Termyn8or
Posts: 18681
Joined: 11/12/2005
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There is no such thing as freedom, but there is free will. My Father says when you for example, go to court, while there you kowtow to their will, act respectful all that, and as soon as you walk out the door it is FUCK YOU. They can lock up your body but they can't lock up your mind.
As stated in a fictional blueprint for the human race which seems to be in effect, but dismissed summarily by people who watch Fox news, freedom cannot be obtained. Noone knows how to use it with restraint. I submit that if your freedom needs restraint it is not truly freedom.
To turn to another fictional book taken as absolute truth and gospel by those who watch Fox news, Adan and Eve were free. No clothes no nuthin, oh, but wait, there was this one tree. So they got kicked out.
I believe to be free one would have to be the last person on Earth.
Free will is defined contemporarily as a choice within certain confines or a certain range. For example my buddy has the free will to drive his motorcycle or his pickup truck over to come for a visit. What happens to that free will if it is raining ?
As I see the world, and age and learn and "season" so to speak, I am starting to think that the word free should never have been invented. Freedom does not exist, it never has and never will. That is not really a bad thing, and I am not talking about tyrannical governments or anything like that.
No matter what your will, conditions may prevent you from exercising it. That is a fact of life. Even sans government, you are free to walk into that bear's cave, and get eaten alive. You are free to swim with the sharks, expect similar results. You are free to do illegal things or break the law (there is a difference), but that entails a risk. I think that is precisely where free will can be defined. When you gamble, or take chances of any kind. When you choose to take a risk, whether it is legal or not, that is exercise of free will.
But the opposite is also true. If you choose not to take a risk that also qualifies. For example there have been seatbelt requirements on the books for years, but some people wore them religiously long before the "law". Those people decided to believe the hype and made a decision to wear a seat belt to avoid taking a certain risk. Others, the small, people who know that they could be hurt real bad in an accident wore them out of common sense. Back when I was immortal I used to cut them out of my cars. I agree that it was stupid, but that was an exercise of free will just the same as one who insists on wearing them.
Freedom is dead, and it was never alive. It is but a dream, a concept, not reality. Free will on the other hand is exercised every day, but it's scope is contained by many forces, not the least of which is nature herself.
My buddy BTW, when it is not raining and he rides the Harley, well he doesn't have the proper endorsement on his license so he is required to wear a helmet. None of us are that stupid, even him, and he is not the brightest of our crowd. But he has reasoned it out, I think correctly.
If you happen to fall down at a stoplight or crash the bike at say 10 MPH that helmet could be a lifesaver. But at 70 MPH down the freeway, if you wreck you do not want to be wearing a helmet. All that does for you is to keep your brain alive long enough to feel the pain as the flesh is ground off of your body as your bones are pulverized. You're going to die anyway, so take that second or third hit to the noggin and be done with it.
I feel like playing some Rush - Free Will right now at 400 watts or so. My amp is fried but I have a lesser amp hooked up in the meantime. But I do not want anyone to know I am awake right now, so it is my free will to not play it, or play it at a very low level.
And this reminds me of a few words of that song - "If you choose not to decide you still have made a choice". I agree.
Free will actually is real and is not a concept like freedom. It is the exercise of free will upon which the forces and society place limits. Even normal decency and sensibility limit it. I'd like to have a piece of that blonde down the street, why don't I just go bean her with a rock and drag her into my bedroom ? Because a bunch of her family are my neighbors. Some find it hard to believe that the law is not even in consideration here, but that is the way I am.
So let's say I could get away with it, catch her late when everybody else is sleeping. Do my dirty work and get rid of the body. Well the reason I will not even consider doing it is because she has two houses of kinfolk in my neighborhood. These are people I like and get along with. Not to mention that there is another level of constraint, COMMON DECENCY.
I mean I think rapists should be killed for being assholes. Anyone who does that has no cohesion to society, no emapthy for others, nothing. It is a sub human. If I were able to exercise my free will, they would be executed. Not for rape, but for being the type of person who would rape.
Yes, I know that is unusual. If I lived in a society where the law was just, and applied fairly to all and not complex to the point of being gibberish, I would uphold the law, as would every Citizen.
Many people are indocrinated with the idea that the law is what tells you right from wrong. And within the free will context I really do believe that people do want to do right, even if only by their family, chosen family, friends, coworkers, homeys, whatever they got. Sometimes it is "Fuck everybody else", sometimes it is not. Many choices exist even within the narrow legal confines of this society. Choices with a heavy impact on the lives of others'. For example if someone wants to borrow money, I have the choice to do it or refuse.
Everything depends on circumstances. Could be a guy with plenty of money, but is a dollar short right now to get another case of beer on Friday. Or it could be a longtime friend who has been out of work and just got called back, and needs a tank of gas to get to work. What do you do ?
THAT is free will.
T
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Free Will.... - 
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