by Peter Latona

Created on: April 29, 2009

Freedom

When we contemplate the word freedom, it is usually in the context of political freedom. World history is latent with examples of people rebelling against Royalty, Governments and even Religions to gain their Freedom. Wild animals have been known to die in captivity when deprived of their freedom and this characteristic seems ingrained in the genes of the human species as well. Freedom is worth dying for and throughout history, many have died.

The USA was founded on principles of political and religious freedom, whereby every individual has the inalienable right to the pursuit of happiness. We have the reputation as being the freest nation on the planet, but does this translate to freedom outside of a political context? Matters that relate to what kind of person we become; how our character develops; what are our likes and dislikes; do we really have freedom of choice? Does anyone from any nation have freedom of choice?

Our first reaction is that, "of course we have freedom of choice". "I am the captain of my domain." "No one tells me what to do!" Well perhaps not, but we cannot discount the influences of mass media, mass communications and the interactions with our immediate environment. Do I dress in this particular style out of my freedom of choice or have I been brainwashed by what is popular? What about my music; my heroes; and my many other preferences? Are these conscious free decisions or unconscious reactions to environmental influences? We enjoy political freedoms, but do we really have the freedom of choice or we simply pre-programmed? I propose there are four factors that formulate who we become as a human being, and in only one do we have freedom of choice.

1) Our Essence dictates that we enter in to this world as a human being. We have no freedom of choice in this mater. We cannot choose to be a dog or cat.

2) We come in to this world with a distinct set of DNA and scientists are discovering exacting links between our DNA and our physical, behavioral and psychological characteristics. DNA research provides a compelling argument that we are born with a pre-set software program that determines our physical, behavioral and psychological attributes. This would be the nature portion of the nature vs. nurture discussion. (If you believe in reincarnation, then you believe that in addition to DNA programming, we are also programmed by past life experiences.)

3) The third factor is our environment and how our environment affects our software package.

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