On Freedom and the Meaning of Human Life

On Freedom and the Meaning of Human Life

When we say "I made a free choice," what does that truly mean?
In a universe governed by physical laws, does freedom really exist?
And if the world itself has no purpose or meaning, what value do human choices have?

Throughout life, we seem to move forward within these three fundamental questions: How is freedom possible, does the world have meaning, and how should human life anchor its own meaning?

This article attempts to explore these questions from scientific, philosophical, and conscious perspectives, seeking a "space for free and meaningful existence" between rationality and confusion.

I. How Is Freedom Possible?

Let us begin with a seemingly stark question—if everything in the universe follows physical laws, can I still freely raise my hand?

1. The Specter of Determinism

Classical physics constructed a "seamlessly ordered universe":
When a system's initial conditions and physical laws are determined, future states are completely predetermined.
In such a closed system, free will is merely an illusion—all choices were already "scripted" the moment the equations were born.

This is the mechanistic cosmic picture:
A perfect clock that, once started, strictly follows its predetermined trajectory.
Before humanity, there seems to be no true "possibility."

2. Quantum Uncertainty: Light Through the Crack

However, 20th-century quantum mechanics suddenly created cracks in this mechanical picture.
The collapse of the wave function tells us:
Even when all initial conditions are determined, final results can only appear in the form of "probability."

This "uncertainty" is like a crack, allowing freedom and chance to once again find a dwelling place.
The universe may not be a cold slab of iron, but more like a sea full of fluctuations—
Between chance and possibility, there is always subtle space for freedom.

3. The Boundary of Knowledge: Limitations of the Human Perspective

But the question doesn't end there.
The basic paradigm of scientific research always requires the observer to be outside the system when measuring it.
However, when the "system" becomes "the entire universe," we face a dilemma—
We cannot observe the universe from outside the universe.

Modern cosmology has developed methods like cosmic microwave background radiation measurements, redshift detection, and gravitational wave observation, but these are still attempts to observe the whole from within.
Therefore, between freedom and determinism, we can currently only acknowledge a simple conclusion:

Freedom, at least scientifically, is not impossible.

II. The Blindness of the World and the Loss of Meaning

1. From "Final Cause" to "A World Without Purpose"

Since ancient Greece, humanity has been asking "why do things exist?"
Aristotle proposed the "final cause":
A table exists to be used, humans exist to realize reason.
That was a world full of purpose and meaning.

However, with the scientific revolution and the advancement of modern philosophy, this "purposeful universe" began to collapse.
Hegel's system once attempted to rebuild meaning with "the rational development of history," but later thinkers—from Nietzsche to Camus—pointed out one after another:
The world may be blind, without preset meaning.

Thus, the history of philosophy shifted from "meaning is objectively present"
to "meaning is attributed by humans."
From "a life arranged for us" to "a life where we must create our own meaning."

III. The Meaning of Life: From Assigned to Created

1. The Subjectivity of Meaning

If the world itself has no purpose,
then humans must invent meaning themselves—like writing their own direction on a blank page.

Existentialism points out that meaning comes from human free choice and action;
Social constructivism argues that meaning comes from collective action and discourse among people.
Whichever it is, they jointly proclaim a fact:

The world no longer tells us "what to live for,"
We must answer ourselves "what I live for."

Otherwise, a ball game, from the perspective of lost meaning,
becomes just a group of bodies fighting over a ball—absurd to the extreme.

IV. Consciousness and Action: The Internal Stage of Freedom

Human freedom exists not only in external actions but also hidden deep within consciousness.

1. Intentionality: The Direction of Consciousness

According to phenomenological insight, consciousness is always "directed" toward something—
Imagination, memory, and thought do not occur in a vacuum.
This means that humans always maintain a degree of "choice" at the spiritual level.
We can partially decide where to direct our attention.

2. Body Schema: The Source of Automated Action

However, when we unconsciously drive, walk, or play instruments,
many complex actions are not directly controlled by consciousness.
They come from what Merleau-Ponty called the body schema—
A pre-reflective automatic pattern formed through learning and experience.

These automated mechanisms allow us not to "think about" every action all the time.
But they also mean: our freedom is not entirely conscious,
part of freedom has been handed over to bodily memory.

3. The Energy Cost of Freedom and Training: Willpower

Psychological experiments have found that human willpower, like muscles, can fatigue and be trained.
When we force ourselves to get up or overcome inertia, we are actually using "willpower energy."
Training and discipline can make willpower stronger,
thereby expanding consciousness's influence on action.

Therefore, human freedom is not infinite, but it can be expanded.
We are both actors on the stage of fate and can, through practice, reflection, and action,
gradually rewrite our own script.

V. Conclusion: Creating the Infinite Within the Finite

Freedom is not escaping from laws, but creating a crack where meaning can be generated within the laws.
Life is not about finding meaning, but bestowing meaning—
Like planting a tree in the wilderness, making nothingness bloom.

When we know the world does not prepare meaning for us,
yet still choose to respond to it with thought, action, and love,
that may be the deepest freedom.

Freedom is not escaping constraints, but still choosing within constraints.
Meaning is not heaven-sent, but the light of action itself.