# What is your Definition of Freedom?



## Alexander

Freedom...currently I have the freedom to lay in bed all day and feel like shit. No motivation to help myself or others. What is freedom to you? Anarchy? disorder? freedom of the mind? Or maybe just the freedom to move about the country at whim?

Freedom can be thought of in all types of forms, however in this system that most of us so oppose are we winning or losing the fight when we have to depend on those who are a part of it? Are the outsiders winning the battle against the monetary system? Will living off the grid be easier than dealing with the bullshit that is society today with the materialism and stuff that we don't really need? What do you need? as an individual? What makes you feel like waking up in the morning? Yes our government system is currently in the shit hole, and it doesn't feel like we can do anything about it; well maybe we can't do anything on a large scale but maybe if we look at a smaller picture of our environment and what we can do for not only ourselves, but others. it would give us more pride in our lives, rather than feeling like we can't make a dent in this world. 

Looking at the world through a different lens may be needed. I think being able to not only take care of myself but also others around me would be the ideal. Feeding myself and bathing myself would probably fall under the category of taking care of myself. If I can't take care of myself, how are we supposed to take care of each other? I'm not against living off the land and doing your own thing, but there comes a point in life where you realize that this system has branched from the original homesteaders, but the greed of man is what corrupted it. We cannot erase greed from the hearts of man, but we can learn to be content with our own lives as they are and help as many effected by it.

I'm on a goal to be happy. Inside or outside the system, but being outside gives us limited options on what we do and how we take care of ourselves and others. We are very intelligent people on this forum, if we wanted to all contribute in our own way we could figure out a way to change the world. Throw some ideas down, there are strengths in numbers, if we all only need a place to crash every night and have food on the table and be bathed why not start a huge collective where we buy a house legally and manage to pitch in all of our talents for our goals. We have lost a sense of community in this society, and we can make one that is in the system and still have our freedoms and safety.

Throw me some thoughts.


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## Mouse

I honestly don't know what freedom is anymore. I've spent too many years being locked into this institutional shit they call College that I've lost all ability to see the forest for the trees or whatever other cliches I can't recall.. fml.


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## scatwomb

Freedom is losing the confines and restrictions that language builds into our brains.

It's brain damage.


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## frzrbrnd

freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose. nothin' ain't worth nothin', but it's free.

freedom is just another word for nothing.

freedom is just another word.

don't mean nothin'.


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## EphemeralStick

freedom for me is being who i want to be, doing what i want to do, and not caring what anyone else in the whole world thinks. Dancing to my own beat or what not.


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## FLoP

Being content with your own choices and having the ability to act on them when you want to.


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## Alexander

Mouse said:


> I honestly don't know what freedom is anymore. I've spent too many years being locked into this institutional shit they call College that I've lost all ability to see the forest for the trees or whatever other cliches I can't recall.. fml.


and the great part about college is the uncertainty that comes along with it; knowing that you are not guaranteed a career or job when you complete.


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## Alexander

scatwomb said:


> Freedom is losing the confines and restrictions that language builds into our brains.
> 
> It's brain damage.


freedom is losing boundaries with reality and the definitions of what surrounds us?


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## frzrbrnd

it's such a sad thing that the main goal for most people in going to college is career-oriented, when many of the best classes you can take will never help you get a job. learning's been thrown out the window -- to the market with you!


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## Alexander

frzrbrnd said:


> freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose. nothin' ain't worth nothin', but it's free.
> 
> freedom is just another word for nothing.
> 
> freedom is just another word.
> 
> don't mean nothin'.


having nothing is great until you need something to survive.


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## Alexander

NeoMaxxAKI said:


> freedom for me is being who i want to be, doing what i want to do, and not caring what anyone else in the whole world thinks. Dancing to my own beat or what not.


as long as u can do it and take care or yourself at the same time sounds like you're set.


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## Alexander

FLoP said:


> Being content with your own choices and having the ability to act on them when you want to.


contentment and happiness are closely related...time control is very liberating as well, but then motivation comes into play. No time commitments and no motivation=bad combination.


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## Alexander

frzrbrnd said:


> it's such a sad thing that the main goal for most people in going to college is career-oriented, when many of the best classes you can take will never help you get a job. learning's been thrown out the window -- to the market with you!


its all monetarily controlled "in one ear out the other" no learning or real world knowledge is absorbed. It seems most college kids are like sponges, they study their asses off and absorb a ton of information, when tested they squeeze their information juices out, never to be utilized again for anything. And lots of courses have no real world applications, obviously its major based but still people don't understand the meaning of learning anymore. Oh, yeah and it should be free. Money is keeping society from progressing into what it could be, better smarter and more efficient. People who could be in school changing the world and using their brilliance are stuck working at shitty paying jobs not able to afford the schooling necessary for human expansion and evolution. The monetary system does suck, but the worst of it is keeping people from learning and utilizing their talents because of a lack of it. School should always be free.


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## dolittle

I had several thoughts on what freedom is. But they all sounded like cliches. So instead, I will answer this part... What motivates me? Food. I like to eat. No one elts will feed me. I get up every morning & go work so I can feed my self. That is simplafing it, but its all the same. There just is NO ONE else I can rely on. If I want food, clothing, shelter, I have to provide it for my self. Ergo, I haul my butt out of bed every day & go to work. In your collective, how would you take care of people like myself, people physically unable to walk or garden or any thing that requires being on their feet for more than a few min?


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## ipoPua

bein able to do me without any other hardass shoving their shit down my throat. not being convinced that i'm trapped, be it in a locale or way of life or whatever. not being in someone's debt. being able to see the stars.


