Independence

“It's not radical Islam that worries the US -- it's independence” Noam Chomsky

Dependence is the state of relying on or being controlled, influenced, or controlled by something or someone else: the economy's dependence on oil; the state of being dependent on another for financial support; or the condition of being dependent on a substance such as a drug or on a given behavior: alcohol dependence; gambling dependence.

Independence on the other hand is a condition of a person, entity, or state in which its residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over a territory. The opposite of independence is the status of a dependent territory.

Being independent means being able to take care of your own needs and to make and assume full responsibility for your decisions while considering both the people around you and your environment.

Independence is the ability to be free, freedom is to do whatever you want to do in the borders of what your abilities and independence gives you. It can be given, but freedom is your choice. Depending of your independence level you will get a range of choices to make, freedom is to choose from these choices.

“Injustice in the end produces independence.”  Voltaire

Freedom is the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint. Independence: free from outside control; not depending on another’s authority. Not depending on another for livelihood or subsistence.

Freedom is a condition in which people have the opportunity to express, act and pursue happiness without unnecessary external restrictions. Freedom is important because it leads to enhanced expressions of creativity and original thought, increased productivity, and an overall high quality of life.

Generally speaking, somebody who is considered independent, but still lives and participates in society, thinks critically and form their own opinions, can maintain their emotional health, has control of their finances (no debt, no dependence on others), can take care of life tasks by themselves.

Independence can help increase your self-value and self-esteem, more so if becoming independent is one of your goals. The achievement of financial, emotional, social, career and personal independence gives you a sense of accomplishment that eventually changes how you rate yourself and how others view you.

However, the Illusion of Independence is exactly what it sounds like, it's the belief that we are completely independent, even though it's total and utter absurdity. Independence is celebrated, lifted up as a model of how we should try to be, and so of course we all scramble to identify as independent.

A spiritual awakening may reveal many illusions, and the illusion of independence is one of them. Most people want to believe that they are independent and do things on their own, but as a person looks deeply into this belief, it quickly begins to fall apart. It becomes apparent that there are so many ways that we’re dependent on all kinds of things around and within us starting with the very air that is breathed.

Perhaps more to the point, not realizing we're dependent is at best denial and at worst complete madness. Insisting we be independent of other humans while we don't even realize we're completely dependent on establishments and economies make slaves of us all.

Money separates us from what we consume and hides us from the impacts of our behavior. It is an economic model that could not only bring us closer to each other and to the effects of how we live, but it makes us totally dependent.

Pragmatic as it may sound, believe it or not, there's no such thing as independence, it is much more potent when you include other people! The reality is: we need to rely on someone or something, and if we don't decide for ourselves what that should look like, then someone else will do it for us…

Charity is injurious unless it helps the recipient to become independent of it. John D. Rockefeller

Food for thought!