Denial of Freedom

“We are free. We know that as surely as we know anything. We know what it is to choose between alternatives, weigh the options, calculate the consequences, consult our conscience, ask the advice of others and so on. Yet throughout history human beings have found almost endless ways of denying choice. It wasn’t me, it was the will of the gods, or the influence of the stars, or malicious spirits, or fortuna, luck or happenstance. It was the way we were brought up, or the influence of friends, or economic circumstance, or genetic endowment. Denial of freedom goes all the way back to the first couple in the Garden of Eden. Confronted with their sin, Adam blamed Eve, and Eve blamed the serpent. Our excuses become more sophisticated over time, but they remain just that, excuses.”

The Great Partnership, Chapter 6, p. 108