Just imagine you have an hour of free time. What would you do with it? What will you do when all of your responsibilities disappear? What will you do when there is nothing left to achieve? What will you do when everything you do means nothing to you? Can you smell that? It's freedom.
In that hour of free time, if something goes wrong, who should we blame? We could blame the government if the government is responsible. We could blame another person if they do something. But if we make the choice and no one else's choice affects us then we are responsible. Freedom is the ability to make decisions and perform actions outside of the coercion of these interfering objects. In that hour, we could do anything, create any future, derive any meaning, pursue any passion, imagine any dream.
But why do we spend that hour so often do things we don't particularly enjoy doing. Why do we feel guilt we when do something we enjoy but decide against from some other reason? We have the freedom. Why is it so easy to feel so uneasy about it? Where do you want to eat? I don't care. Maybe you do care, but you don't want to say. Maybe you'll be judged. But nothing bad is coming to you unless you take it or you don't. That's freedom for you. You have 57 minutes left and you could continue to waste your time reading this post or you could do something.
Some people dream of fast cars. Some people dream of traveling the world. Some people dream of being rich. All of these things are desires of freedom. A fast car will improve your social status. Traveling the world will help you meet new people and experience new things. Being rich means you can choose to work. All of these things add to the possibilities. But the possibilities are overrated. Who knows. Maybe if you actually had to choose you would still choose to binge that new season on Netflix. Then you would hate yourself for all of that time you wasted.
But you already have the freedom to have all of those things. You could travel but you make excuses. You could buy a fast car. Probably have to cut your other expenses, but still possible. You could be rich. You just really aren't trying to be rich. Because the process isn't very appealing. There is nothing wrong for craving freedom, but we all already pretty free. And yet we choose to act if we aren't quite there yet.
People claim they have imaginary chains holding them back. I have to spend money on a new television because my old television is a piece of garbage and no one wants to hang at my place. I have to mow the front yard because everyone's front yard is mowed. I need to work hard at a job I don't really like because being jobless for a moment makes me feel insignificant. I don't have any free time because I pursue these things I really shouldn't pursue but I do because I should pursue them. But these chains are really comfort blankets.
We are actually are really free, but we don't want to be free. We have complete control over our life, but we don't want complete control. We need obligations to feel important when they make us feel burdened. But there are no obligations. You can wake up tomorrow and do anything you want to do. You have fifty four minutes left. But you don't. You have years, decades. And you let your precious time slip away. But you are free to do that. Maybe I'm confused. Maybe I'm wasting both of our times. Who knows anymore?
Sources:
Cake Image
