This article exposes some ideas about freedom that seem to be conflicting but yet complementing. It reveals the misunderstanding or complex nature of the word freedom and hence the state freedom. In short, are you free? if so, why can't you do a, b or c?? Are you really free.
I don't know how descriptive my description is. However, let's ride on the boat and see where the seashore ends.
Objectively, I'd like to point out that freedom is a result of slavery just as slavery is the product of freedom. It cannot be made more plain that both are necessary for life, and only death can free one from experiencing either.
My aim is to instigate the desire for embracing every form of necessary discomfort and pain as the true means to authentic luxury. Here are a few questions to ponder on:
If I am free to drink as much as I can but not free to determine whether I get drunk or not, am I free???
If I am free to have unprotected sex but not free to decide whether or not I contract an STD, get pregnant, or impregnate, am I really free?
If I am free to abort, but not free to decide whether my womb is kept whole or destroyed, am I free?
If I am free to choose my friends anyhow I want but not free to choose what influence they have over me, am I free??
If I'm free to bet the way I like but not free to determine the outcome, am I free??
The questions can go on and on and on.
How can you be intentionally placed in a space without your consent and think that you can exercise every form of freedom???
By virtue of your absence in the creation of your very own self and your inability to decide to stay here forever, you are not free.
You were never free to choose to be born, you will never be free to choose when you die, how then do you think you are free to choose how you experience life?
Yes, you may choose what to do, but not the outcome. However, the outcome is your responsibility to handle. On another hand, you can't plant a mango tree and expect plums.
Freedom is a word that would mean several different things to several different persons. We could look at underlying dictionary definitions as well as renowned philosophical writers, but we want to converge the light of this matter to what adults crave for just as they transition from teenagehood to their early 40s.
Before I continue... or wrap up, let me ask: CAN WE EVER BE FREE??
Here’s my answer that comes as a definition for freedom:
Freedom is the extent to which you can desire an outcome, choose its rightful procedural slavemaster, and follow through till the outcome surfaces. It is your ability to put in all the necessary efforts you can to achieve a particular goal, regardless of the difficulty with which to stay consistent. In essence, you are not free because you can choose. You are free because you can achieve through a process regardless of the length, intensity, and difficulty.
The choice to be free is not necessarily made by everyone consciously. Unconsciously, one might have chosen to be in bondage forever because our current state (for an average Cameroonian youth) does so—through our jobs, our families, our education, etc. If you don't intentionally choose, you are most likely to be in slavery even if you feel free.
You are a slave whether you like it or not. The question is: Who/What is your slave master? On one hand, you could be objective, goal-driven, plan-based, and treading a hard path, while on another you could be sentimental, pleasure-seeking, consumed in several activities, and treading an easy path.
When a young person cries out "I want to be free," they don't want to be under the rule of their parents or authorities that be, and here’s exactly what they mean:
Allow me to choose when to do chores or whether to do them at all.
Allow me to go wherever, whenever and come back, and also allow me to choose to tell you where I had been or not.
Don't bother about what I consume, who I mingle with, etc.
Allow me to wake up when I want.
Allow me to do whatever I want.
The list can go on and on
Clearly, they are crying out "let me be idle." Let me state this again: You can not be free. If you choose idleness as a slave master, you are doomed and your misery is just around the corner. You will appear to be most free, but you are most enslaved.
Intentionally choosing the right slave master is the way out but it is as difficult as doing a coup d'État. It is a whole process that takes time.
NOTE: There is no problem with choosing to be idle at some point or choosing to be pleasured. There is a problem with not being able to choose not to be idle, pleasured, etc. That's the slavery we are talking about.
To be continued ...
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