INT. An Empty Space
We drip on the social feeds of media, and hang on the words of others we will never meet. That is the purpose of our Metaverse sun.
A solar system as fake as a banana without curves. Silence, because we now find ourselves in a room with a single chair, and a bed, and then other things grow. It usurps and shapes into Van Gogh’s Room from his erstwhile epic collage, Van Gogh’s Room.
The man in the hat walks on. His long cloak billows as if it were a secondary character wanting to catch the glare of the audience. The screen flickers, a speck of dust flips like a fly on a window; the projectionist puts the sound to 11, and he speaks.
EXISTENCE MEANS YOU HAVE THE FREEDOM TO CHOOSE WHO YOU ARE.
(subtitled)
And that means a life of commitment.
Kierkegaard said the phrase, but what does it mean? We need to break it down, and in order to achieve that we need the help of Captain jean-Luc Picard from the epic space opera Star Trek: First Contact. Do you read me, Picard?
PICARD: Make it so.
Thank you. Existence. Freedom; and Choice. What say you on this matter?
PICARD: An interesting concept, thank you. Because the very nature of what he suggests in his phrase is that we all have free will. This freedom, while on the surface may seem appetising, is in some way responsible for the cause of anxiety. Actual, real freedom creates dread in a human mind, Kierkegaard argues and that can lead to chaos and an abandonment on freedom.
A fact that The Borg took into consideration which led to the creation of the collective.
Look at society. While there are suggestions of democratic freedom it is not whole freedom, but a sort of, you are free to choose from these options. However, we all have the freedom to choose the life we wish to live. It is a case of living for it and working towards it.
Say for instance that you had very little money. I mean in the 24th Century we have no such need for a vulgar substance as that, but for the time being it is essential for an existence within the confines of the society. In order to create your freedom, you must do so within the imprisonment of the society with which you find yourself; in a Capitalist one, then money is a constant and essential need. However, you can play the system, and make money work for you by mimicking the tricks of the rich. By doing that does not mean buying a nice car or big house, but by looking at investment, stock and crypto. Multiple sources of finance create a freedom which will then allow you the choice to express yourself as you really wish to be.
Interesting My dear Picard. We are then not free are we? In this life we strive to be something that is achievable, which would then lead to disappointment, resentment, anxiety and the very dread that Kierkegaard argues.
PICARD: Not so number one. In my film First Contact we have a system where the individuals join together to form a collective in order to fight back against the collective who are governed by the one. It would appear that whatever reality you find yourself in, you always want something else. The simple fact is we all have a choice. We have a choice to remain where we are - to rise up - or to fall back. This is in society, in physical health and in emotional health. Our thoughts do not dictate our actions, but our actions on our thoughts are a choice.
So what you are saying Picard, is that we may not have freedom as such, but we can create a concept of it in our immediate reality; but we can choose how we live, which is giving meaning to our existence.
PICARD: And meaning does not have to change THE world, it only has to be yours.
Thank you Captain Picard. Tune in next week, when we will be discussing how it feels to be a hero in your life. I will be chatting to John McClane, and Dutch on this matter.
Captain Picard beams away. The man in the hat drifts off into the open window of van Gogh’s Bedroom. The place falls still, and fades into the darkness.
Zac Thraves is a writer and speaker on issues around mental health. He writes poems, books and articles on a range of subjects. He is a mindfulness practitioner, an actor and a father. He hosts a weekly show on Zoom and Facebook called Mindset Reset, in which he aims to break the stigma around mental health. He lives in the UK with his partner.
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