The dilemma of believing in absolute Freedom, and what it means for society.
As for us, whatever the case may be, we believe in freedom. Is it true that this belief must lead us to despair? Consider this curious paradox: that from the moment a human recognizes himself as free, they are prohibited from wishing for anything.
Society in all purpose is to provide a sustainable life for the citizens. The illusion follows, we are grown up believing work or what have it can get us anywhere. Society has no limits, just as the world, the universe maybe. We are surely free. And we surely wish for things to be. If we are free, there should be nothing we are incapable of doing, pursuing, reaching. Any restrictions we face prove we are not fully free. WIshes are exactly the realization of emmentent desperation of no freedom. We are granted the privilege of yes, having a few choices, but the choices we have dear i say, we’re already chosen by society.
It appears to us thay by turning towards this freedom we are going to discover a principle of action whose range will be universal. We have seen the original scheme of humans is ambiguous: they want to be, and to the extent that they coincide with this wish, they fail. All the plans in which this will to be is actualized are condemned; and the ends circumscribed by these plans remind mirages. They also will themselves to be a disclosure of being, and if it coincides with this wish they win, for the fact that the world becomes present by his presence in it.
That might have sounded mambo-jumbo esc. To rearrange the above: we are free, so we do not need to wish for things, or simply put, we wish for things, because we are not free beings. And again, I'm sure you, the audience surly, regardless of what side you may be on, is wondering what in fact is restricting our freedom.
This answer is not so easy. How ironic it is to realize we are not free, but to understand how and why, may be out of human’s brain capacity to understand. I would argue we have a society to blame. The society that has influenced you beyond your personal identity, influenced you further into deciding what you do, looks like, believe in, and most dangerous of all, learn. The fact that we can not learn for ourselves without the means of money. Money or time, or the books that are made illegal, the news that get removed, documentaries that get protested, activities that get silenced. We really can't learn unless what we are learning is approved. Whatever isn't approved, is made hidden for the benefit of society.
Again that’s one approach to processing the lack of freedom. It is the least harmful to the psyche. Do you believe in cause and effect? If you do, as do I, I unfortunatly present you with another means in undering the lack of freedom (partially unrelated), which would be a branch from the unpopular belief of determinism: the belief that everything is determined.
If a ball dropped on the floor, for example, surly we conclude the ball was in sometime, in the air, until of course the ball dropped. This appears rather elementary logic, but we can take it a step further. Maybe in fact you saw the ball being dropped by your friend, and you can conclude he dropped the ball out of pure boredom. A step further, he was bored because his mom had to work again, a step further , his mom had to work again because the toaster broke and she needed more money, a step further, the toaster broke because the neighbors came over a week ago and pressed the wrongs buttons when operating the toaster. The actions above are fiction. The act of the neighbors coming over to your friends caused many apparently random events to happen after it ending in the drop of a ball.
Determination is stating the first act, the first action the universe ever had, is the basis of everything that happened after. We are all the effect of every action before us, and the actions before are the cause of the previous actions, and this cycle continues. If we think casually about this, we are the result of two parents, people we can't choose, all the while their DNA will shape our life fully. Your race, ethnicity, things society chooses that matter and will open and close certain doors for you, your gender and sexual identity, both things you can't control, more doors opening, closing, your financial status, family reputation, passed on debt, diseases passed down, the place you grew up, childhood television that shaped you, childhood pets that you confined in, the teachers, roles models, the things we can't control are almost infinite. You can’t go back into the past. You can not change these things. You might not even be able to change anything.
Studies are proving our brian, our own brain has already decided on what we are going to have for breakfast in the morning. Is that worthy of a gasp? Confused, you may be, but it's rather simple. Our brain takes into account what food we have, what we would prefer to eat, healthiness, time needed to prepare, expiration dates, convinecer, the possibility of skipping breakfast entierley, it takes this all into account and already knows. If we can’t control what we eat tomorrow. Why even choose anything, anything at all?
(I am unable to provide a link to the studies talked about above)
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Believing in determinism is not beneficial. Doesn't it kind of just leave feelings dark and violated. You shouldn’t believe in it. I mentioned it to be fair, to prove my point that we take even the idea of freedom for granted. You did not need to know about determinism did you. Being reduced to survival instincts: FEED, (robotic processing sounds I imagine in the background) FEED AGAIN, REST, FEED, REPRODUCE, AVOID PAIN, FEED. Are we anything more than just this imaginary code? We are bound, so what... despair now?
I heard someone say once sadness is a blessing as opposed to life only focussing on the happy. Only to ever acknowledge the positive is far too easy. Submit to sadness in the attempt for answers, If not determinism then we should have to believe society is a prison. Break free from the physical nothing that binds you, Question everything, question this paper, question authority, “why are you my authority,” question why society, what's the opposite of society. Why do I wish, why do I want to be free.
What do we want to do with a society now? Its purpose, to keep us confined. Abolish society, and start the business of manufacturing packages of freedom. Do we continue living in a society? Society has proven incapable of providing freedom. Are there alternatives in reaching absolute freedom? Is freedom an issue? Societal issues rarely are given without facts… oh the great facts, the turning point of any argument. Using a search engine you can argue for anything. Really education that is, googling is alcohol bad, and learning about the potential permanent brain damage, altering connections alcohol can manipulate and re-structure. Google is alcohol good, and we learn it lowers the chance of heart attack and heart cancer. The lack of resources today is filled in with reason. Reason proven by logic, proven by math, unarguable. Think for yourself today, or wish for the freedom to think for yourself.
Written by, Moses Taylor
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