Upadaria: Reloaded

A few new finds concerning everyone's favorite fantasy land:


Greetings to all!
 
I hale from Upadaria, whichh in ancient Persian emans "the people rule". When I created the name I was not aware of this, I created it out of the initials UPDR which stood for a United People's Democratic Republic. Later, this was expanded into the four core ideals of Unity in diversity, Popular sovereignty, Democratic equality, and a Rule of law.
 
Upadaria is essentially nordic in its clime, I envisioon mountains and streams and vast dark forests interspersed with valley famlands and villages.
 
The Empire is a collection of city states, Like Riqueday, Watier, Novazzium, Claypool, Gaddox, Shagalonia, Greta's Gorge, Unnanaria, Leptis Parva, Micomesung, Brabandt, Reichswald, Duhnkehp and etc. Each city state is self sustaining in terms of food, shelter, energy, and clothing btu also very active in trade within the empire and the greater world, sort of locally focused yet very cosmoplitian and interconnected with the greater world.
 
Upadaria is governed by its philsophy which is bassed on the foru coire ideals, the social vision (consensus, sustainability, cooperaiton), the social ethic (welafre, economic justice, and autonomy), an economic model called "Concordianism", and a poltical model caleld Libertocracy.
 
Each city-state is autonomous and has a unique character and culture while the government is divided into three govevernemtns, united under a High Coucil and Emmperor whose main funcitons are to enforce the Chart of Empire and the rights for individuals and communtiies.
 
The Imperial Government, led by a Regent, deals with foreign affairs and defense. The Imperial Senate is made up of to senators per city state.
 
The Federal government, led by a president, handles trade and commerce. The Guild Senate and Guild House represent economic guilds within the naiton: each accredited (based on number of memebrs) guild senmd one senator while in the House representatives are elected by guilds in proportion to their numbers of members.
 
The Civil government deals with the criminal code and civil affairs and is led by a High Chancellor. The Civil Parliament representes the political parties and seats are assigned to parties based on proportional representation.
 
This system is designed so as to prevent a concentraiton of power on one hand and a paralysis by analysis on the other hand. Each government legislates in its own areas of responsibility and can be vetoed by 2/3rds votes from any of the other two governments, however the High Council can over ride or modify a veto with 2/3rds vote.
 
Upadaria is a land of great wealth, the wealth of an inventive and productive people whose reason for working is not to boost the GDP but, rather, to find and fulfill their callings in life. I stead of a work ethic that says get a degree and get a job our ehtic is to get knowledge on an ongoing basis and aquire a skill to serve oters while fulfilling your own dreams and, thereby, instead of simply making a living, make a LIFE.
 
Upadaria wishes to be at peace with all other nations, but is prepared for self protection in the event of aggression. The defense of the Empire is the personal responsibility of her citizens.
 
Many of the nations represented here are fascinating and innovative and it is with such peopleand nations that I, as Regent of Upadaria, wish to become affiliated. I offer my sevrices in any way I can help any of you to grow your nations, exchange ideas, or in any matter where I can assist you. I beleive that by growing ALL nations, not just one or a few, we can grow a movement of spirit which will catch on in the greater society around us.
 
Yours in service,
 
Regent William R Collier Jr

And a FortuneCity site from a decade ago:


Once we understand what Upadarianism is we can understand what the Revolution Within is. But first the Upadarian theory of human action must be explained. In reviewing our theory of human action (refered to as "praxeology") we will look at what action is, how choices are made, the "social diagram", socializing agents, the socialization process and "self-resocialization".

Once we have reviewed Upadarian praxeology we can move on to the revolution within, the "over turning movement" and "state and institution building".

Now, let us move into Upadarian praxeology.

What is action? Very simply action is choice followed by activity or purposeful inactivity. Without choice and the power to pick one alternative while setting aside other alternatives true action cannot take place. The elements of action are the power of volition and decision, the choosing of one alternative and the setting aside of other alternatives. In acting we do do not merely decide to accept one alternative, we pick up one alternative and we set aside others. In other words in acting we make a decision for one thing and against other things. Action is positive acceptance of one alternative and negative rejection of other possible alternatives. 

