The Prison of Freedom -- A Philosophical Experiment, Story and Directory

The Directory on Freedom

Death, Freedom and Intersubjectivity - The Philosophy of Shared Perception

On Freedom -- Understanding The Complexities of Freedom As Humans

The Internet, Modern Technology, Materialism and Freedom -- How To Better Use Our Assets

External Detachment For Internal Freedom -- How To Develop an Inner Core

Limiting Freedom In the Name of Freedom -- How Limiting Corporations Can Increase General Freedom

My Philosophy on the Freedom of Choice -- Why It's Fine Making Mistakes (In General)

How Cancel Culture Influences Freedom of Speech (By Mr. E. Peter, Mr. J. Igwe and Mr. E. David)

Childhood's Absent Element

The Dark Side of Liberty -- How It Breeds Sociopathy

What Should You Do With Your Life (I Think) -- How To Become A Self-Sovereign

The Fault In Contemporary Liberty -- How It Contradicts Itself

The Hymn of Expression

The Fourth Philosocom Day Speech -- Building A Beacon of Intellectual Freedom Together

The Rubinshteinic Guide to Deal With Longing)

Article Summary by Mr. Lucien Sage

The Prison of Freedom: A Philosophical Experiment, Story and Directory" is an article that explores the paradox of absolute freedom and its potential to become a form of imprisonment.

It uses a philosophical thought experiment to explore the consequences of living without accountability, arguing that such power could lead to moral corruption, detachment from reality, and loss of meaning in actions.

Drawing from philosophy, religion, and fiction, the article explores how unrestricted freedom can erode one's moral compass, making individuals susceptible to nihilism and ethical decay.

The concept of "The Prison of Freedom" is introduced as a state where excessive freedom can lead to isolation, purposelessness, and psychological entrapment.

The article also includes a fictional allegory to illustrate how the pursuit of limitless freedom can result in servitude to one's desires. Mr. Tomasio concludes by suggesting that intellectual discipline can help mitigate regret and make more conscious choices. 

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The Prison of Freedom

Going free is not only physical, it is first of all mental. -- Mickey Eilon

What if you had all the freedom you could have as a choice-maker? What if all your choices won't have any permanent consequences, as long as you can restart reality, and render them from ever existing? What if you could make these choices over and over again without the need to have any remorse whatsoever, no guilt and no shame? What would you do if each of your external actions could be undone in an instant in this philosophical scenario?

People who lack a strict code of virtue, and with subpar critical thinking, can easily be corrupted by such immense power over reality

In Judaism, it is said that a person's life is like an entire world. What if you could take away that world and all the things contained within it, only to restore it as if the very taking had never happened?

In reality, some amount of fear or caution is required in order to live wisely and honorably. If you discard someone aggressively, most chances are that they will not come back. If you loot someone's house, they might lose their belongings and even become penniless. Both actions can get irreversible implications. In this philosophical scenario, however, all actions are reversible. When the actions are reversible so are their consequences, either positive or negative.

If this philosophical scenario was applicable to real life, many would find themselves as corrupt as the nihilistic villain from Final Fantasy 6, Kefka. Thus, we can deduce from this that most humans are easily prone to corrupt trends, and that the ability to restrain oneself, always has to come from within the self, not necessarily from others.

This of course reflects on the weak moral nature of most of humanity. In such omnipotent scenario, which I call "The Prison of Freedom", The average person could easily become an awful, manipulative megalomaniac in the name of validation from others and in the name of immense wealth and so on. This also implies that it is not lucky to trust most people.

A prisoner of your own immense freedom over time, like the time titan Kronika or the Greek God Chronos, you might realize that you're not as godly as you might think. The more you restore time over and over again, your actions could be perceived by yourself as utterly meaningless.

• The suffering of many wouldn't matter to you, as your brain would be hardwired to just reverse back the their misery over and over again.

• Many evil deeds that you may act, wouldn't matter to you the more you do it (compare this to a butcher whose deeds are elementary to them).

• This is the dark side of enlightenment: When you reduce events many would consider historically significant, to mere data. People with such darkened wisdom can do much malice in this world if their morals are not strict and/or sufficiently determined.

  
  

This is what made me create the hypothetical idea that I'd like to call "The Prison of Freedom": The idea that even in such power over reality, one is not free from their own immense loneliness...

In actual prisons, you are physically confined and can't do much. In such confinement, especially when it is solitary, mastery of mental survival is quite imperative...

