Is Freedom Only an Illusion? – Part 2

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So, what is the freedom that comes with self mastery to which I alluded in the previous post? The following is an excerpt from an article describing the philosophy of Epictetus, one of the ancient Greek Stoic philosophers.

Epictetus (50 A.D. - 125 A.D.) was a freed Roman slave. According to the Stoics, one can be enslaved on the outside, "externally" (have one's body in chains) and be free "internally" (be at peace with oneself in aloofness from all pleasure and pain). Dualism of mind (soul) and body: the inner realm is a realm of freedom (unless we let externals affect us or let events disturb our thoughts); the outer realm is a realm of determinism (things outside of our mind, including our own bodies, are determined by factors beyond our control). We have control over our thoughts and our will, but we do not have control over external fortune. [Emphasis added.]

Or, to put it in more modern words, Dr. Victor Frankl, the psychiatrist who survived the Nazi Death Camps, wrote:

“Between stimulus and response is the freedom to choose.”

So, we must be ever mindful of what we control and what we don’t control. Other persons and external forces can control our bodies, but they have no control over our thoughts unless we give them this control.

But, this is only a part of the total picture. Much of our thinking and feeling is automated. It is carried out on autopilot. So, we can think that we are acting freely and choosing, when in reality, our choices are dictated by the autopilot. It is only when we take ourselves off autopilot, voluntarily, that we can freely choose by responding to situations thoughtfully rather than reacting to them automatically in knee-jerk fashion. Note that the root of “responsible” is “response.” Thus, we are responsible when we respond to situations rather than reacting to them.

I would venture to say that our mental activity is predominantly generated by the autopilot. And, the most important determinants of this automatic activity are our beliefs. Thus, we become creatures of our beliefs. It’s not “What you see is what you get.” It’s “What you believe is what you get.”

Our belief systems determine what we think (automatically), which in turn determines what we perceive. Environmental happenings serve as prompting events which are automatically interpreted in terms of our belief systems. Thus, two people can view the same event and come up with entirely different perceptions of what happened. Is it no wonder that judges often pull their hair out when confronting conflicting testimony of witnesses in court?

Liberals and Conservatives perceive situations, often quite rigidly according to their political belief systems which keep their autopilots churning away and enslaving their minds, and thus destroying their personal freedom.

So, even in the best of political worlds, where every effort has been made to ensure and preserve freedom for citizens, as the Founding Fathers endeavored to do, human beings typically fall victim to their own enslavement and become imprisoned by their automatic thoughts.

Photo Credit: Cult Gigolo (Flickr.com)

Is Freedom Only an Illusion?

So much has been written, of late, regarding the continuing loss of freedom in the U.S., as big government has relentlessly assumed more and more control over our lives. The Bush Administration's assaults on the Constitution and personal liberties, following in the wake of 9/11 and the resulting inception of the "War on Terror," however, pale in comparison to the Blitzkrieg waged by the Obama Adminstration under the banners of Economic Stimulation, Climate Change, Health Care, Social Justice, and Redistribution of Wealth, just to name a few of the battle fronts.

The Obama campaign has triggered a furor and counter-furor rising up from the ranks of partisan liberals and conservatives. There have been cries of the erosion of free speech and privacy countered by antiphonal cries of the desperate need to insure health care for every citizen as well as the life of the planet, which is, purportedly, in imminent peril, if governments do not band together and prevent the impending environmental holocaust. More government controls are advocated, even the formation of a world government to intercede on behalf of the floundering geosphere. There is more, but it would take us too far afield of the primary purpose of this post.

Photo Credit: Nati (Flicker.com)

We must ask a critical question. Even if we could turn the clock back and undo all of the assaults on the Constitution and individuals, even if we could be assured that the rights guaranteed by the Constitution were alive and well, would we really be free?

The ancient Greek philosopher, Epictetus, put the matter succinctly:

"No man is free who is not master of himself."