More than anything else action involves choice, a decision to do or not do something in order to achieve some desired end be it material or spiritual, be it selfish or altruistic. We act in order to exchange and change. We exchange something such as money, labor or property in order to get something. We change our current situation from a condition of lacking the object of our desires to a condition of having the object of our desires. The motivating factor behind all action is felt lack. If we feel satisfied with all things as they are we do not act we merely carry out tasks in a robotic motion which involves activity but which does not involve true action. 

All action is rational in so far as the acting individual perceives that their action will in fact achieve the end for which they have made the choice to act. When the Indians traded away Manhatten for trinkets they may have been grossly lacking in insight but the rationality of their act was sound, they exchanged an island of little value for objects which they valued more. All exchanges essentially involve the principle contained in the proverb "the buyer says 'it is nothing, it is nothing' and walks away rejoicing." We exchange what we have for something which we value more, we give away what we hold in low regard for what we hold in high regard. Generally we attempt foremost to give away as little as possible for what we want. How then do we arrive at the decisions which presage all human action?

How are choices made? As we reviewed above action essentially involves a choosing of one alternative among all possible alternative with us taking up the one alternative and putting aside or rejecting the other possible alternatives. In modern day economics it is understood that the type and form of economic system advocated by the conflicting (and numerous) economic schools of thought is primarily the result of the objectives each school has in mind. If the objective is economic equlaity the type of system advocated will necessarily differ greatly from a system where the objective is the diversity and quality of goods. So also is choice regulated and directed by the end which the acting individual has in mind.

The end dictates not only what things the individual feels necessary to obtain but even how the action will be conducted and how much of what one has will be exchanged for what one wants. Most of the choices we make are part of a "system of choices". This system of choices is a regulating factor, it defines what actions are acceptable and desirable as well as the intrinsic value of what one exchanges for what one wants. This system even goes so far as to instruct us as to what is worth obtaining and what is not worth keeping or obtaining. Another word for this system of choices is "the social digram" and we will now move on to discuss the social diagram.

The social diagram. Picture a line which has no begining or end, a line which goes on forever and ever. This line cover s "all possible actions". Picture now somewhere in the "middle" of this line two other short lines extending upwards from the horizantal line at 90 degree angles. Within these lines write the words "all acceptable behaviours" and outside of these lines write "all unacceptable behaviours". A behaviour is essentially an action, an activity in which something is exchanged in the hopes of obtaining something which one desires but is lacking. 

In every form of exchange at all levels, in every society, in every situation and at all times this diagram is present. From marriage and sex to work and friendship we all use our social diagrams to guide our choices whether we are conscious of those diagrams or not. All action, therefore, can be said to be a choice motivated by our social diagram to take one alternative and to set aside or reject all other possible alternatives. Understanding how and why we accept or obey our social diagrams is not only the key to understanding who we are it is the key to understanding how we can re-direct our lives. We shall now go on to discuss the primary builders of our social diagrams, the socializing agents.

Socializing agents. According to the "control theory" all of our behaviour is directed towards controlling our environment in order to meet one or all of the needs for self-actualization, belonging, security, food, shelter and fun. If we accept these needs as basic to the human condition (and there is no reason not to, at least for discussion purposes) we can deduce that for each of these categories a social diagram is present. Of all possible foods, for instance, we "accept" only certain ones based on our social digram and of all possible ways of eating foods we "accept" only certain ways of eating foods and this is also the work of our social diagram. Let us now conduct a little exercise to see the role socializing agents play in developing our social diagrams.

1 Take a peice of paper and draw a straight line across the top. Below this line write "all possible forms of fun". 
2 Now, write a list of 30 forms of fun whether "good" or "bad" or even legal or illegal. 
3 Next, draw two lines about three inches apart at 90 degree angles extending about two inches up from the horizontal line. Above the space created by the two lines write "acceptable forms of fun". 
4 Now from your list of 30 possible forms of fun pick out those forms which you personally consider acceptable forms of fun. 
5 Now write this new list on a separate sheet of paper following each item with a list of as many people as you can think of who you have seen, heard about or read about doing that specific thing and the positive and /or negative results which accrued to them as a result of doing such a thing. 
6 Finally, write how you came to accept each of these forms of fun and give a brief logical defense of why each of these is positively beneficial to both yourself when you do the and to society in general should the vast majority of people do the same.

