Freedom is one of those words that we commonly consider to be completely positive. Who wouldn’t want to be free? To be free from any form of external force or limitation, free to do whatever you want? But is the concept of freedom really that simple? What if we don’t use our freedom wisely?
Imagine a fridge full of food that you love: you are free to choose whatever you like to eat. However, you are dependent on unhealthy food and uncontrolled overeating. So, are you really free? Your external freedom, that is, the absence of force, does not align with your internal freedom, that is, free will. You don’t have the freedom to choose what and how much you want to eat because you are internally driven by forces that are stronger than your rational mind. If you eat too much of such unhealthy food, you are aware that you will seriously endanger your health in the long run, but you are a slave to your desires, so you are no longer able to act in accordance with your own interests.
There is another aspect of freedom: our actions it will never be without consequences. We can have internal and external freedom to choose, for example, our career, but whatever we choose, it will have certain consequences. Every action provokes a reaction. Our innocent ignorance will not protect us from reaping what we have sown.
The problem with freedom, as well as power, is that we can abuse it. Guided by unreasonable forces, or simply due to a lack of wisdom, we can use our freedom in a way that causes long-lasting undesirable consequences.
This is the “dark side” of freedom and one of the greatest problems in modern democratic societies. There are thousands of things that are legally and socially acceptable, but still have negative and destructive effects on the future of humanity in the long run. If we were only harming our own health, most would say, “Well, that’s their business.” However, if we seriously harm our planet and everything living on it, if the expression of our personal freedom results in total destruction. Do we still have the right to do “whatever we want”?