Intro

The idea of “freedom” doesn’t enter a young man’s mind until adolescence. Freedom, at that age, is conceptualized as freedom from the Father’s influence. Since the Father represents law and order, and acts as a barrier between the adolescent and his sources of pleasure (sex, alcohol, idleness, etc.), the young man hypothesizes that removing the Father-barrier will lead to a much more enjoyable lifestyle.

Young men go to college, physically separating themselves from the Father and fully indulging in life’s pleasures (yes, professors know you’re hung over and barely skimmed the reading. It’s why you have 3-day weekends in college most of the time.)

Body

You say: but I worked hard in college and didn’t go out much. Sure – but walking around a manicured campus studying whatever you want for four years with little to no responsibility is still an unusual and rather pleasurable situation.

In our culture, the college years (and what they represent) are often referred to as “freedom” and “the glory days” etc. Sure we all outgrow this mindset, but the idea of what it represents lives on.

Freedom continues to be thought of as a negative concept (i.e. "freedom from...")

Freedom from:

-Work

-Responsibility

-Reality

-Your boss

-Your wife

-Your kids

-Your insecurities

-Your shortcomings

You achieve this by:

-Drinking

-Looking forward to the weekend

-Subsuming yourself into a sports team

-Zoning out in front of Netflix

etc.

These behaviors are part of the blue pill/slave idea of freedom. They are reactive, passive, and lead nowhere promising.

The truth is that work, responsibility, and action are actually the bedrocks of freedom. These activities are how you create a lifestyle worth living.

“But working means you have to be a slave to The Man, and punch in every day to do meaningless work.”

No it doesn’t, slave.

The term ‘work’ is almost meaningless. Paris Hilton gets paid 5 digits to show up to clubs and party. Johnny Manziel does, too. That’s “work” for those people (ever wonder why they end up so screwed up?)

Work for Donald Trump is closing multi-billionaire dollar deals in 5-star restaurants. You think he dreads going in on Mondays?

Work is just committing yourself to creating a reality worth living. Yes, it can suck when you’re not in the habit of doing it. But guess what: after awhile it’s easy (even if you’re at the top of a competitive industry.)

Conclusion

Freedom is not about the freedom to indulge in sensation, nor about the freedom from oppression (by the government, parents or any one else.) That is a weak/slave worldview.

Freedom is the power to create in your own image. This usually requires some focus and grit. But what the hell else are you going to do on this rock for 80 years? Get up off your ass and kick the shit out of the blue pill for a day. You’ll start to enjoy it.

Best of luck.