What is Freedom?
Konstantin Eriksen, Guest WriterWaking Times
Today I’d like to talk about a subject that I’ve been thinking about for many years and to share my current thinking on the topic: What is freedom?
The reality is that no matter how much I thought about the meaning of freedom and how much I read about it, no definition of it ever satisfied me. All were lacking in some way. So I’m going to attempt to give a short but accurate picture.
I believe that few people are truly free and I will explain this below. For the purpose of clarity I’m going to ask my readers to think of freedom in 4 general categories, with #4 being the most important by far:
1. Political and economic freedom. When people use the word “freedom,” they often mean some type of political or economic freedom present in a given country at a given time. To me, this type of freedom involves living in a jurisdiction that is not occupied militarily or economically and that limits all forms of coercion against individual citizens. Personal safety, complete and absolute freedom of speech and freedom from economic tyranny are essential for true political freedom to exist. Unfortunately, after having lived in a lot of countries, I have to conclude that true, pure, political freedom is nonexistent today, that there are only degrees of freedom within a given society and that some societies have more freedom in some aspects of life and less in other aspects.
Many countries that pride themselves on being “free” are actually not free at all, for although they are not under military occupation, they are under economic occupation. Large economic interests can end up with monopoly positions in energy, finance, medicine and many other key sectors of the economy.
No matter how much theoretical freedom is built into a political system, any form of economic control through special interest groups and the financing of politicians by rich entities will ensure that the system becomes corrupt and will degenerate into some form of economic slavery or semi-slavery.
2. Personal financial freedom. This means being free from having to work for others, being free of externally imposed schedules, being free to live and not to toil. There are three key points I want to make about financial freedom.
Firstly, we must become free of useless desires for superfluous “goods and services.” Think about it: How many of the things you own do you really need? How many bring you joy and happiness? In my experience, many of our purchases are actually attempts to cover up the deeper emptiness of our lives. Sometimes, getting rid of things and having a new experience is much more rewarding.
Secondly, we must be free of debt. Debt is an insidious form of slavery. It limits our options. It ties us down. We think we’re “free” but our freedom is a delusion as long as we owe others for our standard of living. Generally, it is not a good idea to get into debt unless you can afford it with plenty of room to spare.
People in the USA, Ireland, Spain and other countries borrowed massive amounts of money in the preceding years. Where has that left them? Bankrupt, of course! Germans, on the other hand, have very low levels of household debt. First they save money, then they buy. So being debt-free is not a dream, it’s a matter of discipline.
Thirdly, we must have the courage to act, to dare, to explore, to cut the umbilical cord and to venture out on our own. Without this, failure is assured.
3. Freedom from the social matrix. I can’t stress how important this was for me. In order to be truly free, we have to be free from the influence of individual people around us and from social conventions.
I like to use the matrix metaphor: The sum total of all prevailing beliefs, conventions, memes and pieces of information floating around in a society have created a social-conceptual matrix that dominates our lives. But this matrix is false, because it is not a part of natural reality. It is man-made.
Think about it. We are born and we grow up in a specific society, with specific epistemological, ethical and political beliefs. We are immersed in this dreamworld throughout our school years and on into adulthood. But how different would each one of us be if our circumstances had been different?
I’m quite sure that if I had been born in Szechuan province or Bhuttan, I’d be different today.
Noticing all social influence and not allowing it to affect us is one of the key principles of true freedom.
4. Freedom from our own minds. This is the real essence of personal freedom. Unplugging ourselves from the mindless chatter, the traditions, the memes, the doctrines of our societies and everything that comes with them.
In the end, we internalize the sociopolitical matrix and we become it, without even noticing it. This is what is meant by the now famous phrase “Free your mind.”
As I said at the beginning, I believe that very few people are truly free, and the reason is that no matter where they live, no matter how much financial or political freedom they have (or believe that they have), they are trapped by their “own” mind-thoughts, which, in the end, are not their own at all. They were all arrived at second-hand.
Free your mind – definitely not an empty phrase.