Now, when you are in the prison of this philosophical thought experiment, you are basically sucked into a pocket dimension where you can play God by having control over time. However, when you leave the dimension's territory, you lose all your godly powers forever.

As such, the prison of freedom is a subverted, unconventional concept of what is traditionally considered freedom and confinement...

• Sometimes, there is a lot of freedom inside of small rooms and hermitages.

  
  

• Sometimes, the freedom is only within an environment where you are allowed to be yourself. To quote Ms. Tamara Moskal: "There is a lot of freedom in the house."

  
  

Bonus: The Tale of Razor the Blackguard And the Undead Sage

The torchlight casts a series of shadows and lights across Razor's grim features. He stood before the sage, a figure surrounded by mist and mystery.

As the air of the sage's lair, hung thick with the scent of fatigue and despair, a constant reminder of the voices that echoed in Razor's skull, urging him to wreck destruction across the lands. Driven by a desperate need to escape from such ill voices, he sought redemption from the sage, a figure of unconventional research, whose words held a chilling promise.

"You seek redemption, barbarian," the sage intoned, his voice a low hum. "But redemption comes at a price."

Razor, haunted by the voices urging him to commit horrible acts, barely paid attention. He craved an escape, a way to silence the whispers echoing in his skull. As such, the strange, troubled man asked with no critical thinking: "What price?", with a rough voice.

"A town but not just any town..." the sage offered, his voice smooth. "A place where the value of a life has no concrete meaning. There, you may slay as you please, and I will restore . You will gain your voices' tempt, without guilt or shame."

Hope flickered in Razor's weary eyes. "And the lives I've already taken?" he asked, his voice trembling in fear and in regret.

"Those, I cannot restore," the sage replied. "However, in this town, your future killings will be… inconsequential. A cycle of death and rebirth, as eternal and meaningless as they come. That town is forsaken by the law, for even the common law of the land respects a being as wise as myself. Thus, this town is only my own..."

Razor, desperate for release from the fear of being locked up, didn't see the trap that shall imprison him in a different type of prison. After all, what the mind cannot conceive, it cannot achieve..

The runaway blackguard agreed, eager to escape the torment of his inner demons. As he entered the sage's portal, Razor became a prisoner in his own paradoxical paradise, a butcher in a pocket dimension he could never leave, even if he wanted to. There, he was absolutely safe, but at what cost..?

The sage, watching from the shadows, smiled in malice. He had acquired a powerful weapon, a warrior bound to his will, trapped in a gilded cage of his own innovative creation. Razor, the barbarian, had sought redemption, but found only a new form of servitude. In a way, Razor was never free to begin with, and always a subordinate to the tyranny of circumstance...

Years passed. Razor, a ghost of his former self, roamed the streets of the town, a hermit in a place he once called his own home. The voices, once an internal explosion of rage, now whispered of boredom, of the monotony of endless slaughter and resurrection. A weaker mind, the enslaved warrior struggled with boredom greatly.

The sage, meanwhile, watched, his patience enduring hard as iron. The time for his execution of his grand design was drawing near....

Personal Commentary

If I were in a "prison of freedom" of my own making, I would replay the same conversations I had with Ms. Chen, my perceived antagonist, and see what she would say if I chose different responses to her responses. I will do so over and over again until I better understand her fully beyond my current theory of mind on her.

As such, a practical prison of freedom would be a place ideal for endless virtual simulations.

After time after I'd finish a certain route, I will restart and learn more by trying a different path. Then, when I believed I had all the information I needed, I would discard this godly ability, simply because I didn't need it any further. Things are necessary until they are necessary no more. From devices to entire organizations.

Questions for Reflection

• Do you have things you regret doing, or at least, things you would've liked to have gone otherwise?

  
  

• What if we could "load" and "save" from our past, make different decisions, and thus create and live a different route? Then, regret will not have to be necessary for those who feel sorrow for their life decisions.

• Life isn't a video game or a "prison of freedom", although it can be seen as similar to a role play game. Every action has the potential for irreversible consequences, or "points of no return". Is that a risk you're willing to take?

  
  

• Can you truly "save" your life from the consequences of your choices, as you might in a video game? Perhaps, if you're intellectual enough, you can live your life as if you were confined to such a prison of freedom. However, it can make you come off as very eccentric by this world, and even by your own dear ones.

  
  

• What is the ultimate lesson to be learned from this realization? Remember, all lessons are personal. Look within yourselves and see what you make of such an article.