The people who you saw, heard about or read about doing some of those things which are "acceptable" according to your social diagram are socializing agents. A socializing agent is any person, institution or thing from which individuals learn which behaviors are acceptable and which are not. Among those who are the most influential of socializing agents are parents, peers, teachers and heroes be they political, military, entertainment or sports figures. Whoever you want to either please or imitate becomes your socializing agent. You, the socializee, and the numerous socializing agents of your life are part of an ongoing socialization process. We shall now discuss that process.

The socialization process. As we observe socializing agents we internalize a social diagram and this diagram determines how and why we act. Internalization means that we accept and obey the standards of acceptability which we learn from socializing agents first consciously and then unconsciously. The fundamental method by which we learn what our socializing agents find acceptable is the process of sanctions either positive (an award, praise or some benefit) or negative (ostricism, public scorn, reprimand, spanking or some negative result). If we can think of forms of fun we find acceptable we can also think of the sanctions which we have experienced that either encouraged or discouraged us from doing certain things. When we won a race and were praised or when we smoked and were spanked we experienced attempts to socialize us through sanction. The socializing agents which we most respected or adored were the ones who we ultimately obeyed. In this context we are always obeyeing something and that something is our social diagram. 

What happens, however, when our social diagrams are either not suited to meeting our present needs or when they conflict with our ideal? As and example consider Daniel Bell's book "The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism" in which he makes the point that the techno-economic, political and cultural elements of society are three seperate things. According to Bell the techno-economic sphere is based on the ideals of cost effectiveness and product quality, the political sphere is based on the ideals of inherent equality and a libertarian "rule of law" while the culture is governed by self-expression/self-fulfillment in a hedonistic free for all. Whether or not Bell's views are 100% correct is not important here. The main value of Bell's idea is that he was able to grasp that our social diagrams can often be contradictory and he essentially held that the political diagram (equality and liberty) ought to become the single social diagram upon which all others are built. What then could Bell or anyone do if they determined that there were contradictions between the various social diagrams which they held?

For starters the would be reformer of ones' own social diagrams would first and foremost have to identify those diagrams as to their contents and root ideals and then compare those diagrams with the one set of ideals which one holds to be of supreme importance. The process of changing ones' social diagrams is called Self-resocialization and we will discuss this now. 

Self-resocialization. There are two tests by which the individual can evaluate the desirability of a social diagram. Those two tests involve determining whether or not the diagram is practical and useful under existing circumstances and whether or not the diagram is practical and useful in bringing the individual fulfillment, inner peace and even "pleasure" (not in the sensual context but, rather, in the esoteric context). Once a deficiency is discovered the individual is required by necessity to change their diagram for if they do not their situation will not change. 

We can change our social digrams and if we change our digrams there is a very good chance that we can ultimatley modify our circumstances and even change our lives. Three things impede our ability to change our diagrams and thus our lives, lack of knowldge about the fact that social diagrams exists let alone how they are created, lack of knowledge that we can change our diagram and lack of a decision on our part to take back control over our diagram from "socializing agents" beyond our control to become our own socializing agent and to select agents which embody the ideal which we actually want to live by. The first two obstacles can be overcome with education but the last obstacle is the most difficult to overcome because it requires a decision to act followed by a disciplined effort to change not only what one believes but how one acts. The key question I would pose to any person is "who should define your social digram and set the pattern of you life, you or somebody else?' As ultimately we must all stand alone before the judgement seat when we face our Creator the answer to this question can only be that we must determine, according to what we consider to be right and useful to ourselves and our society, the content of our social diagram.

