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TOTW: Wheel of Pain

For the more clearly I perceive in nature those omnipotent art impulses, and in them an ardent longing for illusion, the more I feel myself impelled to the metaphysical assumption that the truly existent primal unity, eternally suffering and contradictory, also needs the rapturous vision, the pleasurable illusion, for its continuous redemption

For many Anarchy begins with a particular impulse, to change what is. When this impulse takes form, the results vary from activism to insurrection, free love, intentional living, etc. Yet what seemingly every form requires is a vision, a bright point of light one rushes towards, maybe not a better world, but at least a different way of living which we share with others, a dream. As with all dreams, someday these visions end too. Groups split, activism fails, friendships turn sour, love turns to hate. And, when these illusions are shattered, individuals are left to pick up the pieces with which to either build a new Anarchist life or melt back into society at large. The longer one claims the title of Anarchist the more times this cycle likely repeats, always painful, but nevertheless vital.

And now the questions: what has your experience of this cycle been? How did you experience the first shattering of your Anarchist dream? What changes did this cause in your Anarchy? In your life? How did you pick up the pieces, find new comrades, find the will to carry on?