Gospel koan 30.1

The illusion of freedom

Koan 30.1

Nothing is free: 'unbound' be it freedom: an 'unbound place' or free-will: 'unbound want'; binding is the condition of existence.

Summary exposition

The central mechanism is the principle that binding constitutes all states of being, rendering absolute freedom—an 'unbound' state—an ontological impossibility. A river is not free from its banks but is defined by them; its flow is the direct consequence of this constraint, which gives it form and direction. The fundamental implication is that existence is not a condition of liberty but a mutual condition, where every entity and force is constituted and operates only through relationality. That which exists 'is out of' something other than itself thus making relationality the foundational condition of existence. This binding is not a simple tether but a complex nexus that simultaneously connects (bears together) and distinguishes (bears apart). The 'against' within the con- prefix ensures that every binding is also a defining separation; entities are bound to each other precisely because they are bound apart from each other.

The Gospel of Being

by John Mackay

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