What would your life be like if you had absolutely zero limitations?
You might say, "Sign me up for that kind of life."
But think again. It’s not as nice as it sounds.
Imagine you are in a forest. A forest that stretches as far as you can see in any direction. You will have to somehow navigate your way through it.
The good thing, or so it seems, is that any direction that you would choose seems like fairly easy to walk along. There are no visible obstacles along the way. You are free to choose literally any direction and start walking. But how do you make a choice? Even if you somehow decide, there are countless opportunities along the way to choose again from all the available paths. How could you ever navigate your way through this kind of forest?
But let’s imagine you are in a different kind of forest. It also stretches as far as you can see in any direction. You will have to somehow navigate your way through it.
What’s different about this forest is that not every direction you would take seems equally easy to walk along. Some of them are impossible. In one direction, there is a river that you wouldn’t be able to cross. In another direction, there are boulders that you would have to climb over. You don’t have climbing equipment or anyone to help you, and you would be severely injured if you fell while climbing. You also hear strange noises from another direction, and it would be stupid to risk heading that way.
But there is one part of the forest that seems like you could go through it. You will still have to choose your path as you go through the forest, there will still be plenty of choices to make. But there are not infinite choices. Maybe the other forest seemed less dangerous, but in this one at least you have some idea which way to go.
How Free Are We?
According to French existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, humans are free. We are free to define ourselves and our lives through our choices and actions. We are even "condemned to be free," as he says. One of the most common criticisms of his philosophy is the amount of power and control he suggests we have over our lives and how they end up looking.
But even Sartre, who probably went too far with the idea of our freedom, acknowledged that our freedom is not absolute.
Another concept he emphasized as being inseparable from our freedom is facticity.
Facticity is anything in one’s life that cannot be changed as a result of one’s choice and effort. Facticity is the background for our freedom; it is what gives it limitations. For example, one’s place of birth and native language, the environment one grew up in, one’s physical limitations or talents, and so on. It’s almost all of those limitations that we like to think we would be better off without.
However, for any facticity, there is still number of choices to make in response to it.
Look at the most fulfilled people you know, and you will see that their mission, vocation, and purpose in life have been largely shaped by the very constraints and limitations of their lives. They, however, exercised their freedom within those limitations.
As Sartre said,
"Freedom is what you do with what has been done to you."
What has been done to you, that is, all the limitations that this life has placed on you, doesn’t negate your freedom - it gives structure to it.
Limitations and constraints help you navigate what would otherwise be an ocean of endless possibilities. But it is up to you to navigate.
So, what are you going to do with what has been done to you?
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