What is freedom to you?

Question

What about free will

and can freedom exist with selflessness?

Answer 1

DOING what FEELS RIGHT
without looking over my shoulders

Answer 2

The freedom angle has been well taken care of by this point so i will focus on the free will aspect of the question. defined free is the ability to act in more than one way in a specific situation. free will is something that we are told we have from a very young age. But do we know? You never make the same decision twice. For example if you decided to stay home from work on a Monday, but went on Tuesday. While you were contemplating your choices in bed on the respective days it may seem as if you were facing the same problem but came up with two different answers and thus you have free will. However on Tuesday when decide to go work you are thinking about not missing two days of work in row and the scenario has just changed. You never be faced with same exact question twice because your previous experience will invariably guide your decision. This guidance would make you not free of will but moderately determined. So to me Freedom of Will is an illusion that makes people feel good to believe.

Answer 3

The common definition of freedom is the ability to act on your desires.

The ability to act on your desires usually requires money, hence the joke:
”Freedom isn’t free”.

I avoid the term ‘free will’ because when is will not free?
If someone points a gun at your head and says: “Your money or your life”; your options suck, but technically you are still free to choose.

Your ‘Self’ can be defined by your list of things you want (and don’t want) to happen.
Self is what you desire.

So if you are selfless in the technical (or Buddhistic) sense, it doesn’t matter if you are free to act on your desires, because you don’t desire anything.

Of course, we often use the term selfless to mean ‘community minded’.
So are community minded people be free to help the community?
Sure. Of course that usually requires money, so it’s that ‘non-free’ type of freedom.

Answer 4

Freedom is the opportunity to make choices, inlcluding making one's own choices on the things that one allows to influence those choices.

Selflessness is a choice. And it can be exercised if one has taken the freedom to do so. Selflessness does not necessarily stand at the opposing end to freedom.

Answer 5

Freedom is the opprotunity to own your own destiny, within the limits of reason and morality. One has the power to make their own priorities and to act upon them accordingly. However, freedom has to be balanced with order. When one’s freedom constricts another’s freedom it has gone too far and there will undoubtedly be consequences. Sometimes harsh consequences. Examples of this would be murder and rape, for which persecution would later ensue. Everyone has the freedom to control their own thoughts, which can never be taken away. (Unless they’re crazy, in which case nevermind. And I’m not being funny about this.) Even in societies where freedom is limited, thought and emotions are untouched by these restrictions.

Answer 6

Most or all people believe that freedom is gained when you are able to do whatever you want without directions or instructions from someone else .
NO, it is not like that you can easily get freedom but you can hardly feel it for example if you have responsiblites and you just decided one day to ignore all that and get your freedom you will definetely cannot fell it as you feel that you left your duty .....

So i advise all people to work hard , finish all their duties towards their sons , daughters , wives and husbands ...etc. and then just realx in the bathtub, soak themselves in hot water or take a holiday from time to time just to meditate and relax.................................

By that you can feel the right sense of freedom not trying to pretend that you are free while you're from the inside feeling guilty towards your duties..this is not freedom at all...

Thanks,

Answer 7

It's a descriptive noun...
freedom of speech (the right to opinion as long as it's not for slander or harmfully intended)
freedom of healthcare (it's a myth right now, but it should be the ability to get health care from any doctor)
freedom alone is a marketable word with no meaning...kinda like what Hallmark did with the word "love"

Answer 8

It`s doing what you want to do, because you never were able to do till you were free.

You should be thank full we live in a free country, most Americans and other country's take for granted of Freedom. Just imagine if you were free today and the next day you were in a cage or something.

I`m thank full that I`m free, to be who I want to be and be able to achieve my goals and dreams.

Answer 9

My Friend,

Freedom is a expression of a choice what God gives you.

Your choices define who you grow upto. God made the world, and nature by default moves in his ways and choices which are already predifined or written in the genes and atoms. But Humans we have a gift of choice, at every breath, every day we have a choice to become whatever we want to be even if it means becoming animal or a sinner. We are actually ssons of God and hence he has given us the previledge of free will. He doesnt mind if we destroy his creation the nature but surely minds when we fight with or hurt any of his children.

Freedom is a gift my father gave it to me showing his trust and love in me.

Answer 10

Freedom is having obligations that you want and not having obligations you don't want. Free will I guess is doing whatever you please, hopefully not causing any harm to others including all creatures. Tonite I feel obligated to get a double meat whopper and having free will I will probably add fries to that.

Answer 11

free is like not being depended upon for any responsibilities, so in my opinion we lose freedom when we age, i remember those summers before i was 12...amazing laziness