This process of self-resocialization involves a concerted and conscious effort to redefine our social digram, to essentially change our mind about ideas which conflict with our world-view and to thereby change our pattern of conduct so that what we DO conforms faithfully with what we BELIEVE about ourselves, our society and our world. The fact is that when we have inconsistent social diagrams we find great stress and frustration because we fail to live according to our core beliefs. This process of changing our mind and then changing our pattern of conduct is both self-liberating and dramatically life-altering. From how we manage and spend our money to how we view human relationships and interact with others we begin to embark on a program of radical restructuring. This program we refer to as The Revolution Within and it is a program the individual can conduct immediately and on their own. If, as we hope, you choose to adopt Upadarianism the revolution within would involve YOU altering your social diagrams, and hence your behavior, to correspond to your adopted ideals. This is the primary and foundational means by which the Upadarian revolution will be carried out, it will not be a mere cosmetic change in the FORMS of power or the players in the political drama it will be a deep-seated social revolution firmly rooted in the human heart. The "overturning movement" in which the community takes on democracy and cooperative free enterprise and the state and institution building efforts which will occur as nations elect to adopt Upadarian institutions will both be founded upon the spreading of the revolution within from person to person until individuals become a team and teams become a "community" influencing their larger communities and their nations to liberate themselves from such things as exploitation, oppression, ignorance, deception and prejudicial persecution.

The vision of the Upadarian Revolution is a total transformation of America's social, economic, and political life. We envision a nation in which nearly all, if not all, citizens are either self-employed in some way or are sharing equally in the responsibilities and profits of business. In other words, we envision a nation where nearly every citizen is economically self-sufficient and is thereby free to pursue his or her own happiness. We also envision small communities as the foundation and basis of all political sovereignty with each community being governed directly by their citizens and with each community being materially self-reliant. We see alternative energy and manufacturing processes/resources empowering smaller entities to meet the needs of locals in a manner which provides quality and variety and has little to no impact on the local environment. We see the values of the small town and the open-minded culture of the city coming together in the sovereign comm unity , an entity modelled after Thomas Jeffersons' ward republic and the Greek Po l is with ALL citizens regardless of race or economic standing being equal members of the "body politic". We see counties being reformed into "federations" of sovereign communities and states being federations of sovereign counties. We see workers' unions rising up to demand equality between labor and capital along the "cooperative free enterprise" model. We further envision a literal interpretation of the constitution with amendments which protect the rights of communities and further strengthen the Bill of Rights. We see the end of political party domination of governing bodies with the end of rules which provide for the appointment according to party or seniority and rotating leadership positions, drawn by lot, to ensure that all elected delegates serve in these postions. 

The Upadarian Revolution seeks to go deep, into the hearts of individuals, as well as far and wide, througout the whole nation at every level. 

This "revolution" occurs in two primary stages. Stage one involves purging our minds of the myths of caeseristic institutions such as Big Government and Big Business. The second stage involves changing one's own life through financial and behavioural 'reforms' and then cooperating with fellow travelers to create tools of self-liberation such as buying co-ops, local publications, local credit-unions, workers' unions and citizens' corporations that make it possible for individuals to obtain true economic self-reliance.

This is the overall "thumbnail" sketch of what we mean when we speak of the Upadarian Revolution or "the Upadarianization of America". It will require a greater commitment by individuals to "active citizenship" , that is why we emphasize the first stage, personal decolonization, so heavily. People must see themselves as sovereign creations of a sovereign God and then be willing to take responsibility for their own lives and the life of their People. America is not a land, America is a People and each of us are Americans. Whenever one of us reforms our life we reform part of America and as more and more Americans realise who they are and what power they have the Upadarian Revolution will grow and grow until it spreads throughout the whole nation.

We must do more then elect some well funded politician, we must re-learn the art of actually governing ourselves and our communities. 

Change begins with YOU and I, as each of us rejects the notion that we do not count and accepts the moral responsibility to control our own destiny and reach out to our neighbors in cooperation something will begin to happen, something good for every single one of us. Freedom will only thrive where the People become individually involved and where ignorance and apathy are replaced with knowledge and initiative.

The Upadarian Revolution is a daunting task, one that will have immediate positive effects on individuals who begin to practice it but that will take a long-term commitment to spread it throughout the whole nation.

