Free Solitary Will
I believe that in solitary living, free will can exist. When our actions are uninhibited by others’ wills, we have the liberty to act as we please. When multiple people attempt to exert their wills, however, it becomes less free; the more personal agendas there are, the more clash there will be.
Due to the constraints of my life, I do not believe that I have free will. I cannot express my freedom in even simple ways — for example, if I wished to drive past 11pm, I couldn’t, because the law dictates that minors must not drive past that time. There are also more complex issues of freedom, such as choosing what to wear; I have predetermined choices that exist due to factors like finance, economy, business, location, and culture. If I pick out my new black loafers to wear, is it truly free will, or is it a fateful choice that I bought them dependent on other people’s wills? The shoe rack they were on was decided by someone else, the price was decided by someone else, the availability was decided by someone else… if any of these had even minutely changed, I may not have bought those shoes. Thus, it becomes much more complex, for I was willing to buy them, but free will is primarily about choice. If choices are restricted, so is free will.
Free will may be purposely constricted as well, because freedom of choice can be interpreted as evil. Why do laws exist if not to inhibit wills? Prisoners of the government are locked up because their wills did not align with those of authority. Recently, I’d heard of a scholarship being offered by the Satanic Temple aimed to help high school students achieve higher education. When I told my mother about it, she forbade me to apply, because it was “evil.” Regardless of religious beliefs, the official tenets of the Satanic Temple are all about free will, which are very often twisted into being evil, for humans fear the uncertain. Unhindered choices may lead to wicked things, but they may also lead to good; humanity’s natural aversion to chaos is then also an aversion to free will.
Free will is not only about the ability to make a choice, but the amnesty to exert it. Due to factors like conflicting decisions, worldly limitations, and cultural expectations, free will cannot exist in the modern world.
