Freedom or illusion.

Talking about free will, that is the ability to be able to do whatever you want to do at any point in time in your life. But do we really have free will? That is the question we need to talk about.

To my own understanding, free will should be defined as the ability to do whatever you want at anytime, the ability to choose whatever food you want to eat without anyone deciding for you, and the ability to go to any school and choose any courses you want to study, and no one will impose anything for you to study. Ability to work anywhere you wanted to work, ability to marry whom you want, and ability to take any actions, and no one will judge you for them.

But then what about the society? Every country and society has their own rules and regulations, and there is where everything begins. Some societies don't want what you want, and some societies will even impose on you. Given an example of what I'm talking about, there are some societies that I know where if you dress abnormally, you will be caned. Especially for ladies, this only says that you have to follow what the society wants and not what you actually want. Well, do we still have to call this free will?

Everywhere communities have what governs them; even before we talk about the society, what about the home you are coming from? In my house, as a man, you must have a good haircut, and you can't just choose any design even though you like it. The moment the parents or the elders do not like it, then you should not like it. If you do, then you will be punished. You can't choose to eat the food you want sometimes or even wear the clothes you want if it doesn't go in line with what the parents and the elders want.

This also goes down to religion; there are so many things you wish you wanted to do, but because of your religion, you will not be able to do them. Some people do not go to parties, some do not go to clubs, some do not drink alcohol, some do not smoke, and so on like that. Some wanted to do it, but their religion restricted them from doing it. And that's where I'm going; there is free will, but there are so many restrictions to it.

The moment you start doing what the religion doesn't support, then the society will tag you as a bad person, and they will not want their children to stay close to you.

Furthermore, the society also has rules and regulations that govern it. Rules that if you think you have free will and you steal, you will be punished; if you think you have free will and you rape, you will be punished. So many things that the society did not support.

In my own point of view, I do not totally support all the restrictions that the society and the religion bring in, but to look at it on the other hand, if we truly have this free will and there is nothing like restrictions to it, then there will not be any single peace in the society, and in summary, I believe that the restrictions to the free will are also for our own good.

^{_{Images created using chatgpt}}