freedom_final draft

The delusion of freedom

What is freedom? Are there any set amount of rules that define it? But won’t having definite rules be against the very essence of “freedom”? These questions stormed through mind the last few days, as I set out on a quest to write a unique paper on a topic that is not so unique.

What I came to terms with is that freedom is subjective. There should not be any fixed rules to define it. Your freedom is customized to your liking and whatever sets your free .

I would argue that we do not live in a free society. According to dictionary.com, “Freedom is the power or right to act, speak or think as one wants without any hinderance or restraint”. That means, to be a truly free world, there can be no rules or laws. Do I have your attention yet? Yes, I mean exactly what I say. In a free society there can be no restrictions that prohibits certain actions. If society had true freedom, people would not be judged or prosecuted.

We are groomed from a very early age. Our parents, the society and government all want us to act in certain ways. The government even goes as far as regulating our body. In this physical world we have no choice but to follow societal rules, if we want to live in society. That to me is anything but “freedom”. I’m not against rules and laws,some laws are crucial for societies to function. But regardless of detrimental or beneficial rules/laws, freedom ends where restriction begins.

If physical freedom is a lie and impractical then maybe true freedom lies in the mind? After all, the mind is where you are away from the vulturous eyes of society. Here you can dream without being laughed at. Here you can live the life that you always wanted. I feel free and at peace when I give my mind the access to the unknown. I get to live many lives by reading books. I get to walk in many people’s shoes and experience what they experienced. When I read books, I feel like transcending both space and time. Sometimes I find myself walking beside Hamlet as he mourns for his dead father or standing in the crowd watching a passionate Martin Luther king as he delivered his famous “I have a dream speech”.

And The beauty of learning is that there are infinite things to know about. You could live your life several times over and still not learn a fraction of the vast amount of things that resides within the universe, or multiverse!  The world at times does seem like a prison when I think about it this way. An ever-growing living prison that expands as we progress. My mind which is like an endless pit- a voracious blackhole- keeps asking for more and more. My restless mind wants to know about everything that it finds interesting. But I’m a human being after all. Just like the barrier of light speed is absolute and can’t be surpassed, knowledge is infinite and humans can’t learn about everything that’s out there.