Upadarianism is the economic, political and cultural world-view of the American Civilization. What is this American Civilization? It is a civilization born out of the coming together of the Hispanic, Western, Asian, African and Native American worlds. Geographically it stretches from the great Canadian north to the islands of Tierre Del Fuego. The destiny of this civilization is to transform all of the Americas into a collection of Free and sovereign Peoples who have achieved the ideals of equality, liberty and prosperity through a community-driven free enterprise. Each and every one of the numerous ethnic groups which form the mosaic of the Peoples of the Americas are part and parcel (equal in value) of the newly emerging American "Race". The radical imperative for Upadarianism in America today is to create some "Homeland" within the heart and the imagination of people wherein the principles of Upadarianism can be practiced and from which the Upadarian revolution can be spread throughout the Americas or even the world.

Picture a situation in which the economic level of prosperity currently enjoyed by the United States is enjoyed by all of the Americas, picture the numerous nations of the Americas with democratic systems of self-government and local empowerment of individuals and communities and picture an end of the reign of Big Business and Big Government from Canada to the Falkland Islands. If you can see the image of a Free and Prosperous American Civilization stretching from pole to pole along the whole length of the American continents then you have caught a glimpse of the DESTINY of that civilization.

Our Civilization, which is taking root first in the heart through a "revolution within", is on a collision course with the decadent civilization of a Western Europe still hell-bent on global domination. Many of the financial, social, religious and political institutions of American nations are controlled by leaders who are loyal to the Western ethos and mythos of acquisition and nihilistic "will to power". Therefore Western Civilization still exercises a great deal of power over the Peoples of the new world. The time has come for the new world to end once and for all the reign of Western "caeserism" in the Americas, the time has come for the Peoples of the Americas to seize their destiny and claim their moral and political birthright! 

This is but a vision and, as we have noted earlier in the NOVUS series, it is only a target. But it gives us, I think, something to shoot for, something to get up every day and LIVE FOR.

2 comments:

  1. "Upadarianism is the economic, political and cultural world-view of the American Civilization."

    Falls into the same world-view category as people believing in alien abductions, the Area 51 cover-up, "greys" living among us, aliens living under the mountains of New Mexico, etc....

    In addition to their deep craving for acceptance and recognition, believers of world-views so far out of the mainstream share one other thing in common:

    They, for one or more reasons, have been deflected from the power bases of our society.

    ReplyDelete
  2. "1 Take a peice of paper and draw a straight line across the top. Below this line write "all possible forms of fun".

    FUN TIMES AT TEAM SARAH! JOIN NOW!

    Do you kids like to have fun?

    Come to Team Sarah!

    Are you sullen, withdrawn, wearing a lot of black lately? And there you are, your life practically over, and for what?

    For gosh sakes, get the whole family down to Team Sarah!

    Team Sarah's "fine debate forum" is the most fun you can have, legally, in the United States right now. Why spend thousands of dollars going to Disney World when you can donate half of that to TS and remain indoors and malaria-free?

    To find Team Sarah simply get on the Internet highway and keep going until you hear the fun!

    The first thing you'll want to do upon entering Team Sarah is to hit that donate button, which can be in five, ten, twenty, or a hundred-dollar allotments. The sky's the limit!

    You're moments away from fun!

    Next, you'll stop by the TS store and buy hats and T-shirts and bumper stickers.

    You're on the cusp of fun!

    Now look around. Was there ever anything this much fun when you were a kid? Maybe there was, and your parents lied to you about it. But you're not them, and you don't have to be. Just one look in TS members' glowing, jittery eyes will tell you. That may not happen right away, but rest assured you will have fun!

    What we recommend is you pick our beliefs and stay there.

    But not there!

    You've been AD~Scotted!

    Don't worry, that was gallons and gallons of totally "Christian" fun, which won't ruin any fabric developed after 2005. The slight burning sensation you feel is not humiliation, so relax and enjoy the laughter of hundreds of TS members, all because of you!

    And look: here come more TS member laughing like they never laughed before, and apparently unharmed. They just want you to donate another five, ten, twenty, or hundred dollars again so you can go right back into the fun.

    And that, goons, is our final contribution to your page for a while. Thanks for keeping us entertained.

    ReplyDelete