Barefoot in the wilderness
in search of understanding

Liberty of choice

Alastair quotes David Bentley Hart’s discussion of what our worship of “freedom to choose” means for society. There was one sentence in particular that resonated particularly with me, although the whole thing is worth reading:

Liberty of choice was only the possibility of freedom, not its realization.

That is, freedom does not mean that we are free to choose – true freedom consists only in making the right choices. For without some standard by which to judge our choices (a standard that is necessarily external to our selves) our choices are meaningless. Our exercise of choice becomes simple self-pleasure rather than an exercise towards a goal.

pax et bonum

Article posted at 11:06pm on 28 March 2006
Category: Faith, Musing, Politics

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Great thought, John. I know that’s not much of a comment, but I really like this post, so, “What he said!”

Hammertime () (URL)
7:32pm on 31 March 2006