Enlightenment Enables Escaping Existential Imprisonment

The truest form of free will come from a heightened awareness of self

Ignorance is Bliss

Ignorance is the birthplace of subjugation and slavery. The uninformed will always be controlled, and they will be controlled in ways that ensure they are never aware of their slavery.

To a certain degree, all of us are controlled by unknown forces. The rituals of religion, the demands of familial interaction, the call of an occupation. Through ignorance, we further puppet ourselves to the masters that control us. When we act without thought, we are vulnerable to control.

Then, in order to escape this control, we learn more about the human psyche; psychological and physiological factors that shape our actions. We try to move from thoughtless to thoughtful actions by learning and educating ourselves. But how far should this learning go? How many layers can we peel before we see true slavery and imprisonment and try to break free from their shackles.

Predestined

As the saying goes, we are the product of our surroundings. Every individual experiences the world differently. Every interaction changes us to a certain extent. Every idea consumed leads to another train of thought. Each moment propels us to a newer self.

But are these interactions and moments made by choice? Or are they simply another level of our surroundings, subconsciously deciding our next action?

“If I could wake up in a different place, at a different time, could I wake up as a different person?”

There is a linear correlation between what we have done, and what we are going to do. In our formative years, our actions are decided by the world we grow up in. The behaviour of our parents; their fears, their happiness and their anger and frustration, all imprinted on us before we have a chance to register the interaction. Then as we try to form ourselves as individuals, we interact with other individuals, who have their own imprints created by their surroundings. And as we interact, we grow and change and evolve.

What we don’t realize is that our decision to interact and evolve has already been decided by the whatever was imprinted on us. Effectively, we are interacting with a new thing, because our previous interactions pushed us into that direction.

For example: You grow up in a small town, where you and a couple of your friends spend your teen years experiencing ideas and art not commonly consumed by the masses. These ideas will imprint in you the need to travel and make your vocation in a larger city, where it is easier to find other people who interact using these ideas and art forms. However, the very fact that you and your friends experienced those ideas, is a result of your individual and collective cognitive programming. The idea to move to a big city would not have been possible without you meeting each other, but the fact that you would meet each other was inevitable, given the experiences each of you had. So the fact that you would move to a new city, was actually chosen by your surroundings, and not by you as an individual.

Mad Panic

Realizations like these can lead to a lot of anxiety. It makes you question every action you are performing, every thought you are processing, every breath you are taking.

For primitive cultures of millennia past, this realization gave birth to the first gods. One is truly never in control of the nature of Life. Life has a predestined plan for your existence. So the mind surrenders, to a higher power. This higher power starts as a thought. However, thoughts are difficult to quantify, so this thought manifests into natural occurrences. Lightning, Thunder, Fire. Powerful stimuli for a mind searching for an all controlling force. This thought then further evolves into God. Physical embodiment of the minds’ mad panic.

The trickle of control then flows slowly downward. In trying to escape the existentially predestined, we allow ourselves to be subjected and subjugated to more physical and psychological masters.

“All your questions can be answered, if that is what you want. But once you learn your answers, you can never unlearn them”

For the modern era, we have replaced our known masters, without challenging the authority of the unknown master. What we consider to be free will and choice, may simply be another step in a large movement of existence. We may feel we are acting on our own volition, but with enough information about your surroundings, and your history, your life choices might just be... Predictable.

So if everything is predestined, and right now we have no true control over our life’s movement, is there any way to change it? Is there any way to look at our life’s pattern, and hack it?

Is there a higher form of freedom?

Yes

Life has always been, and always will be random and chaotic. An individual’s choices and free will, may be predictable. But an individual is the tiniest part of life. There are so many different factors that shape life, that we can never truly control it, merely choose the direction we are flowing.

The enabler? Awareness. Awareness, of all your thoughts, all your actions. What you do? Why you do it? How many times you do it? How often do you think? With enough awareness, we can start to see the path laid out for us. We can remember the choices that brought us to where we are, in that very moment. And we can see where these known choices, and unknown choices will lead us. We can see our purpose and direction in life. Not in trivial concerns like our next vacation, or our next promotion. We will see the meaning of our life, and what we will leave behind from our existence.

How?

Coming back to an earlier point, there is a direct correlation between what you have done, and what you are going to. However, now you are charged with the awareness of this connection. This awareness will allow you to navigate and change course.

It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.

Every minor action, could help you move in a new direction, and alter your path. Read more, eat better, converse informatively. If you are aware of your actions, then that awareness will point you to the direction you will move. The truest form of free will and choice, is in your conscious actions; everyday moments of awareness that will change your life’s trajectory.

Tomorrow morning you wake up, and decide to go on a run. There was no need, no desire, no compulsion, and no encouragement. You are simply aware, that every moment you are awake you are navigating your life’s flow, so you choose to flow into a path that makes you better, and makes you happier.