You Begin From Within The Part That You Are Whole In

Judgment Day Conversation Continues
Presentation Of My Freedom Philosophy—First Attempt

"I guess you could say, I replied, “that it all began with my
discovery of how freedom coexists within the physical constraints of
cause and effect. Freedom got a whole lot more meaningful after that."

"How so?" said MV.

"Well, as best I can remember," I said, "it all had to do with how
different types of freedom come together in our day to day experience.
Our sensed freedom—the freedom to avoid the unpleasant while pursuing
the pleasant—for instance, had the indirect effect of creating the
environment where all our other freedoms get expressed. We are free,
for example, to question our place in the environment and, hopefully,
those investigations lead us to the further discoveries of reliable
predictions concerning our environment. As knowledge accumulates,
expectations and goals change. The value and meaning of relationships
change. What at one time was sought for pleasure becomes unattractive
and so on and so forth. Sociologically, as regards the logically
consistent answers to our questions, we are free to change our
behavior. We are free to grow wiser and emotionally mature. What all
this means for freedom, and this is what I tried to communicate in my
presentation way back when, is that the dynamic of freedom must be
understood in terms of a liberation process that is in constant flux,
especially if one values freedom!"

"Okay, I kind of get it," MV replied, "so how did it go?"

"What?"

"The presentation," MV responded, "How did it go?"

"Why ask me? You were there!" I said. "It went fine; maybe too good,
in fact."

"Just because I was a witness doesn't mean I was `really' there,"
replied MV. "I'm not your twin, let alone privy to your inner
feelings. So what does `maybe too good' mean, anyway?"

"For a know-it-all," I responded, "you're not very bright. For as
many times as I've been at bat on this one, I haven't exactly hit the
ball very well! My first time was beginner's luck. The applause at the
end was nice, too."

"Beginner’s luck," MV replied. "It’s just that they didn’t get your message, right!"

"Why do you think I stopped giving presentations," I said. "People
couldn't or wouldn't understand. My inability to speak well probably
had something to do with it, though. It wasn't all a waste; as I said
before, freedom is growth, and I experienced a whole lot of that."

"Yeah, as I recall, at the presentation you even recited a poem on
the subject," MV replied.

"That's right," I said. "I was lucky to remember it. In fact, the poem
was what made it a good presentation. I invited Dr. Clifford to my talk,
the Professor who taught quantum mechanics at my university, and he brought
with him another physics professor. I guess he was curious, or maybe he just
wanted to pester me with questions. God knows I pestered him with more than a few concerning quantum mechanics. In fact, the questions he asked at the end of my presentation turned out to be instrumental in the development of the ideas that
would later turn into my full-blown philosophy. Unfortunately, at the
time, however, I was only able to answer one of his questions, the one
about "why I do what I do." I responded by referring to the poem that
Faith Johnson, my long retired Botany teacher, wrote on the blackboard. She loved
teaching so much that with another Professor she team-taught my Botany
class without pay. Back then I could remember the poem. Today, I have
to look to where it hangs on my wall, glued to the letter that confirmed my
CMU janitor’s job. Here it is:


They set the slave free, striking off his chains…
Then he was as much of a slave as ever.
He was still chained to servility,
He was still manacled to indolence and sloth,
He was still bound by fear and superstition,
By ignorance, suspicion, and savagery…
His slavery was not in his chains,
But in himself.
They can only set free men free…
And there is no need to do that;
Free men set themselves free.

James Oppenheim