means
we can do whatever we want, be however we want, nothing is forced on us
This is freedom absolutism. No half-measures. No prisoners, victims, or slaves.
The antithesis of freedom is domination. This means not only is our freedom actively violated, but someone or something has the power to violate it. Domination serves as the catalyst for all forms of freedom-violation.
By resisting, our hearts remain free. Domination is never fully realized. There was never a time when the devout freedom-warrior was truly unfree. However, we’d like the whole world to be free, as that would be an expression of our values and how we feel deep down.
[ img: Puppet | Text: Even when the strings are slack, the puppet is still under control. Freedom isn’t the puppet forgetting the strings are there, but the absence of strings or puppet-masters entirely. ]
Liberty
Liberty is conditional freedom, much like a puppet’s slack strings. Unlike true freedom, it can be granted or taken away. Most of the world settles for liberty, believing true freedom to be impossible. They have submitted and are therefore dominated and fundamentally unfree.
Autonomy means our individual choices are free; we’re under no internal coercion. This is often the deepest kind of liberty, but not true freedom, because it’s always possible the universe inflicts some kind of emotional pressure on us which we lack the skill to overcome it; like overwhelming pain, shame, fear, or desire. Real-world autonomy is more about channeling freedom than actually being free.
It’s not about directing or understanding outcomes, nor reliably resisting coercion. No one can do this. The idea that some can and some can’t has been used to deny agency (the ability to act out our choices) to some groups and grant it to others. The dominant class have “practical autonomy”, meaning their decisions usually work out, but this is conditional and often relies on anxiety about the future (anxious choices are not autonomous ones!)
[ img: a slave being whipped vs a child playing text: A slave isn’t acting autonomously, a child at play is. This doesn’t change just because the slave is rewarded for their coerced choices, and the child trips and falls because of their free ones. ]
Consensus is necessary to realize true freedom. This doesn’t merely require our choices align with all members of our community, species, or planet; but nature itself, as well as being autonomous. Many a liberated being is able to go with the flow of life, thus they’re at peace with the god of the world, but not necessarily at peace with their own heart, still feeling compassion (lit. together + suffering) for the ones still suffering. That’s why the Bodhissatva path is essential. When our energy flows cleanly into the path of universal freedom, and from a place of inner freedom, we’re directly realizing our ultimate goal.
This clean flow of energy is highly impractical against the forces of entropy.
Entropy is the flow of time. On a spiritual level, it’s the accumulation of bad karma. The physics definition is the loss of creative energy to chaos.
Autonomy doesn’t mean we control outcomes, or even fully understand them. Who does?
We may prefer certain outcomes and let this guide our choices, but autonomy is just that — choosing in alignment with our values, or even, our lack of values. In turn, our choices guide outcomes, not dictate them.
To override an individual’s autonomy would mean to manipulate their will itself, e.g. by emotional blackmail. This is often touted as the “kinder, gentler” approach than physically intervening, but it’s actually much more harmful to the individual’s personal freedom than merely preventing them from acting on their free choices — overriding their agency. The latter preserves their ability to freely choose.
Domination
The power to violate someone’s freedom is a violation of freedom in itself; we aren’t free from the possibility that someone acts on us with violence. Domination s
Domination is sometimes known as “structural violence”. Policies like eugenics or armed police act as holstered weapons, lurking threats, until violently applied. Natural laws like survival of the fittest act as structural violence of the universe itself, reaching its brutal enforcement when a predator strikes its prey or a child dies for simply being born in the wrong place at the wrong time.
[ img: Iceberg of violence | text: Violence was already a feature of the system, it just had to be activated. ]
For distinction, we use the term ‘violence’ for any active violation of freedom. Passive, structural forms like state or parental power often don’t “feel” violent until they’re acted upon forcibly, and we want to make it clear that we’re targeting the root, not just the surface-level growth.
[ img: Diagram | Text: Violence is the act. Domination is the power. ]
Power isn’t just raw physical or intellectual power, it’s also intention and self-control. When someone is trustworthy they’re not a threat to our freedom no matter how much physical power they have.
People don’t want to be dominators and commit violence, they’re simply ugly ‘means to an end’ to achieve what they want. See the section ‘None are free until all are free’ to learn why we believe neglecting another’s plight isn’t just dismissive of their values, but also one’s own.
The free-minded vs the slave-minded
Speaking of desire slavery, one who is a slave to their desires can be said to be slave-minded. One who consciously values freedom above all else is free-minded.
A slave isn’t necessarily aware of their slavery. Like a false promise of fair monetary compensation dangled in front of someone to keep them working, desire-objects are touted as the key to happiness. Even the “spiritual” among us fall victim to the trap, though their desires are more emotional or abstract than material. The true desire – freedom – is hidden beneath layers of attachment to desire-objects, and one is hopelessly lost in the matrix for as long as they ignore the true exit.
Img: Example of desire attachment. The cake is a lie.
We don’t claim to offer a quick or easy escape from the matrix. There’s no red pill. The desire for instant gratification is perhaps one of the most powerful tools of manipulation, with many belief systems claiming to offer freedom in this life or the next, or even instantly with enough self-delusion. The individual who follows the principle of Buddhist enlightenment or “law of attraction” manifestation may find themselves sincerely convinced they’ve achieved the ultimate goal of freedom, but true freedom is universal and enduring, as we explain in the next segment.
None are free until all are free.
Complaints
Some take issue with our absolutist definition of freedom.
“But we can be slaves to our desires!”
We can only be enslaved by a desire if we don’t truly want it.
“But we should end all desire, not try to satisfy it!”
You’re welcome to end your desire. For those who don’t want to, why should they?
“Desires are insatiable!”
In this world where we’re not free, yes. But freedom means finally being able to satisfy our desires — or extinguish them, whichever we prefer.
“Desire is suffering!”
That’s for the individual to decide, and decide how they want to deal with it.
Suffering
Suffering is at the heart of domination. Emotional coercion.
Domination isn’t just the master whipping the slave, but the slave’s longing to be spared pain. It isn’t just the river blocking our path, but our longing to cross the river. It is suffering — the conflict of not wanting something but enduring it anyway, or wanting something but being deprived of it. There is no sense of deprivation insofar as whims are concerned, since these are so frivolous and insignificant it doesn’t matter whether or not they’re fulfilled. And that is how we’d like it, to have either jolly, whimsical passions or no desires at all. Once dominance is abolished, we may then (conditions permitting) focus on achieving our fun goals, with no time pressure and no painful yearning, no grief at failure and no relief at success.
Notes
A free will is able to mutate and give way, it doesn’t need anything. It’s choosing what it actually wants, not what it feels forced to choose, and it’s not getting any nasty surprises. This is known as consent. Pressure-free, informed. Conflicting wills aren’t free. The victim or defeated is unable to go with the flow. The aggressor or victor is themselves acting out of pressure, or is simply ignorant emotionally to the fact they’re hurting someone. Because neither act out of free will, intervention is non-violent, even if it’s resisted.