About the Author
Konstantin Eriksen is a philosopher and a 32-year-old former stock-trader, long-time natural health researcher, neigong enthusiast and fledgling internet entrepreneur. In my spare time, he enjoy hiking, music, mountaineering, meeting interesting women, studying whatever interests him and Piazzolla. Please visit his excellent blog, Life-Sucks.This article is offered under Creative Commons license. It’s okay to republish it anywhere as long as attribution bio is included and all links remain intact.
So I’ll promise not to go there anymore.
Good article.
you need to take extreme measures in all fields. religion which shall become spirituality, respect all religious books because they contain light. even the cardinal sin of the talmud has some interesting ideas about demons. there is freedom in food, so seperate yoursef from gmo. seperate yourself from chemicals. disconnect from propaganda and conditioned people.there is no such thing as political freedom. all governments are chains.
Konstantin. In lots of ways you are right. I am someone who has no financial debt, whatsoever. I also have no need for any luxury. Books, yes, when possible. D.V.D.’s, yes, when possible. And my laptop. My only means of transportation is a bike. I live in a rental apartment. At the moment I have no job and live of my savings, which I will be able to do for another two years. I do, what I want to do. But alas, that is as far as it goes. How can I be free without political and economical freedom. Even though I can live on my savings for a few years I still have to pay taxes, the rent and so on. Especially the rent is one of the ways of legally stealing endlessly, that most people don’t even realise. I have been living for 25 years in the same apartment, and I know its value of 25 years ago. I paid that already twice, but still every year the rent goes up. Can I be free of it? That would most probably mean living on the streets.
Do you now what that means? How free are you really on the streets. Free of finances, of the matrix, maybe even of your own mind due to using alcohol and/or drugs. But you are still not free of the politics and economics of the country you are in. And you are still not free of other humans, who will abuse you. And you are still not free of the survival of the fittest, the quickest and the most cunning. So, you are not free living alone in nature too.
And Ron, being totally dependent on a god is the opposite of freedom.
Adam and Eve were so dependent on their god, that when they ate without having the knowledge of the difference between right and wrong, for they had not eaten of the tree of knowledge yet, an apple from that tree, they were thrown out of that place. And not even because they ate from this apple and now did have the knowledge of right and wrong. No, because their god was afraid they would also eat from to tree of life and would become immortal like him. And you know, in a way, it is that apple which caused the start of that being “trapped by their “own” mind-thoughts, which, in the end, are not their own at all”, Konstantin is talking about at the end of his article. That is what we could call the real original sin, the fact that we always are born and grow up in a certain place on Earth at a certain time and are educated until the mind thoughts of our elders and others are so deeply ingrained in our own brains, that we may call ourselves lucky if we are able to undo most of it during the rest of our lives. That is what we fight each other about as humanity every day of our lives. Not meaning disrespect to our elders and others, because they have lived with the same problem since the moment that god got angry and decided to vent, not very lovingly, his unjustified anger and especially his fear.
I know that one thing does free me more and more, though. And that is really thinking true what humans make me try to believe. Getting rid of the mind thoughts, yes. But of the ego, no!
well its good to know that so many ppl are thinking of freedom.
Freedom by itself tied with will power thats how you can get the complete picture. i can be a salve and still be free, thats to say i made the choice with no force being applied on me to make this choice.
while Konstatine has made an attempt to rationalise freedom in terms thw worl we livet he true meaning of freedom can be understood by simply understanding the difference between choice and and decision. if u dint understand then mail me at harshahalsur@yahoo.co.in
In Peace and Liberty~
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Cg2EPioksM
most people will never be free….
http://www.michaeltellinger.com/stone-circles.php
I HAD MY REVOLUTION! Revolution 222! A YOU READY FO YOUR REVOLUTION!
Revolution 222 is a guide to living beyond fear. Don’t be afraid to be happy. Keeping the FREE in FREEDOM. Revolution 222 can be Downloaded for Free at http://www.revolution222.com or get the book at revolution222.com/book
From the Free Republic of Boblovia, Peace
THe only real free people, were outside any civilization, those were the Tribal Peoples, anywhere. THe Chiefs had only the immediate control given by the individuals, they wre elected by Councilsa, and if they screwed up, OUT they went, right off. No waiting for the newxt elections.