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## soapybum

“No limits to my freedom can be found except freedom itself, or, if you prefer, we are not free to cease being free.” - Sartre

Fav quote about freedom, and pretty much sums up my pov on it. It's an over used and over glorified word, we are all free, regardless of the situation. If any of your 'freedom' is taken away its because you decided to submit to someone else's authority.

For the other questions, just living off the waste/outside of the 'system' is a neutral position in my pov, more active resistance should take place if you really are against all of it. Personally I'd love to just go live out in the woods with some friends and be completely content, but knowing industrial society, eventually there wouldn't be any woods left for me to live in. Same typo thing goes for collectives, just because you have one doesnt mean you're 'fighting the system'.


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## Fungus

Not owing the hospitals money, nor the justice system your service (parole officers EAT) is an easily observable phenomenon of freedom restriction. Not letting your possessions own you. But Janis Joplin did infact summarize it most simply. "Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose"


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## frzrbrnd

Alexander said:


> having nothing is great until you need something to survive.


but i never need freedom to survive; i might need someone to take their boot off my neck or i might need some food or shelter, but never have i (or will i) need freedom in order to survive. freedom doesn't exist. it's just something people made up.


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## Alexander

dolittle said:


> I had several thoughts on what freedom is. But they all sounded like cliches. So instead, I will answer this part... What motivates me? Food. I like to eat. No one elts will feed me. I get up every morning & go work so I can feed my self. That is simplafing it, but its all the same. There just is NO ONE else I can rely on. If I want food, clothing, shelter, I have to provide it for my self. Ergo, I haul my butt out of bed every day & go to work. In your collective, how would you take care of people like myself, people physically unable to walk or garden or any thing that requires being on their feet for more than a few min?


yes, food is the number one priority...if I was to make a collective you would do something that would fit your needs. I'm sure there is a function in the collective you could do to help...lots of stuff.


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## scatwomb

Alexander said:


> freedom is losing boundaries with reality and the definitions of what surrounds us?


 
Yes, those boundaries are culturally constructed and imaginary, thus limited by our perceptions.


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## travelin

morning sun sparkling on flowing water, flyrod in hand, line whispering with the connection of sky and water...

i stand and build dreams in the air, my mind is the rhythm of the cast and the world narrows down to that one instant of the presentation, then the take.

fishing is my freedom...


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## travelin

dolittle said:


> I had several thoughts on what freedom is. But they all sounded like cliches. So instead, I will answer this part... What motivates me? Food. I like to eat. No one elts will feed me. I get up every morning & go work so I can feed my self. That is simplafing it, but its all the same. There just is NO ONE else I can rely on. If I want food, clothing, shelter, I have to provide it for my self. Ergo, I haul my butt out of bed every day & go to work. In your collective, how would you take care of people like myself, people physically unable to walk or garden or any thing that requires being on their feet for more than a few min?


 
there are dozens of jobs on a farm that does not require standing for long.


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## Mankini

its 50% nihilism and 50% some sort of quantum cheat code. see: schrodingers cat. also, frank abagnale jr.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_liberty

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_freedom


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## salxtina

The means to really get the social things I need - shelter, healthcare - without working for a machine that goes against me. To be part of creating these things in voluntary / democratic groups that don't destroy the land / ecosystem around them. To step up to the plate and call bullying and oppression what it is, not to curb our speech to fit in or win points, to form solidarity with lunatics, outsiders, whoever we've been taught to treat as alien. Relationships where people want to actually share their lives more than they want to control somebody - because you can't have both, because domination and love can't co-exist.


Fungus said:


> Not owing the hospitals money, nor the justice system your service (parole officers EAT) is an easily observable phenomenon of freedom restriction. Not letting your possessions own you.


Yeah, that's a big one.

Or as Ms. Simone had it,_ "It's just a feeling. how do you tell somebody how it feels to be in love? You can't tell it, but you know it, when it happens... I'll tell you what freedom is to me, NO FEAR."_


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## creature

not having to worry about what it is?


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## creature

; )


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## Rob Nothing

My definition of freedom is people, leaving me the fuck alone. It isn't so hard to get either, you just gotta be a supreme asshole every few days, and bam, works like magic!


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## creature

being able to park my van without being fucked with!!


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## creature

i need to go knock on a fucking door..


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## Rob Nothing

Parking is terrible. That's why I sold my first car.

Rather I didn't have the one now, but it was a gift, so hard to pawn right off. Freedom is owning nothing, really. But, fuck, it's also breaking some doors down where you aren't wanted, sometimes. So I am content with the vehicle, and content with not busting in on peeps also as long as that stands.


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## Odin

Lets say, the long term outlook??

I think I'll be happy if I can walk without pain, shit right, and still get a boner; if I make it to my 70's... or above.


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## Itvo

I couldn't describe it but I do like the nothing left to lose saying. 

A litmus(?) test would be the ability to be completely silent and to dwell in utmost secrecy. If you cannot be truly hidden from the life you live, you are not free. In my opinion.


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## Odin

Absolute ability to manipulate time-space-matter-order-energy-&-chaos.

Thus far... this is only possible in my mind.

::-_Where is my mind_.


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## Mel of the Bronx

Freedom is the ability to make a choice without being constrained by an outside force. The most meaningful notion of freedom, for me, is freedom from coercion. I should have the right to make whatever choice I want to make so long as it doesn't violate the rights of another. But then we have the problem of which rights are right and which rights are wrong.


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