The more I think about it, and the more I analyse discussions and issues, the more clearly ‘freedom’ in any of its guises, is freedom from pain.
The Right indicates freedom from taxes and infractions on individual liberty, the Left from systemic injustices, daily freedom the absence of cruelty and injury, religious and ideological freedom that of a lack of opposition.
In psychological terms, being free from trauma, addiction, free from pain, and free from harm determine measurable outcomes in health and wellbeing.
The medical profession is predicated on ‘do no harm’.
Riots erupt when the upper class extracts wealth from its society to the point where the lower classes can no longer endure the hardships, the pain, of living expenses exceeding income.
Same where an underprivileged or marginalised group can no longer accept social stigma and assault.
The pride movement of gay men and lesbians is a perfect example of refusing to live with social stigma, taboo, bigoted rejection and violence: the pain had to stop via social change which resulted in equality.
And the Universal Bill of Human Rights came into being.
This document clarifies what harm is done and how. This is a guideline for ensuring freedom through equal rights for all. Everyone who has access to this document can educate themselves on how to be free, and likewise, ensure freedom for everyone.
Naturally, humanity is finding ways to unbalance equality.
Empowerment is a noble vehicle for those who do not have the means to voice their own needs, who lack agency, and who may not otherwise gain recognition for their pain.
Women are not one of these identities, nor is any monotheistic religion, which have 100s of millions of voices airing grievances. The elderly who cannot participate in social discourse, people with disabilities who lack political savvy, the groups who stay silent in pain, due to coercion or function, these are the people who require advocacy.
For people who want to ‘do the right thing’, perhaps identify what that ‘right’ part means and state it clearly before advocating for encroachment into another’s space because ‘it’s my right’.
Everyone has the right to practice their own beliefs; everyone has the right to be free of another’s belief practices: there is a vast area of negotiation between these two statements which must be clarified.
Gauging rights in terms of pain inflicted is salient to assertion. For example, ‘women have the right to determine what happens to their own bodies’ and ‘each person has the right to practice their own religion’ are, in some instances, in direct conflict.
How a society chooses between these two results in vastly different outcomes.
…yet which one does the most harm, and what kind of harm is done?
Systemic injustice is a concept powering groups of people to demand a range of changes in Western civilisation. I agree that there are changes we need to make but I’ve heard none mention which has been apparent to me for decades.
Each problem I see arise originates in personal, short-term self-interest and self-indulgence, whether it is religious, economic, or identity-driven. The party in Australian politics which ostensibly focusses on the key solution openly promotes a retrograde into an anti-secular worldview.
The righteous and ‘good’ people I speak with are invested in the party which has repeatedly and openly defied global policy recommendations to reduce long-term harm.
Freedom to live, to be, to do, are all freedom from harm, pain, injury, fear, and death (by another’s hand).
I want more freedom in our world. The only mechanism I have observed which can achieve this is a strict adherence to secularism: rational thinking, personal accountability, observable and factual evidence, and doing no harm.
We are on a path of blindness and reactive thinking.
We will lose everything if we continue on this path.
We are set to evolve significantly once we drop our addiction to emotional identification with the latest trend.
Nothing can stop us once we identify our talents, as a species, and reorganise ourselves with ‘living free’.
We have infinite capacity for growth.
A D R A N 