“The unrestricted person, who has in hand what they will in all events, is free. But anyone who can be restricted, coerced, or pushed into something against what they will is a slave.”
EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 4.1.128b-129a
In explaining the quote above, The Daily Stoic today focuses on what happens to those who become very successful — and what it takes to get there. The book’s author makes the point that usually, when angling for maximum success, you have to trade away something very valuable in order to get it: your free will.
In order to maintain your position, you have to do things you don’t want to do, and be nice to some slimy people. You have to do things that your inner core finds abhorrent, to keep on climbing the ladder. I know, because I’ve done these things — not horribly unethical things, but I’ve had to act and speak in ways that don’t align with my values. It doesn’t feel great. It felt like I was shackled.
If you can be “restricted, coerced, or pushed into something” as Epictetus says above, then you’re not really free at all. You’re beholden to those who have the keys to what you want. A few days ago, I wrote about not wanting to be dependent on anything at all. That includes caffeine and alcohol, of course, but it also includes dependencies on other people, shitty systems, or unbalanced situations. I don’t want to rely on any of that — I want to have my free will.
At the root of all this is fear, isn’t it? Fear that if we stand up for what we really believe in, we’ll be cut off from what we think we really want. Ironically, what we really want is to be free! But as long as we’re restricted by having to play “the game”, then we’ll never get that freedom we so desperately crave.
Ryan Holiday said that “too many people are in jails of their own making.” We’ve traded a life of unrestricted free will for a lead role in a cage. We’re enslaved by our own fear — but the key is right in front of us, and we have only to reach out and grab it.
