Do what your supposed to do all day long; job, education or whatever else. You do it because society wants you to do it. There’s no true freedom if you’re told from the first second you’re on this earth that your life is already planned out ahead of you and you only have to live through it and then die.
Freedom means creativity, means purpose in doing something. A true act of freedom is drawing a sunflower on the back of the essay you’re working on, is wearing a pink hoodie to your bank appointment, is going to sleep without setting the alarm, is saying hi to a random person you see in town. A decision out of necessity is never a free decision: You have to get a job, you have to get up in the morning, you have to obey the law, you have to accord with societies standards.
What if all those things weren’t forced upon you but chosen freely by you? Think about what would happen if society and law wouldn’t ostracize not having a job. People would find fulfillment in what they do for society not because they are told to do so but because they find purpose in doing so. A baker would bake bread not for being paid but for passion and fascination of the job. A scientist wouldn’t have to care for competing with others in pointless issues such as impressing others, getting this or that prize, earning the financial support of governments or institutions; they would advance science for the sake of understanding of the universe and everything in it. We need professions and not jobs, something you do for purpose and fulfillment, not for money and fame. (Yes, this is a utopia)
Selfishness is the exact opposite of freedom: Greed and craving are influences that prevent free actions since they determine beforehand that your decision will be the one with most profit for yourself. The more you only care about yourself the less free are you; which is ironic since your greed for more is actually imprisoning you and overall results in less “profit” for you.
It’s funny to realize that most countries that claim to be free are the exact opposite: At the frontier the US, the “land of the free”, which is probably the most unfree country in the Western world right now by the criteria I just talked about. Claiming to be something when you’re actually the exact opposite; you should be called land of the hypocrites. At least other countries don’t hype about being free and actually try do something for real freedom and not this fake capitalist American Dream freedom.
Another reason for lack of freedom is a depression which clouds your mind and makes you think in ways you couldn’t even imagine before. A decision to suicide out of depression is not free but forced upon you which I sometimes tend to forget..
6 comments
“Selfishness is the exact opposite of freedom”.
That makes no sense. To be truly free is to be selfish. To be free means doing what you want without considering the opinions of others. To be free, you think, do and say whatever you want without worrying about what other people think, do or say. You put yourself first. You don’t allow others the power to control you.
Selfishness IS freedom.
ClairDeLune isn’t talking about when people say, “Fuck you Mom & Dad, fuck you friends and your “well-meaning advice,” fuck you media influences, fuck you government and your laws, Imma do whatever the hell I want”.
He’s saying that “selfishness” equals wanting more and more for oneself. The best house, the best car, the best entertainment, and so on. Not being able to be satisfied with what one has and thus entrapping oneself in the prison of unending greed, which only feeds into the country’s current ideals – which is having the ‘perfect’ lifestyle. America is trillions of dollars in debt – why? Because that’s what the country has been about – spending more money than they can afford. That would encapsulate Clair’s definition of “selfishness”.
I agree with Casul Observer. There is nothing wrong with wanting the best, everyone should want the best and not settle for less than, or subpar. That is how progress is made, people striving for better, for more, and I dont even feel like it is selfishness to do so, its all in the heart, how do you treat others, as long as you arent walking around like you think you are better than everyone else, arent a jerk, asshole, murdered etc. And then I suppose you reach a point where wanting surpasses greed and then your motives become impure, say, perhaps you have so much, you just get bored so you start doing evil things just for the thrill of it but it benefits no one, THAT is the point of selfishness. If we are ever to make life enjoyable for all that are birn into it, we must work towards a more perfect ideal, utopia, that is the only way to advance, otherwise we stay stuck here circling the sameole same ole.
I don’t know what to make of what you’re saying, I suppose for centuries the west has slowly created the society we have at present and although it has flaws, they believe it’s the best that can exists. Don’t get me wrong here, I feel that there’s plenty wrong, for example, with the distribution of wealth where it would be better to spread it out more widely but that’s the socialist in me. How do you create a society of freedom and choice, would I choose to work, would there be money in such a world. I know the present system causes depression and difficulty in life for some but I doubt they’ll be any change coming, too many vested interests in keeping it the same as it is. I felt after the banking crisis there might be some thought to change but no, it was ‘lets get back to as it was’ and that’s what’s happened.
I agree with the point that the U.S. is not as free as most people think. The way I see it, you “legally” have freedoms. Like freedom of religion and free speech and freedom of the press. However, that doesn’t mean that society won’t treat you different or scorn you if you exercise those freedoms. I feel the U.S. society and mentality is very strong and people tend to quickly shun others who don’t match their beliefs.
On the other hand, there are a lot of countries will less freedom than the U.S. too. With few human rights for some people.
Yes, we’re supposed to work or get an education because that is what society expects. But you still have the freedom to choose your job. You have the freedom to choose what you want to study. You have the freedom to go to school past the age of 16. This is different in many countries where some people do not have that freedom.
There are a lot of jobs where you can use your creativity. And if you can’t find one, why not start your own business. You can use that creativity to invent something or offer a service other places don’t. That’s how many people become rich. By stepping out of “what is set and expected” and using their creativity to “do something novel”.
I had never appreciated freedom until my boss changed at my last job. The new boss was like a dictator. When she came everything changed.
We were not allowed to laugh or smile UNLESS clients were present.
We were not allowed to talk with co-workers unless it was specifically related to work.
We were not allowed to work outside of her eyesight. We used to work in separate rooms but she moved all of our desks into her office. We were forced to work under her watchful eye throughout the entire day.
We were not allowed to each lunch together. We used to all eat lunch at the same time. But she tried to rearrange our lunch schedules to avoid that. She also removed all of the chairs (4 chairs) from the lunch room except for 1 chair. So only 1 person could use the room at a time.
We were made to leave work exactly when the work day was over, regardless of whether we finished or not. We are not allowed to come in early to finish our work. So during the 9 hour work day we had to work sweat and toil to finish so many tasks.
We were not allowed to have company parties anymore or celebrations. All were cancelled. We had to wait and stand for clients, even if no one was scheduled to come. Sometimes for hours. In the same position. No talking. No sitting.
And we were forced to do a lot of things we felt were unethical. If we disagreed we were told we were being insubordinate and threatened with firing. We even told her boss, and he just said “She is a very good boss. I believe she will work well with you.”
He completely dismissed it.
She called us babies and children every day. She called the men “girls”. We were scolded for asking questions, especially “Why”. We were told to never ask questions. Just do as we were told.
I felt all of my freedoms taken away at that job. I’m not working there anymore. I run my own business.
Sure, I could have gotten a job somewhere else. But I wanted to regain my freedom. Now, I make ALL of my work decisions. I decide how much work I do, when I do it, and how I do it.
Society has many expectations, but you don’t HAVE to always conform to them.
You just hate us for our freedom. Freedom Fries(TM McDonalds) for everybody!