There was also the case that if an individual or groups, in the Tribe disagreed with group decisions, they were free to leave, go someplace else.
That is the very clue to the presnet “dumbing” down, people are not stupid in all sensess, but hughly and by intentt, missinformed, onc informed people change, the seep of change is resting in the ability to realy alter everything.
The first obstacle is Fear, if you dont know Fear, try this out, because this is the first test I may have flunged you into, to ignore others, to sitt down right infront of people in situations you normaly never would have done, to test you simple, selfrespect, selfdisiplin a.s.o.
The second is self sensure, conspiracy teories.
I dont bother to say the rest butt, sience is to day, just as an ex. so far ahead of what we consider “reality”, that is people where tuned into this, the world would change.
This is what I found intresting:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrcNmGDQ89g
Quantum mec. and NonLocality.
He forgott some thing that I want to induse, the duality in light, and the fact that light can be persived in two different ways, as a particle and as a wave, not both, you have to determin, beforehand what you are going to see, capice.
And secondly, the main drive is probably an pulse, 23 trillion times pr. sec. thats the clock.
Or God that runns the mascinery.
We are in that, as observatuers, we live in a world far more complexed than we think.
The life on earth is predisigned to be sett in the feil of the eaths matrix, if you like it that way, so we are sett in an Organic reality, and since our birth, slowly lost it, thure a reality forced upon us.
What would the collective mind sett be, if we all knew this, as I have writen before, this is NOT religion, but the use of Conscuisness.
Who you are, is defined by the level you are at.
The veild or what ever its caled is an mebran(force feid) like the one we our self are in, healds the inorganic side away from our sight, since we are creatures of perseption.
We belive what we see.
We become what we belive.
Energy: matter and conscuisness.
What else can bring life into cemical compounds and organic selfsustaiable comunetys as our Body, born fro a singe cell, the DNA is not important other that to build, but they them selfs are Amino acids, compounds.
In it there is a leap, a hughe one, what is it and how do it work, conscuisness is the driving force of it all.
What kind, I have no clue what so ever, but realy on expirience and learning.
peace
“If we are to achieve things never before accomplished we must employ methods never before attempted”
― Francis Bacon
As freedom is so valued some people seem to think it is a virtue ? Many regard it as an inalienable right to be pursued at all cost as something that is ours no matter what. Almost as if it is our right to occupy our side of the road,… but there are times when we have to share it in a responsible fashion with those who travel in the opposite direction… and that is often where our problem lies, with – “ those that travel in the opposite direction”- . We can insist on our rights if we chose to but that could mean we are dead right, we and our fellow travellers.
From a purely rational viewpoint it stands to reason that freedom is many things to many people and if we are deprived of that freedom, that could be the result of living in an imperfect world. If we are mature enough in our thinking we might even equate that with the possibility that we as part of this imperfect world do inflict restrictions on our fellow beings.
With rights come responsibilities and that very often means we are not at all free to do as we like and because we have so many conflicting thoughts, interpretations and blinding pecuniary interests, governments need to make laws to keep us on the straight and narrow.
Freedom is a great concept, but invariably what means greater freedom for one person means greater restrictions for another.
The greatest area of abuse, I think, lies in the area of freedom of speech. We have all heard the saying “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me”, something we still tell our children to build up their confidence. Some parents however teach the exact opposite, also in the hope it will protect their children, but potentially turns them into the bullies that the first group of parents sought protection from. Bullying is a serious offence and often has regrettable consequences, not only amongst school kids, but even amongst the bigger ones on Capital Hill. The notion that freedom of speech is a basic right is very naïve as it invariably turns into a conceived right to intimidate and abuse.
