by Joshua Bouchard

Created on: February 23, 2007   Last Updated: May 16, 2012

Choice Itself is Freedom

My alarm clock makes that annoying buzzing sound and my eyes open to see the red numbers; they read: 7:00AM. Lying in my warm bed, memories of surreal dreams still not yet faded, I am immediately faced with my first decision of the day. It is the first and probably the most important. It could result in a bulk of unwanted consequences, or, quite on the contrary, consequences that will work in my favor. This is a decision that we all make every day of our lives and it can take less than a second to make. There it is as I lay half asleep, the decision, the choice: do I get out of bed or do I continue to sleep?

Such a decision, in my opinion, goes against all of my natural instincts. I am tired, therefore, I will sleep until I am not tired and until I am fully rested. This is a very simple cause-and-effect situation. But, this is not so easy in a world where, as Rousseau said it, "man is born free, but everywhere he is in chains." Goodness gracious! I can't possibly continue to sleep; I must go to work, pay the bills, feed the dog, put fuel in the car, go to school, and meet a friend. Staying in bed is out of the question, for I am a slave to the modern word, a prisoner to the capitalist-driven economy, held hostage by the norms of society that takes my physical body and moves it about at its will. My free will is then altered, changed, and molded into something that isn't quite my own; my true decision is not my own.

So are we all then not free? The answer is no. The mere fact that we have made a decision that we did not want to make does not make us prisoner. Instead, the fact that we have the decision, or choice, is in itself what ultimately grants us our freedom. It may be true that the powers that be, whatever you wish to consider them, pressure and force us to choose an unwanted option, but those powers become powerless when it comes to the choice itself. The existence of the choice belongs to you. If my physical body was held against my will, perhaps in a cell, I am still free. This is because my mind is still left to an infinite amount of choices at its disposal, regardless of the fact that my body is bound. You could cry or you could not cry. You could scream to the top of your lungs or be silent. You could accept your fate as one of helplessness or you could adopt a feeling of hope. Your choice is still and always present and never can it be taken away.

There is nothing to take away our absolute freedom because our freedom is actually a state of mind. Our minds can not be penetrated without ones full cooperation; it is the only true sanctuary where no shackle can fit.

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