What is your Definition of Freedom? | Squat the Planet

What is your Definition of Freedom?

Alexander

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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.
 
M

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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.
 

frzrbrnd

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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

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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

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

Alexander

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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.
 

frzrbrnd

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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

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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.
 

Alexander

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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.
 

Alexander

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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.
 

Alexander

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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.
 

dolittle

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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?
 

ipoPua

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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.
 

soapybum

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“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'.
 

Fungus

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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

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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

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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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