Abandoning Fiat Means Abandoning Bitcoin

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Abandoning the fiat world also means being able to abandon Bitcoin. Let me explain by telling you how I died.

I grew up in Germany as the eldest of four brothers. My father worked at a local energy company, but outside of that he was always politically active. At the age of 16, he joined the German Social Democratic Party (SPD), the equivalent of the Democrats in the United States. Her

my life, and therefore my own, was dominated by the SPD. He spent a lot of time participating in campaigns and doing political work; sometimes it was as if he had forgotten he had children. But it was okay. One day he asked me and my brothers if he should run for mayor of our hometown of 350,000 people. We said yes, of course. We were excited for him. I was excited. He announces his candidacy and the campaign begins.

I followed his example and joined the Social Democratic Party. I wanted to support him and the cause. I identified with his political views and those of the SPD, and I thought it was the only “right way” to see things and the world. The conservative kids at my school started debating political issues. I love debating with people. But with them, I was very angry because, in all honesty, I had no other arguments than those of my father. And every time, it made my blood boil.

I believed in things like universal basic income and that capitalism was the cause of all evil.

I hated people like Donald Trump or similar German figures who were considered “right-wing”, and I never questioned my belonging to the “right”.

Now you might be wondering, “What does this have to do with Bitcoin?” » Please be patient with me; we will get there. I started attending party meetings and got to know other party members – young left-wing students, mostly men. I always had a strange feeling when I went to these meetings. I didn’t realize it at the time, but looking back, I was always uncomfortable around them. I didn’t know why, but what I observed was a gap between what other party members said and how they acted and appeared. It was as if they didn’t even believe in their own ideas.

However, a few months later, my father won the elections and became mayor of the city. It was an exciting time. I’ve never had so much attention in my life. I felt like a local celebrity: people recognized me and suddenly everyone was so friendly.

A year passed and my interest in politics waned. Even though I wasn’t a passionate party member before, I started skipping meetings. Nevertheless, I remained a member. The years have passed.

Then it was 2020. Governments around the world locked people down, confining them to their homes. COVID-19 restrictions have dominated our lives. My freelance jobs dried up; I was actually ordered to stop working as a filmmaker. I had nothing to do all day. A few months before, a good friend had told me and my girlfriend about Bitcoin. And now that I had the time, I started looking into it and inevitably, dear reader, I fell deep down the rabbit hole. I don’t think I need to explain how this happened.

This whole intellectual process triggered a kind of pain. The more I read books and listened to podcasts, the more I realized how little I knew about how the world worked. And I slowly but surely realized that the worldview I had, primarily influenced by my father’s political views, was definitely not mine. Everything I once identified with was suddenly ripped away from me, as if something had taken away my sense of self. The opinions I thought I had about politics, society, government, and money, of course, turned into an orange light. It was very painful because until then I thought that all these things were deeply rooted in my personality. On top of that, I realized that the ideas in my head weren’t even mine; they belonged to my father, to my mother, to my classmates, to my friends. Certainly not mine. And I never questioned it. Learning about Bitcoin makes you question everything. This triggers an awakening and ultimately forces you to abandon everything you once believed in. Lesson learned. The side effects make your friends and family think you’re going crazy, especially if you criticize COVID-19 restrictions. But it was worth it.

If you let go of your worldview, you tend to exchange it with another. I’ve observed this a lot in the Bitcoin community.

Many Bitcoiners have identified so deeply with Bitcoin that their lives depend on it. Not just materially, but mentally. And in the unlikely event that Bitcoin doesn’t succeed, they would be completely lost. And I think if you identify with an idea, you’re living in an illusion; everything, and I mean literally everything, is just a temporary state. There is a Greek saying: “panta rhei” (English: “everything flows”). Nothing is solid. And this is true for everything, even Bitcoin. But don’t take my word for it. Experience it yourself, observe life, nature, people and you will see that things come and go.

In order to fully embrace Bitcoin, you must be able to abandon it. You can only see the full picture at any time when you step away from it and question everything. This is what made me realize that my previous worldview was based on shaky foundations. I was only able to realize this by letting go of everything and stepping back to look at things from an outside perspective, like looking at the water behind a waterfall. It affected my whole life situation. I no longer bind people to their ideas.

For some, this might be helpful as I see Bitcoiners on Twitter – and worse, in real life – getting angry at people who don’t like or agree about Bitcoin. These people get angry because their personality is so tied to the idea of ​​Bitcoin that they view criticism as an attack on themselves, on their personality and on their self-esteem.

The chances of Bitcoin failing are extremely low. But they will increase if we continue to question everything at all times. See the big picture.

We all work together but individually we must let go to ultimately be free.

This has all happened in the last three years. Time passed incredibly quickly. I wonder how, if my self-esteem is not tied to an idea, then what is it tied to? This question goes beyond Bitcoin and it is so existential that I do not dare answer it for you. I can only encourage you to ask yourself the question.

Who are you?

Who am I?

This article is featured in Bitcoin Magazine “The question of withdrawal”. Click here to subscribe now.

A PDF brochure of this article is available To download.

This is a guest post from Siddhartha.The opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.