Скачать или смотреть The Burden of Choice: Too Much Freedom in the Modern World? | Existential Reflections

In today’s world, freedom is often celebrated as the highest good. Yet with limitless options—from careers to relationships, lifestyles to identities—many find themselves overwhelmed, anxious, or paralyzed. This episode explores the existentialist concern that too much freedom may not liberate us but instead become a heavy burden. Drawing on the insights of Søren Kierkegaard, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Simone de Beauvoir, as well as religious and literary voices, we ask: does abundance of choice bring happiness, or does it deepen our despair? Alongside philosophical perspectives, we also consider religious teachings such as Christianity’s focus on free will before God, Buddhism’s emphasis on freedom from desire, and Islamic understandings of submission as liberation. Literary voices, from Dostoevsky’s Notes from Underground to Milan Kundera’s The Unbearable Lightness of Being, remind us that freedom is not just abstract but lived, felt, and narrated in human stories.

By the end, this episode encourages reflection on how to choose with intention, clarity, and authenticity. Freedom is not about the quantity of options but the quality of our commitments.

Resources included in this episode:

Søren Kierkegaard – The Concept of Anxiety

Jean-Paul Sartre – Being and Nothingness

Simone de Beauvoir – The Ethics of Ambiguity

Fyodor Dostoevsky – Notes from Underground

Milan Kundera – The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Viktor Frankl – Man’s Search for Meaning

The Bhagavad Gita (translated by Eknath Easwaran)

The Bible (esp. passages on free will and responsibility)

The Quran (teachings on submission and divine order)

🎧 Podcasts:

Philosophize This! by Stephen West (episodes on existentialism and choice)

The Partially Examined Life (discussions of Kierkegaard, Sartre, and freedom)

🌐 Websites:

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (entries on existentialism, free will, and responsibility)

Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (accessible introductions to choice and freedom)

#Existentialism #Freedom #Choice #Sartre #AnnaVorisek #TheHumanCondition #AnnaMaeVorisek #Kierkegaard #Philosophy #Buddhism #Christianity #Islam #Literature #Meaning