequality form in every society, not because of systemic issues, but because of the greatest divide in all human systems: intellectual superiority. Those who can truly think with reason and logic and come to their own conclusions are rare. It is a very popular thing to say in modern society that you come to your own conclusions. That is a trite saying that means nothing. Most people cannot come to their own conclusions because they cannot reason. They cannot reason because they don’t even understand their fundamental worldview.
Now, for some this will be possible; some are simply unable to think so deeply. But for the few, this is deeply possible. To be able to reason soundly and logically with support and come to your own conclusions is feasible. But to accurately do this, one must understand their basic beliefs and worldview. Otherwise, their lines of reasoning and thought are subject to persuasion from those who seem smarter or those who hold more dominant, societally accepted assumptions. That is what sets apart the intellectually superior. They are able to base their line of thought on their own concluded worldview. They are able to hold it without deviation because they understand their basic beliefs and the foundational building blocks of their logic.
This is a rare ability: to challenge your own fundamental beliefs critically and reinforce them without destabilizing your sense of self and identity. Those who are intellectually superior will become brokers of power and leaders, not because they are better, but because their perceptions are not limited by baseline societal assumptions that are easily manipulated to fit a narrative. They can see beyond the veil of emotional and logical manipulation. They will be able to behave fluidly and adapt to situations and understand how power works, not because they are inherently better, but because their perception is not limited like everyone else’s.
Freedom is not money. Power is not status. Both are tools. Tools are only as effective as the mind directing them. Without that mind, money is spent. Status is displayed. Authority is performed. None of it produces real leverage. That mind is not purchased. It is not inherited. It is built through one process: examining and challenging your own foundational beliefs until your reasoning belongs to you alone. Until your conclusions are yours and not borrowed from whoever shaped you last. Most people never begin that process. The discomfort stops them. They return to inherited assumptions because society rewards conformity with comfort. Those who continue gain something no market shift or political change can touch. A perception that is not limited by what everyone else assumes to be true. That is the entry point to real power. Most people spend their entire lives believing it was locked behind money, status, or position. It was never there. Those who understand reality and these fundamental truths will rule. Those who reject this will always be limited and controlled by mass perception and their own limitations.