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Fallible Father's avatar

This was always a hard one to fully grasp for me. As a kid in church, we often heard, "We do not use x substance because it is addictive, and addiction is not freedom." Which made some sense, but that seemed shallow.

I once heard someone else, I cannot remember where, say something along the lines of, "We set boundaries for ourselves, and follow societies, so that we are free to break the rules." The logic of that is partial, if you are in jail, you are not free to choose. The whole explanation, however, seems counter the principle.

This explanation seems to close that circle, or come closer. We are free because the boundaries give us a basic understanding around which stop us from being paralyzed by unlimited possibility. We understand what choices are free to us without being rejected by all those around us who give life meaning, or being crushed by the world as a whole.

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