Illusion of choice

We are constantly faced with decisions, hundreds of times a day.

What to eat, what to wear, how to travel, who to speak to, what to say, how to say it etc etc. Choices. Decisions.

Often we’re presented with options that may help us make these decisions, sometimes these options actually inhibit our choices; or at least the choices we think we may have.

Take for example the decision to work. It feels as though that decision has already been made for us. In fact it has. We are human beings that exist to be productive and contribute in some way. That is how we survive, that is what makes us human. Our contribution to society is in itself our existence. What work means and how we work are choices we have independent of anything else. Although it may not seem like we have a choice to decide the what and the how, we do. Our concept of what work is and what we can choose to contribute to society has been clouded by external factors that are designed to create the illusion of choice.

What: What if we redefine output from work not as money but as value to our fellow humans? What if the output from work can be defined as trust? What if work is a positive contribution to society? What if work was learning? Learning to live, learning to grow as individuals and as communities.

How: What if we had the choice to work an 8 day week? A 5 day working week along with a 3 day weekend. Would you choose that option? What if we had the option to work any 8 hours during any 24 hour cycle? Would you work 9am to 5pm? Or would you choose some other times during a 24 hour period in which to work? How about a siesta?

You’re probably wondering how any of these supposed choices can be realised so that you can have an opportunity to make a decision for yourself about how to work, whatever ‘work’ might be. How can I even begin to create a situation where those questions can be asked in reality? How do I make a contribution to society on my terms?

I’m not suggesting that we remove ourselves from a system [albeit designed to distract us and cloud the real choices we have] that exists, a system we know, a system our communities exist in, a system where we all live our so called productive lives. All I am trying to illustrate is that we all make choices, we have to, but at least lets try to make those decisions from a real list of options. Not options that we’ve been made to think are the only ones simply because they’re the only choices offered. What if the list of options was 3, 4, 5 times longer than we thought?

Remove the artificial barriers that have been created to keep us from realising that our list of options are infinite and that we can make decisions of our own volition. Completely. Absolutely. These choices are real. They exist today. They are a reality if we want them to be.

We must learn to trust ourselves to make real decisions based on real options. Trusting ourselves is the only way we will ever make decisions removed from the illusion of choice.