The only way to be free is to accept that you are not—then to search for freedom anew.
84
Even if freedom is localized to the human organism, that freedom is a formal property of the universe and not of man. The question of free will, in this sense, is synonymous with the question of the possibility of a free and open universe, the question of the existence of any freedom at all anywhere.
85Freedom is the acquisition of atemporal potential—the can now, which persists until that potential is destroyed or expended.
86
Freedom is roughly the acquisition of ability, regardless of mechanism. Even if you are coerced by a mind-controlling alien into acquiring new potential, you may still claim that potential in the name of freedom. And note: abilities that cannot be exercised are not abilities.
87The acquisition of new abilities requires the destruction of old ones.
88
Freedom is following a difficult path, believing that easier paths exist.
89
Freedom is following the path of greatest resistance, of wasting energy in the moment for a future promise that may never come to be. In this way, freedom and the Good often conflict. Freedom is the capacity to expend energy in excess to the needs of transient survival.
91
Freedom is a violation of action physics.
92
Any path that is followed with ease makes no claim on freedom—like the branch that follows the flow of a river. It does nothing to oppose the surrounding current. A fish in the same waters may swim other ways, but not without burning fuel.
93Suppose the opposition between an object and its path makes sense, then, freedom is a form of dependence where the path of an object is dependent, in part, upon the object itself.
94
Freedom is the opposition of one’s desires and fears—out of the desire and fear of freedom.
95
To do what comes unnaturally to you—that is freedom.
96
A feeling of choice suggests the vacillation of an unstable machine. An efficient machine will damp out these transient oscillations quickly. Someone who ‘can’t choose’ is unable to dissipate a chaotic mode; that person lacks an ability and therefore lacks some freedom.
97The persistence of choice within indecision highlights an absence of freedom, not its presence.
98
Freedom is understood in the meaninglessness of choice.
99
Anxiety is related to freedom, but not through choice. We become anxious when expending ourselves while following the difficult path, the path of freedom.
I can no more control the movement of my arm than the rising of the sun. Here is why. I am said to control the rising of my arm when 1) I expect first that my arm will rise, and 2) then I judge that it does. If I did not expect my arm to rise yet it did, I could hardly say that I was in control of its movement. It would be moving, rather, against my will. With the sun, too, I expect it to rise each day, and then I judge that it does; and in this sense I am in control of the sun. While, in comparison to the rising sun, there are many more instances during the day when I expect my arm to rise and then I judge that it does, this increase in expectation-judgment pairs is all there is to this control. We believe we can cause our arm to rise anytime we choose, and it does rise without a fixed periodicity, but it only rises when it rises, and only the times when I expect it to rise before it rises can be associated with control. As I cannot directly alter my expectations at will, I control the sun as much as my arm.
101Physical energy makes no sense in a deterministic universe. Potentials and stored capacities are linguistic fictions in a world that evolves according to fixed dynamics. Nor is it clear that a nondeterministic quantum mechanics fairs any better.
102The universe determines its dynamical constraints and the dynamical constraints determine how the universe changes. As the universe evolves, there are new constraints and new dynamics—a new universe dominates that was not contained in nor predicted by the old. Conservation of energy, as a presumed meta-law between all universes, works so well because of its inherent ambiguity, flexibility, and potential space of expansion. Energy theory is able to follow the flux of the cosmos, for as the universe changes we may always change, add, or subtract terms in the formula. Each energy term is, abstractly, a form of change potential or potential for change. Energy theory and hypothetical energy substance share this potential for change—the theory and the substance both have the potential to morph into new forms. This theory-substance meta-consistency grants energy its dominance in its world. Although the total potential for change can be made constant for theories based upon continuous time, in our world where time is not understood, the theory of energy conservation limits our actual potential for change. The theory creates what it means; it makes energy constant because it constrains our present understanding of change, time, and potential.
103Change is substance and form.
104
Everything that is, is now. Freedom is not. Each moment is change.
106
Experience requires change alone—space and time are superfluous.
107
Relations between moments may manifest in the void, but these connections are far removed from our physical laws.