Free will.
Free-will.
Free. Will.
However many times we mouth the word and throw it around, do we ever really know what it means?
To be free, as my dictionary flatly sings, is "to be exempt from subjection to the will of others; not under restraint, control, or compulsion; the ability to follow one's own impulses, desires, or inclinations; not dependent; at liberty" (frankly, I like to think that all dictionaries have the personas of grumpy old men). Here's what I think- whenever a thing is explained in as many ways as that word has, then no one has ever completely settled on what exactly it means. Let me paint a picture, if I may. I'll call the word a cloud, because just like those great bulks of white that migrate across the sky, we can see freedom but then never really touch it.
Let me add a bit more spice into this stew of ponderings; consider the word "will". In one sentence, the power of choosing (a curious note: Does the simplicity of this word's definition mean that this one is more available and tangible than the concept of freedom?). It's easy to choose between a vanilla or chocolate ice-cream - though maybe not for some- easy to choose between a text or a call. Is it as simple to choose between the heart and the mind? Is it as trivial a task to choose between loving and letting go?
Following the above then, free will in one phrase becomes " to be at liberty to choose. This should then become to me my mantra; that I am an individual. Not a group. Not a religion. Not a culture. And not a race- an individual. Such a simple tune to hum, and yet I can't count how many times we have given it up, only because it becomes too heave a burden to be who we can become.
To become an individual is no simple request. To discover who we truly are and what we are capable of is no small matter. I will (see definition above) say this one last thing though; free will is not an intangible cloud because who we are, and how we are, and where we belong, is always completely up to us.
Free will.
A reality, not a dream.
I have always loved your work and you become better every time. This is a different take on free will which I very much appreciate. And how you sum it all up, makes a lot of sense this article. Good game champ.
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