I'm not even sure I am free, but I'm certain there's no *utter* freedom. Can't fly, can't breathe underwater, have a physical end point. Clearly there are limits.

But am I free to *choose*? And does the mere fact that something led up to my choice (as something leads up to everything) mean it was just some forced result I was destined to see unfold? I personally don't think so, but it's hard to see the basis for that conviction.

The claim that being precedes essence seems to be a prerequisite for human freedom (if I'm not going to invoke something supernatural). To quote Sartre again: "What do we mean by saying that existence precedes essence? We mean that man first of all exists, encounters himself, surges up in the world — and defines himself afterwards."

If I really am self-defining, like Oedipa Maas in Crying of Lot 49 when she asks "Shall I project a world?", then I am, at core, free. But just because I'm self-defining (i.e., I can decide what I believe, and decide how I will respond) doesn't mean I'm free to do whatever (like fly). I'll bump into things (like the ground).

I like your question about values but I'm not sure how to answer it. What do you mean by the "dependant on time and space" statement? For me, values seem to be self-evolving, that is, when the concept of values first occurs to me, I discover I've already been handed a box full of them without my choosing them. Judgement, when it arises, picks through the box. I think at this point I *do* choose which values I'll huck, which stay in the box, and which I'll add. Then time passes and events occur. I look in the box again. Some values, though dear & full of memories, really need to be tossed out, some need to be added. And some, a very few, still remain.

For me, it's these values that I continually choose to keep in the box that are my core values. Because I keep saying "yes" to them, by my actions, by the events of my life. But it's the objective realities of my life (losing this wife, getting fired from that job, moving to this place) that cause me to choose again. Every time we move we decide what we'll huck & what we'll keep. That thing we keep is our evolving self.

god damn kidd, have some confidence in yourself. Confidence=beauty in my eyes. I do what i want based on the good energy i believe i naturally possess, + if people dont like it, they can let me know, but i only care if its people that i love that r telling me im being dumb or irrational. Do what will make you happy, + what u think makes this place a better place. But im just a strangerr so u dont have to be even reading this.