Thinking Out Loud
By Anthony Gates

Freedom is a complex word. Actually that is not exactly what I want to say. Freedom is a complex concept is probably a more in line with my thoughts. We know freedom as the ability to be able to do and think as we choose, without contrary directives or actions being forced upon us by others. This statement may be a broad enough explanation for employment in a limited context (specifically the way in which we live our lives from day to day), however I believe that there is much more to it. I have some ideas that I have been cultivating while considering how I might be able to move towards true freedom. Freedom of thought. Freedom from the popular perceptions that guide our world. Freedom to see things as they are, removed from the laziness of assumptions and social dogma.

Everything is perception. Nothing is real.

It's a big statement. At first it's pretty hard to get your head around the concept. After all, it runs contrary to everything that we do in our lives. When it first crossed my mind I wasn't sure whether it was a valid statement. However after some self-examination I think it has merit. We live an ordered existence. Even those on the extreme fringes of our society are currently bound by the same set of concocted realities. By rebelling against society they allow that society to define them - they become anti-society. They're existence is defined by its relationship to the norm. This provides an example of the way that perceptions bind us to a restrictive, manageable, mediocrity of mind. Try thinking it through and believing it, even for just a little while. It's an interesting experiment. Here are a few more examples.

Cashed Up

I live in a world where money is very powerful. When I ask myself why this is so a few thoughts come to mind. First of all is that the money itself is worthless. A one hundred dollar bill is nothing more than a few bits of paper, plastic and ink. In physical terms it would be of no more value than any other small scrap of paper or plastic. Except of course for one major issue. We have assigned a value to that particular piece of paper/plastic. We have taken something that is really of no material worth and stated that it is of a significant value to suit our systematic needs.

Secondly, if something is highly sought after it becomes valuable. If for some bizarre reason bottle tops were determined to be more valuable than diamonds, then everyone would want them. Once everyone wanted them their value would increase.

The conclusion here is that value and worth are merely creations. They do not and will never physically exist. They are the result of a set of coincidences or manipulations that have conspired to produce a result. They are virtual in the modern technological sense. They are not real and can therefore be dismissed as phantom and spectre. Do not take them seriously. They are merely popular perception.

When considered in these terms, money and other material goods are demystified and redefined, thus allowing our relationship with them to change. We have removed some of the perceptions that bind us to a mindless work ethic, our lives wasted in the pursuit of some fabricated idea of wealth. By peeling back a few layers we can put some distance between ourselves and some of the most significant causes of frustration in our modern, materialistic world.

For the sake of this discussion, there are two types of truth. Firstly there is universal truth - a physical or other law that is constant regardless of context. For example, the speed of light is considered to be an absolute, a universal truth. Universal truths are the building blocks of our existence. They are the facts that underscore absolutely everything, and are predominantly witnessed and discussed in a physical sense per the previous example. However they also apply to social manifestation, or the way in which we interact to form a society.

Secondly, there is human or apparent truth, which could also be defined as perceived truth. An example of an apparent truth could be that of the earth being flat, a theory popular in 15th century Europe, if history is correct. Apparent truth is then susceptible to being contrived by the popularly accepted observations of its time and place.

Universal truth operates independent of perception (it is after all an absolute), however perception can colour or misrepresent universal truth. The result is, of course, apparent truth. Truth in context. But do we really know any universal truths at all ? If we believe that all things are effected by perception, then isn't it possible that everything we know is tainted ? After all everything is perceived.

So here's the crux. Truth can be and is manufactured intentionally or by coincidence. If one person tells a lie, and another believes and perpetuates that lie, it becomes truth. All we should know is that we don't know everything. Any claims to the contrary, regardless of subject, are narrow minded and born of ego. Universal truth does not exist within our realm. Truth, as we know it, is governed by the ebb and flow of popular opinion and the combined knowledge of humanity taken at any point in time.

The real truth cannot be trusted to the likes of us.

Nothing is real. There is no truth. Therein lies freedom.

I like to show complete disregard for modern societal conventions regarding material wealth and the work/spend/die work ethic to which we are all subjected. It is very hard to explain this to people who are not prepared to think outside the norm. On various occasions I have stumbled into discussions with people moaning about the dole and those "bludgers" who find themselves receiving social security payments by way of circumstance or choice. To me those people are guilty of nothing, and are taking no more than a cow who eats the grass at his feet. You can only get bent out of shape about issues like these if you subscribe to the framework within which they are bound. And, as discussed, the framework is contrived and does not exist except in the minds of those who abide by it.

Get some freedom. Give it a try. On the other hand, maybe this is all just my own perceptions. Go on. Convince me otherwise.

Anthony Gates, September 1999