Imagine a world of total personal freedom.
While laws would still be enforced, you’d be free to speak your mind at all times, regardless of the social consequences. Whatever was on your mind, whatever you liked, disliked, or were indifferent to, could be spoken without irreparable social retribution.
Let me offer simple parameters, however; personal freedom does not give you license to be a jerk. Being free does not entail interfering with another’s ability to be free. You cannot bully or domineer. Freedom simply requires speaking your mind and acting as you please (within legal limits).
How different would your life be from what it is now?
Would you dress the same way? Men: Would you wear the same faded black t-shirts and loose jeans? Women: Would you wear what’s fashionable that year, or would you opt for something more unique?
Consider the role of honesty, also. Whatever you think, you could say with total impunity. What would you say to the people you know? What would you say to strangers?
Such freedom comes universally, however. Remember, everyone else has the same personal freedom to do as they please. Honesty comes back into play again. Whatever someone might be thinking about you (or anyone/anything else) they’ll have no problem with sharing it.
Think of the larger social implications, as well. How different would your job be if everyone were suddenly given the opportunity to tell the boss exactly what they thought about “the company good?”
Speaking of jobs, in a world of maximized personal freedom, would anyone work at all?
Living in such a society would require solid security in one’s own perspective and identity. The sheer amount of truth would be overwhelming for anyone else save for the socially ignorant or the sublimely patient.
So, would you be able to live in a world where a person’s truth is so prominently displayed?
For better or for worse, our society won’t have to confront that phenomenon en masse. But personal freedom, even in our reality, presents an interesting thought experiment on the human condition. Who considers themselves personally free? Where does personal freedom come from?
Personal freedom stems from two seemingly opposite places; ignorance and perspective. We either act as we please because we don’t know any better, or act as we please because we know our actions are ultimately insignificant in the grander scheme of life. The comparative risk of saying what you think/feel is outweighed by the benefit of being true to our own perspective.
While the hypothetical world I outlined above may sound implausible, I offer this; there are already people who live whole lives maximizing their personal freedom. Now, I don’t know if they’re any happier than the rest of us, but the ones I’ve met rarely carry the weight of the world on their faces.
They usually look ... free.
Alex is personally free to address all e-mails sent to alexander.petrusek@asu.edu
