Ownlife: The collection of decisions made independently by individuals; most notably embodied in eccentricity or solitary activities.

This term originates from the Newspeak dictionaries of George Orwell's novel 1984. In that novel, the state sought to eliminate any vestiges of ownlife--all decisions were to be based on directives from from the authority. Consequently, a person was expected to spend all of one's time with others, as this would aid in enforcement and prevent situations where one must make up one's own mind without input from others.

I believe that ownlife is under threat in our society. To some extent, this threat is embodied in collectivist ideologies, but more importantly, it is embodied in the way that we live our lives (mass education, mass production, mass culture, mass politics, etc.). Fortunately, we are also seeing many new opportunities to recover, strengthen, and improve ownlife in our society. If we blindly follow the path of least resistance, we will surely destroy ourselves.

This website is intended to serve as a community resource for the promotion of ownlife in our society. I'd like it to include user-accounts, with discussions, and repositories of documents, presentations, recordings, Internet links, and other information. Unfortunately, this project is on hold for the foreseeable future.

For the time being, please take a look at my writings at Freedom Democrats and Eternal Vigilance. I also recommend the Mutualist Blog.

You may also be interested in my book reviews and suggestions.