A New Manifesto? Or No Manifesto?

What is a manifesto?



Webster defines it this way: a written statement declaring publicly the intentions, motives, or views of its issuer.



Now I ask, how can you assign a manifesto to a cyclist? When a bicycle represents freedom? A bicycle is a mode of transport that gives you choices. It gives you independence. It lets you turn right or left at a moment's notice. It exhilarates you. It makes you feel timeless.

The bicycle also connects you. Your senses are elevated. You notice the little details. You hear conversations on the corner. You feel the crisp wind on your face. You sense the vibrations of the earth in your bones. You smell the air - or sometimes must hold your breath. You share this unique experience with the person saddled next to you in the bike lane.

So why, when one is manifesting his or her own ability to move freely, would she want to adopt a manifesto, when she alone decides when to switch gears or turn in a new direction, wherever the wind carries her?

Perhaps the manifesto is a concept of the past. How can 7 billion people adopt one manifesto? And is that what we truly need - another set of rules to adopt? Someone else to tell us what we want?

Or is what we need the absence of a manifesto?



For much of our lives, we were told that we need to get a job. Make money. Buy a house. Settle down. Invest in things. And then we grow up, and we may not have any of them. We may have little or nothing of "value."

I've realized that once you subscribe to a philosophy of life, you should be open to the idea that your philosophy could fall short of not just your reality, but more importantly, your dreams. You need to be willing to accept the negation of any train of thought. (The earth, for example, revolves around the sun.)

Perhaps it's time to say goodbye to manifestos. It's time to not define the way things must be.

Perhaps it's simply time to create and connect.