Am I Free?

The concept of Freedom.  Without reading or preparing from any work previously written - I examine, from my point of view, if I am free.

At this moment, I can say or do anything that the laws of nature will allow me to.  The Laws of Nature are basic limitations imposed on all men equally - I can not at this time transport my physical body to a remote location instantaneously, I can not forgo water, food, and sleep.  I can not defy the laws of gravity, I must also breath the air.  So, I am free, insomuch as having to obey the Laws of Nature.

Understanding and accepting these basic laws of nature, I move forward with the assumption that I can be free within the frame work provided.

The first encounter with a perceived lack of freedom is from my family.  A family raises a member of it's congragration with the expectation of continued family involvement on the part of the individual - the extended family.  The American Nuclear family has done away with the extended family.  Now the nuclear family is dissolving as well.

My grandparents are no longer living, my extended family is no longer in communication... my mother and father, I no longer seek the approval of, they have disapproved of me and my thought process long ago.  I do not look to them for guidance or support.  I do not have a pleasant relationship with either of my siblings.  My family provides me with nothing of substance.  From them I am free for the most part, only a lingering memory or impression made on me interrupts my perceived freedom. 

I have no family I created, I have no wife, no child... so there is no obligation to provide for them.  From the obligation of self created family, I am also free.

I have a pet cat.  I am not free from my obligation of caring for her, unless I don't care for her well being.  But I do care, so my freedom is limited by my care for a cat.  But I can get rid of the cat, I can remove this obstacle in the way of complete freedom, so, to some degree I am free from my responsibility to the cat, because I choose to be her steward.  I am free to choose.

In my community, in my society I am free to act as I choose, as long as I am willing to suffer the consequences.  This is an interesting concept... am I really free?  I would argue both yes, and no. 

On the one hand, as long as I am willing to suffer the consequences, and perhaps lose freedom all together, I can do almost any act I can dream of, and/or find participants to act in.  On the other hand, my society makes laws that forbid certain actions by individuals, be it murder, rape, theft, prostitution, gambling or drug use.  The individual that is caught acting in voilation of the law, loses degrees of freedom, depending on the severity of the act and the punishments prescribed by law.

So while on the one hand, the fear of losing my perceived freedom keeps me from acting towards certian matters.  The actuality of the situation is that I can act how I deem fit until being caught by an authority.  So I am free in action, but not free from fear of reprisal.  And once discovered, I lose freedom of action as well.  So this is the question, am I free in my society?

Societal Laws that the individual does not agree with are more difficult to accept than the Natural Laws.  With Natural Laws, the laws apply to every man, regardless of race, creed or national origin.  Societal Laws are not applied equally to all men, and there in lies a restriction to freedom.  One can't feel free, if there is someone perceived as being more free then you.   

In the world of thoughts, I am able to entertain the most lofty or the most base concepts.  In my thoughts I am free.  But wait?  Where did I get my concepts from?  Where did I get the words I use to describe my world, both internal and external from?  What if I encounter something I do not know how to explain, where do I get the language to explain it?

What is discovered in the world of thoughts is that the individual is indoctrinated into a system of thinking.  First a Language, then a school of thought.  A school of thought provides a thought paradigm - a model and a mode for the individuals thinking behavior.  With some schools of thought, there is reprisal, either from a world authority figure, or a meta-physical authority figure if the individuals thought strays from a prescribed doctrine.  From this I am free, I fear no authority for "incorrect thoughts".

But what of the intellectual programming, what of the bias that my Family, Society, and Country have created for it's members?  Surely I must not overlook my programmed bias towards things that are the same as me, and my bias against things that are different.  With knowledge of this programming bias, I can obtain degrees of freedom.  Because I have freedom from fear of incorrect thoughts, I can entertain any thought and allow the nature of the thought in itself to prove it's validity, without fear of cultural reprisal.


So, in review:

Let me use a sliding scale (1-10) to show my perceived level of freedom - A [Freedom 1] is the least amount of freedom and [Freedom 10] is greatest amount of freedom.

1.) I am pretty much free in my bodily nature, as long as I accept the laws of nature.   I am fortunate enough to have only a limited amount of pain in normal activity.  I am free until pain prevents me.  When normal life activities are interrupted by a lack of heath, freedom is diminished.  [Freedom 8]

2.) I am fairly free from family obligations.  Sadly, I would like a family of my own, but for some reason I am able to say I am free from this obligation.  I am not free from the desire to have a family, but that is an internal desire.  I am almost completely free of having to be somebody I am not to my family.  I am not free from my obligation to help them if they ask for help, I am bound by familial guilt.  I am free in my choice on what other family/pet obligations I choose to keep.  [Freedom 7]

3.) Am I free in action in my society?  No.  Sadly, I am not.  I am forced to work at an occupation to earn money to support my life functions.  I am forced to comply with societal rules that would restrict my freedom if I chose otherwise.  Slowly, even our freedom of action is being curtailed by more security check points, more cameras recording our actions, and more police and citizens on the watch for suspect activity.  While once a great frontier of freedom, America is becoming a police state.  I am still free to act, until I am chastised, and this give me a primary freedom of action.  But reprisal in various forms, physical and economic sanctions cause a great curtailing of perceived and actual freedom.  [Freedom 4]

4.) Am I free in my thoughts?  At this point I would say mostly.  My first limitation is language, I am bound to it for rational thought and then public discourse.  But I am free to the degree that allows myself to engage and entertain different philosophies.  I can chose which philosophy to espouse.  Now, once I chose a philosophy, I could be limited to the precepts of that philosophy, but it is my choice.  I can also be limited in my physical activity, a job for example, if I engage in a certain philosophy, and with the new terrorist provisions in U.S. law, I can even be detained and interrogated for having certain thoughts.  But these are limitations on actions.  Having a thought and writing it down are two different actions.   In thought I am free.  [Freedom 8]            

Conclusion?  We like to claim, in the United States of America, that we are Free.  This is the land of the Free.  We are all about Freedom, Justice and Equality.

This is not totally true.  It is just we as a nation, at one time, were the MOST FREE.

I fear this level of freedom that I experience, which is one of the most liberal examples of human freedom ever experienced, is coming to an end.

I am just about as free as one can be.  I am a free man.  At least for now.