Q&A 96
Q. Factors like?
A. Well anything that clouds our intellect or tampers with our will.
Q. For example?
A. Well since freedom is about choices and choices imply knowledge and knowledge implies facts, then any false information - lies, propaganda, indoctrination, etc. - that misrepresents facts will limit our freedom.
And further since freedom is about MAKING choices not just knowing about our choices, then freedom also implies a capacity to choose. For this reason, anything that incapacitates the will and disables it from choosing also limits our freedom.
Q. For example?
A. For example drugs, alcohol, sex and an addiction to any of these. When enjoyed at their proper time and in their proper context, they are all good. Outside of these they are disorders that quite literally enslave the will. (Observe a druggie, drunkard or sex addict and how they quite literally lose control of themselves, become irrational, conniving and even violent without their "fix"... And incidentally, by "sex" in "sex addict" I refer cumulatively to intercourse, masturbation and pornography. These all enslave the will; the addict cannot operate normally without them.) And any type of slavery is quite clearly a lack of freedom.
Q. Wow! Fortunately I've not had a problem with any of those my entire life.
A. A rich young man once said precisely that to a certain carpenter from Nazareth. The carpenter raised the bar for him... In your case, maybe you're fortunate not to have to struggle against drugs, drink or sex. But perhaps what enslaves you are other vices: pride maybe? Or anger? Or sloth? Greed? Bad habits that I cannot control, that I need a regular fix of to feel good about myself much like the druggie needs a dose to feel good about himself.
Q. I don't see the connection...
A. Pride (see Q&A 23-25) enslaves me to what others think about me, my impression on them, my reputation. I'm enslaved to my own opinion not because it is right but because it is mine. Anger is sometimes viewed as just a loud or violent form of pride: to have my way at any expense. Sloth is that inertia of the soul that I will not struggle to improve myself least of all in spiritual matters or to improve the world around me: I'm enslaved to my comfort. Greed is the slavery of having my senses all stimulated. Envy is the slavery to wanting to have what others have and for those others not to have.
If lust is not your slavery, examine yourself on these others.
Happy long weekend!
1st May 2016