Freedom
When ostensibly the most salient questions in our lives pertain to our purpose—the very justification and prime motivator for all of our actions and reason for existence in the first place—why are we doing such an abysmal job at informing people on how to find it? We evade giving direct answers to others regarding such questions because we feel as though the magic of possibility and the prospect of writing our own stories is a greater privilege than informing each other how to best live. We often glorify this freedom to decide for ourselves our fate; it constitutes this proverbial endeavor of individualism, carving our own path in life and assigning our own personal narrative to our struggles and joys alike. This is undoubtedly a hallmark of Western culture—one of the great privileges of living in a democratic, free society, where no one, not even your friends or family, can ultimately dictate the story and purpose of your life. But when we leave people to their own vices and merely expect them to just figure it out themselves, we inevitably end up with four distinct categories of people.
The first category of people are those that avoid the question entirely. They are unquestioning pawns within hierarchies and perpetually rotating cogs within industrial societies. For a variety of reasons, whether it’s their own personality traits (their conscientiousness, agreeableness, openness to experience, etc.), or the prevailing cultural norms, they live out their life and perform their role within society without much thought and question into the purpose of their existence beyond that apparent role.
The second category of people are those that are unsure of their purpose and resort to the conclusion that the purpose of their life is to merely be happy and achieve personal “success,” whether self-perceived success or ubiquitous success in a particular realm of society. So it’s not surprising to see that methodologies of tackling the uncertainty of modern life that resemble hustle culture and the sigma male grindset proliferate in the contemporary world. Many of them recognize just how inhospitable, unforgiving, and downright absurd the society around them is designed, and their solution to such a problem is to capitalize on the system to work against itself for their selfish gain. Because personal happiness and success are the ultimate achievement, these individuals rarely heed to the long-term consequences of their actions outside of personal gain. They are willing to sacrifice almost anything—their social lives amongst family and friends, their leisure activities, the environment, the welfare of other human beings or animals, and even their own physical or mental health—to achieve this end. While not everyone takes the hustle to such a severe extent, in the end, selfishness will still dictate the trajectory of their lives.
The third category of people constitute the undetermined; when left on their own, it is the lingering threat of complacency within an insipid life that prevents them from doing the work that matters. They are those that have the conviction that they’re meant to do something more important with their lives, but the persistent doubt and the deep-seated fear—fear of disapproval, fear of change, fear of commitment—that undermines them from taking the leap forward to do what they truly believe in. They’re more afraid to confront the uncertainty than they are afraid of living a life unfulfilled. Often, these types of individuals are far more prone to fall into depression and suicide from their ever-present existential doubt.
The fourth category of people are those that, without much external guidance, feel a natural compulsion to explore the unknown, confront the daunting darkness and uncertainty that prowls on the road ahead, and undertake a profound introspection to discover what it means to truly live. But here’s the problem: we have to stop relying on this minority to be the sole instigators for the change we so desperately need to adapt to this constantly shifting, chaotic world. We need to stop using them as a crutch when our established systems and conventions cease to work, when malevolent forces in our world seek to use the exponential growth of technological development against humanity, not for it. When very real evil abruptly arrives at our doorstep, conspiring to undermine the very peace and prosperity we take for granted in our insulated, gilded societies lined with privilege, we need to be prepared.
I think we can all agree that we don’t need more cogs, because the industrial education systems that we’ve designed have already overproduced this type of individual far beyond measure; the demand for this type of individual in the current state of the world is at an all time low. I think we can also agree that we don’t need more hustlers who take advantage of other people and maneuver their way around systems of the societies we live in, or more people that are mired in existential doubt and end up living inconsequential lives, crippled by depression, or, worse, dead by their own hands.
“Freedom is in danger of degenerating into mere arbitrariness unless it is lived in terms of responsibleness. That is why I recommend that the Statue of Liberty on the East Coast be supplemented by a Statue of Responsibility on the West Coast.“
— Viktor Frankl
When we believe freedom is not the means to an end, but the end itself, we carve up an intricate excuse for the dereliction of our duty as fellow humans to guide each other along. Freedom is not enough. It is important, but we need to stop glorifying it when hundreds of millions of people, if not billions of people, are lost, misguided, disillusioned, or complacent with such freedom. When we are blatantly neglecting to directly teach each other and our future generations what it means to live a meaningful life and what it means to do meaningful work, we shouldn’t be surprised why there aren’t more “peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers, and lovers.” We shouldn’t be surprised that there’s a worldwide epidemic of mental illness, that there’s a mass shootings and homicides occurring every single day, that suicide rates remain at a staggering level, that bloody wars continue to be waged around the world, and the persistence of a myriad of other problems within our societies that we’ve failed to adequately address since the dawn of the industrial age.
We need to stop expecting everyone to just “figure it out.”
We can do better to design a society and formulate a culture where we are transparent about what it means to live a life with meaning, intent, and purpose. We can build a culture where we are proud to both celebrate and emulate those who have made the world we all live in, a better place to live in.
