BANANACUE
REPUBLIC
Vol I, No. 12
Nov 24, 2004

 
 
 attitudes by H. A. de Veyra

CONTENTS 


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Hoaxing Freedom
(My apologies to my friend)

I got into a discussion yesterday with a friend. About freedom, of all things. It was like arguing whether angels can dance on the tip of a needle or not. But I'm exaggerating of course. Besides, I don't want to get drawn into an argument whether angels exist or not. Or if they can dance.

It started when my friend said that in the hierarchy of beings, only humans have the freedom of choice. From God (whom we both agreed was exempted) down to the angels, to the spirits, to humans, to animals, to plants and finally to the minerals -- only humans are free. I disagreed. I've said before in an article, that man's actions are predetermined. I'm not saying each of us is fated to a particular or specific destiny, but that all possibilities and choices are already written and so are their end results. Therefore, when we choose a particular path (an IF), all the possibilities (the THENs) become open to us. These IF-THENs are already written and are hidden behind what we call reality. They are the instructions to everything (from matter, to motives, to actions) that is known and unknown to man. They are like the DNAs of the universe.

All choices have already been written. No choice is unique or original and what we may think original (because it's new) is only because our human understanding and awareness have expanded. If we can't or haven't seen the tip of the Himalayas for example, it doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. Once we see it, it doesn't mean that it just appeared. It has always been there, it was just that we didn't have the ability to see it before.

So my friend said that humans are the only ones who can choose to be good or evil, to love or to hate. Therefore humans are the only ones who are free. I argued that yes, man can choose those motives and behaviors, precisely because they're human choices. Once you become an evolved being, those choices disappear because they won't exist for you anymore.

Me: "Good and bad are human choices, that's why angels and animals can't choose to be good and bad since they're not humans. I'm saying that we can't assume that angels don't have their own kinds of choices . I'm also saying that we can't assume that animals don't have their own kinds of choices. These choices (of the angels and animals and plants) are not open to humans just as good and bad (human choices) are not open to the other beings. Therefore, we cant say that we're the only ones who have choices."

The only choices open to us, you see, are manmade. Think of a choice, any choice in this universe that you can act on. If you choose to be God, sure you can be god-like but, not God. If you choose to be good, sure you can be good but only within the human abilities and boundaries. These choices are limited within the human level, therefore this limitation negates the idea of being free. If animals or angels don't have these choices, it's precisely because they're not humans. Animals and angels should have their own choices which we are not aware of, and for all we know they may think they're freer than us because they don't have to choose. Remember Lestat the Vampire when he chose to become human again and regretted it and it took one novel to tell us of his trouble getting his vampire body back? Remember the movie City of Angels when Seth the angel chose to be human, and God played a trick on him? Remember all those other choices non-humans did in literature and myths (including God's choices)? They were all thought out by man. So there.

My friend: "It's true that they are not open to other beings... because other beings will be either good or bad, they can't choose between the two. Let's suppose that you are a very, very evolved human being... Christ-like for example. The more evolved you get, the less free you are ...because the more evolved you are, the less "bad" choices you can make because the "good" choices become the ONLY possibility..."

Me: "I agree. But I also want to go further... your choices become different the more evolved you get. You don't anymore have the choices ordinary humans have, but the choices of evolved human beings which are not open to humans. THAT doesn't make the ordinary humans free, because it means, ALL choices in life are not available to us. Moral choices are human choices. Humans have human choices. We are free in the human sense. We are free within the human limitations."

As humans, the choices open to us that make us free beings, is an illusion. Of course we're not free. If our choices are limited within the human context, if our choices limit us to remain humans, then where is the freedom there? I once attended this writing workshop in Iloilo and we were discussing a poem of one writer. The poem was about prostitutes trapping men into their world of passion and lust (naturally, it has to be the prostitute's fault). The writer talked about these women as spiders trapping men in their web and ruining families and relationships. Moral questions ensued from the discussion. I pointed out that maybe we should look at it another way, that it is the spider that feels trapped because she can't ever feed without using her web on someone. Her being-ness itself was a trap, a limitation. She wasn't free.

We're like those spiders, we are trapped in our own world. Where in it is the freedom we talk about all the time? Where in it are the choices we so uphold make us free human beings? We can't ever be 'free' from being human unless we die. We can't ever be free unless we evolve into a higher being, which would make us lose our choices that make us 'free'. And therefore, would we still be 'free'?

"Freedom" is a hoax given to us by religionists and politicians and philosophers and lately, the media. Of course we're not free. Freedom is one of those ad campaigns used to make us believe we need it and make us feel superior and better than anyone. Americans for example, are not freer than the rest of the world just because their constitution says so. They are freer because of their military might and aggressive genes. Freedom then would be defined not as the freedom to choose, but the ability to be aggressive. If you're violent, then you're free. At the same time Buddhists consider themselves free if they lose all their desires. Freedom in this context would then be defined as the ability to be free from physical desires and suffering.

What choices we have as humans are moral man-made choices. To be good or bad, to love or not love, to choose or not choose. If man's choices are only to do good or bad, then I don't want to be free. If freedom means choosing my destiny (which is predetermined once I make my choice, therefore a lie), I don't want it. If freedom means being superior and violent, I don't want it either. If freedom means being free from my physical desires so I wont have to suffer, I don't want it. If freedom is what makes us uniquely human, and freedom is an illusion, then I don't want it.

That is what we think freedom is. Is having these choices what makes us human? Is being able to choose what makes us free? Is Bush wrong when he talks about giving freedom to the Iraqis? Are the terrorists wrong for saying they want freedom from the Americans? Could it be we're asking the wrong questions, arguing and fighting over the wrong ideas and issues?

My friend: "Well I can't argue because I can't prove my point. You too, may I point out."

Me: "Yes, no one can be certain except God, the omniscient. I do agree that humans are the arrogant beings because they think that all beings have human qualities."

My friend: "That's true... except that if you take that statement to the letter, there's no point discussing ANYTHING that's not provable materially...which is to say that we can discuss hard disks, but we can't discuss angels and spirituality."

Me: "Sure we can, but because there's no certainty, we can only make hypothesis and theories but not provable certainties.  Besides, hard disks are boring."

Posted 11/23/04.  Send your comment to bananacue_republic@yahoo.com

"'Freedom' is a hoax given to us by religionists and politicians and philosophers and lately, the media. Of course we're not free. Freedom is one of those ad campaigns used to make us believe we need it and make us feel superior and better than anyone."