You played games and you played a lot. A lifetime of pixels had changed color in front of your very eyes. you lived the lives of hundreds of characters and as you went forward a strange idea hit you in the head. You forgot to live your own life. Not just live it, also build it. All your creative energies put inside a hard drive. Freedom from the real world ended up making you a slave because nothing enslaves you more than the way you see the world.
The way everyone sees the world as a child, a place of wonder and fun, begins to change as they grow, they see the unwritten rules and boundaries, carrots and sticks, rules that bound them and bring out the truth.
You are not free, no, your life has already been planned for you by your elders. Your big freedom is to choose between flavors of ice cream. When you go down to the real decisions, and I say if you manage to understand them, you will find that the choice is nowhere to be found. What you’ll see it’s a bunch of people, old people, so old that they had to change their hearts at least 4 times.
These people decide for you because for them, you are the game. You didn’t think you were the only one addicted to games, did you? Well, they play the real thing, flesh, and blood, full physics pack.
Now take a minute to analyze how do you treat your NPC in the games you play. Do you respect them, offer them freedom and choice, compassion? I didn’t think so.
Freedom refers firstly to the freedom to think, to be able to reason you need tools. Has anyone told you before what tools you need?
The first tool is LOGIC, if you don’t get a tingly sensation when you hear illogical statements, start there.
The second tool you have is to know LOGICAL FALLACIES, search them on Google.
The third tool is SKEPTICISM, don’t assume every information you get is true. Verify it from at least another unrelated source. Be careful a lot of sources are actually controlled by a single parent source.
The fourth tool you have is TO QUESTION. Ask questions about what you are being told, see if the person putting forward the information has logical consistency and ask about his general world view. You must put the information in the context of the speaker. You must ask yourself why you are being told that, get behind the reason and not the information.
The fifth tool is SELF-KNOWLEDGE. The most important tool, the tool that sets you free. If you like freedom, independence, responsibility, clarity, assertiveness, love. If you like that, use the tool, scary at first, rewarding at last.
Use all these tools and become an independent player in the real game, achieve the ultimate perk, freedom from manipulation, freedom from emotional abuse, freedom from mindless actions, freedom from old heartless men and their games.