Dialectics: Captivity and Freedom

If I asked you if you would rather be in captivity or free, you would probably say free. But what if I asked you this; as a Zebra would you prefer to be in a zoo or in the wild? A harder question no doubt.

It is a dialectic you see, captivity and freedom I mean. Take captivity, and to stick to my earlier question, consider a Zebra in a zoo. In the zoo, you are guaranteed daily meals, shelter, care through sickness, and a lack of predators. But, you have a regimented life, one in which every day seems the same as the last.

Now if you are free, you are going to face predators, and a score of them. Lions love themselves a good piece of Zebra, and you better hope your legs don't get tired. You never know if you will be lucky enough to have shelter, let alone a meal. If you get sick, well, sorry. But, on the plus side, you have a more varying existence, not one so strictly regimented and scheduled. You will probably have more companionship and a better climate. So there are benefits there, too.

But that is just a trivial way of examining an important dialectic. Think of our lives. You could be like many are, an employee at any of a score of companies, where you live a scheduled life with daily meals and shelter. In a sense, you are basically a captive, to society. But there are other ways to live. You could be a subsistence farmer, just growing enough to live. But come a drought, you are never guaranteed meals, and your work is probably more challenging, at least physically. You aren't as scheduled though. Once again our dialectic creates a tough choice between two very different things.

Perhaps, though, we can resolve this dialectic simply. Can't we live a free life within our captivity? I likened our way of living to being captive, but within our captive lives, can we not be free? I think we can. We can live our own lives within society's captivity.

And knowing that we can be free within captivity is very beneficial. You get the benefits of being captive along with the benefits of being free. The important note, though, is that between choices, there are always pros and cons, and the seemingly better choice may have drawbacks. With a combination of choices, however, a synthesis or compromise, can yield astounding results and make a very happy Zebra.