What does independence mean to you?
Posted on Jul 4th, 2008
by 
Rob
Rob
This is in Response to the Questions and Reflections for July 04, 2008:
Independence and freedom are a delusion.
Whoa! How patriotic is that?!
Let me explain. First, head over to dictionary.com and look up the meaning, oh hell, allow me:
"freedom from the control, influence, support, aid, or the like, of others."
Okay, let me ask you this. Did you grow the coffe you drank this morning? Thought not. Did you purify the water it was made in, or generated the electricity that brewed it? Hmmmm. Did you get no financial aid to attend college? Especially from parents which never gets paid back....Or how about your thoughts? Are they in no way influneced by others? Completely original in every way?
Independence is a delusion. Every day we get in our cars(made and fixed by others) and drive on roads(made and maintained by others we pay to do so) to go to jobs that were created by others and we came from parents who raised us and schools that informed us and somewhere we likely adopted a moral code we borrowed from others and maybe tweaked along the way.
You know what they call an independent body cell?
CANCER
Your body cells and atoms aren't independent, the cycle of nature isn't dependent, so whatever in the world makes us think we are? So let's go back to that document that founded this country: The Declaration Of Independence.
Notice the one characteristic of the closing pledge, which was followed roughly a decade later by the Constitutions main emphasis: We. Not I. But we. We counting on one another, and supporting one another, helping one another. Not quite the dictionary definition, but I think by now I've alluded to what I see independence is.
And freedom? Well, we established a Consitution which essentially lays out some things we can and cannot do. That means that we have decided to live together with certain constraints. Constraints limit absolute freedom, and our system was established to allow for freedom of will as an individual within a minimal code to express ourselves however we want. In my eyes, we are free when we are no longer driven by want.
I think the more we focus on interdependence and freedom from want, the sonner we will achieve any sense of peace in this world.
Whoa! How patriotic is that?!
Let me explain. First, head over to dictionary.com and look up the meaning, oh hell, allow me:
"freedom from the control, influence, support, aid, or the like, of others."
Okay, let me ask you this. Did you grow the coffe you drank this morning? Thought not. Did you purify the water it was made in, or generated the electricity that brewed it? Hmmmm. Did you get no financial aid to attend college? Especially from parents which never gets paid back....Or how about your thoughts? Are they in no way influneced by others? Completely original in every way?
Independence is a delusion. Every day we get in our cars(made and fixed by others) and drive on roads(made and maintained by others we pay to do so) to go to jobs that were created by others and we came from parents who raised us and schools that informed us and somewhere we likely adopted a moral code we borrowed from others and maybe tweaked along the way.
You know what they call an independent body cell?
CANCER
Your body cells and atoms aren't independent, the cycle of nature isn't dependent, so whatever in the world makes us think we are? So let's go back to that document that founded this country: The Declaration Of Independence.
Notice the one characteristic of the closing pledge, which was followed roughly a decade later by the Constitutions main emphasis: We. Not I. But we. We counting on one another, and supporting one another, helping one another. Not quite the dictionary definition, but I think by now I've alluded to what I see independence is.
And freedom? Well, we established a Consitution which essentially lays out some things we can and cannot do. That means that we have decided to live together with certain constraints. Constraints limit absolute freedom, and our system was established to allow for freedom of will as an individual within a minimal code to express ourselves however we want. In my eyes, we are free when we are no longer driven by want.
I think the more we focus on interdependence and freedom from want, the sonner we will achieve any sense of peace in this world.
Access: Public
freedom
August 2008 