We need to realize that with freedom comes the option to make wrong choices, genuine mistakes as well as deliberate violation of the freedom given to us. Freedom in my opinion is not a virtue and what’s more it is not for free, it is something we need to work at to enjoy it and share it with others. I would go as far as to say freedom can be a curse. When we talk about the word freedom it immediately conjures up another word and that is authority. When parents, teachers, individuals, governments etc. in whom authority is vested; fail to discipline, hold accountable; keep the peace; lock up criminals etc. we would certainly experience a kind of freedom, but not many of us with any common sense would want to live in a country where those conditions prevail. Laws, rules and regulations are there not only to protect us from the criminals I mentioned, but from you and me as well. In other words…..we do not handle freedom very well, especially when we think we won’t be found out.
Yes at times we need the law to sort out our differences of opinion, but there is a better way. “Do unto others as you would have them do to you” and should we need specific personal advice ask the Author of this statement, as in Mat. 7:7
-Chris
Having read your personal profile I have to say your interests include an astounding number of disciplines.
But one thing does really surprise me; you say your only interest is to make money.
Have you thought about the saying; “ Money is a good servant but a bad master. What is that going to do to your freedom?
Freedom may well be optional but it is also conditional and it is extremely difficult to handle unless we are very well disciplined.
Regards, Jim.
Regards, Jim.
Money is not my master. Period. It’s only a tool for me to trade my labor for goods. Money encourages my freedom.
You say that freedom is difficult to handle unless we are well-disciplined. But is it not discipline which establishes a man’s freedom in the first place? Does a man even HAVE the option of freedom if he is undisciplined? For example if a man is a chaotic, whimsical gang member who tries to do whatever he wants without reason or rhyme, is he not a slave to that chaotic, unprincipled confusion and disorder?
How did you find my personal profile?
Regards, Chris
Your question; “is it not discipline which establishes a man’s freedom?”
Yes, but who has perfect discipline and therefore perfect freedom?
The answer to that you’ll find in the last paragraph of my earlier comment in this series dated June 1st 2013.
Regards, Jim.
“We have been mislead and enslaved by human beings. It’s up to the human beings that are currently free to help the rest of humanity.” — truer words can’t be said.
Despite the propaganda, slavery is VERY POPULAR! It’s not a difficult life at all – just do what you are told! Simple enough for any idiot! Freedom on the other hand – well, you must learn to be at least as intelligent as all other lifeforms – something humanity has trouble accomplishing.
At least in the USA, the founders designed a system of natural law for an agrarian people that were well armed, and if you think about it, you can see a lot of wisdom in this design. It really is the epitome of the perfect design for humanity. It is the most freedom a people can have without risk of being destroyed by conquerers.
Then comes the 3rd basic problem of humanity: humans are big suckers for feminine emotional ploys which are used as tools to override rational thought for the purpose of making slaves of men in exchange for power to those desiring it. For example, it is perfectly lawful in nature for animals/people to duel, but it is easily outlawed utilizing feminine emotional tactics on the masses. “We can’t just let people kill each other!” they plead, “How barbaric!” they cry. So, then the freedom to contract with others is removed by popular concensus.
Then comes “But what about the landless paupers! It’s not fair for them to suffer!” However unfortunate it is for people to create children without provisioning for them, it is an aspect of freedom – but again feminine emotional ploys will be used by socialists to steal more freedom, crying “We must take from those who have, and give to those who have not! It’s only human! Have a heart!”, and now theft becomes moral, and humanity takes another step away from freedom to immorality and socialism – legalized plunder.
And these cycles continue until people are left with no freedom at all – except consumer freedom, the freedom to buy the jumk products that you enjoy.
So, there you have it. What freedom is, and how it is lost, and how to get it back. But humans, on average, are stupid (100IQ), so you can assure yourself that humanity will go nowhere good regardless of the deception of “technology=progress” indoctrinations. People simply don’t want to be responsible for themselves and their offspring as all other animals are. Instead, they love to be irresponsible and plunder until they either begin eating each other or until a machine takes total control of humanity from which there is no escape. If you understand the machinations of the modern world, you can see all of this at work.
At this point in time, mankind is on technological life-support. Without technology, most humans on earth would starve to death. Isn’t it funny how we call putting mankind on technological life-support “progress”? It’s very hysterical if you think about it. Being put on life-support is “progress”