This essay by Leonard Read conveys a very powerful concept or principle in an incredibly simple way. The power of parables to convey principles is incredible. Some of the best teachers in all of history have used this method. It is clearly one of the most effective ways to teach principles. The concept that free minds and free markets organize everything in society in ways that are almost unimaginable is really powerful. Understanding the tremendous complexity created by 8 billion human beings peacefully interacting together without any top-down control is a nearly religious experience.

I hear lots of people say they understand this, but I question how many of them have really grasped how profound it is. How many people have really thought this idea through? How many have asked themselves what this implies about politics, about religion, and about nature? How many people have inverted this idea and asked themselves what life would be like if the opposite of this principle were true?

Suppose, for instance, that the way to prosperity, progress, and happiness for the masses were if people were willing to abandon the idea of mental and physical freedom? Suppose everything would work better in the world if we all agreed to be the ideological and physical slaves of great “leaders” through the threat of violence? Suppose the top-down, total control of totalitarianism, would actually outperform free societies? Would we then say “oh, obviously that’s the best way to organize society” and all fall into line like obedient slaves? Would we struggle with whether it’s better to live in a free society and fall behind materially and spiritually, versus living in a state of servitude where we would benefit materially and spiritually?

Have we ever even paused to think about how fortunate we are not to have to make that decision?

How profoundly fortunate are we that we live in a universe that not only provides us with the ability to freely think, speak, associate with other people, work, worship, etc., etc., in whatever way our conscience guides us towards, and that the results are infinitely better than if the alternative were true?

It’s miraculous!

Understanding this thoroughly does have religious implications. That the creator of the universe designed a system that works this way has profound implications about how we, as human beings, should go about organizing all of our organizations, from the nuclear family, to businesses, churches, to non-profits, to communities, to local, regional, and national governments.

The lesson should be crystal clear: using coercive force results in disorder, chaos, pain, and immorality. Maintaining freedom for individuals to choose and interact voluntarily unleashes creativity, order, beauty, morality, material and religious progress, happiness, vibrancy and wonder in our universe.

When was the last time you were in a discussion with someone about politics or religion and someone brought up this idea of freedom being the way to measure what the correct course of action should be? Does anyone even consider this anymore? How far has our society fallen when we don’t even consider principles when we’re talking about these topics?

Freedom is an amazing thing. Lots of people give it lip service, but few people think about it deeply. If they did, our world would be a very different place. The fact that freedom is not only powerful, but also is good and is the state that the Creator designed man for, is evidenced everywhere. This fact is revealed by the Creator thru both scripture and nature, in ways that are unmistakable. Even a child can understand this.

Leonard Read’s classic essay, I, Pencil, captures this beautifully.

There is a fact still more astounding: the absence of a mastermind, of anyone dictating or forcibly directing these countless actions which bring me into being. No trace of such a person can be found. Instead, we find the Invisible Hand at work. This is the mystery to which I earlier referred.

It has been said that “only God can make a tree.” Why do we agree with this? Isn’t it because we realize that we ourselves could not make one? Indeed, can we even describe a tree? We cannot, except in superficial terms. We can say, for instance, that a certain molecular configuration manifests itself as a tree. But what mind is there among men that could even record, let alone direct, the constant changes in molecules that transpire in the life span of a tree? Such a feat is utterly unthinkable!

I, Pencil, am a complex combination of miracles: a tree, zinc, copper, graphite, and so on. But to these miracles that manifest themselves in nature an even-more-extraordinary miracle has been added: the configuration of creative human energies — millions of tiny know-hows configurating naturally and spontaneously in response to human necessity and desire and in the absence of any human masterminding! Since only God can make a tree, I insist that only God could make me. Man can no more direct these millions of know-hows to bring me into being than he can put molecules together to create a tree.

The lesson I have to teach is this: Leave all creative energies uninhibited. Merely organize society to act in harmony with this lesson. Let society’s legal apparatus remove all obstacles the best it can. Permit these creative know-hows freely to flow. Have faith that free men and women will respond to the Invisible Hand. This faith will be confirmed. I, Pencil, seemingly simple though I am, offer the miracle of my creation as testimony that this is a practical faith, as practical as the sun, the rain, a cedar tree, the good earth.

Leonard Read