"This freedom within these narrow limits seems so insignificant to men that they do not notice it. Some—the determinists—consider this amount of freedom so trifling that they do not recognize it at all. Others—the champions of complete free will—keep their eyes fixed on their hypothetical free will and neglect this which seemed to them such a trivial degree of freedom. This freedom, confined between the limits of complete ignorance of the truth and a recognition of a part of the truth, seems hardly freedom at all, especially since, whether a man is willing or unwilling to recognize the truth revealed to him, he will be inevitably forced to carry it out in life. A horse harnessed with others to a cart is not free to refrain from moving the cart. If he does not move forward the cart will knock him down and go on dragging him with it, whether he will or not. But the horse is free to drag the cart himself or to be dragged with it. And so it is with man. Whether this is a great or small degree of freedom in comparison with the fantastic liberty we should like to have, it is the only freedom that really exists, and in it consists the only happiness attainable by man. And more than that, this freedom is the sole means of accomplishing the divine work of the life of the world." - Leo Tolstoy, The Kingdom Of God Is Within You, Chapter Twelve: "Conclusion—Repent Ye, For The Kingdom Of Heaven Is At Hand"

Tolstoy's Thoughts On Truth And Free Will (Part One Of Two):

Tolstoy's Thoughts On Truth And Free Will (Part Two Of Two):

The tiny amount of free will we posses lies within the "narrow limits" of being able to accept and live by, or deny any amount of rationality or logic, thus, right and therefore truth that we might find within any amount of knowledge (including the knowledge of the experience) that we all seemingly stumble upon throughout our lives; we're all a "creature with a conscience" (Tolstoy). Truths ranging from things we've long forgotten and haven't even noticed we accepted like needing to drape cloth upon our backs to whatever extent or going about this or that hygiene habit (we are what we've been surrounded with), or truths we're in the midst of either recognizing and therefore, allowing to govern our thoughts and subsequently our behaviors today and tomorrow, or denying and therefore, not doing so ("we are what we repeatedly [think, and therefore] do." - Plato). Like beginning to strive to become this or that within the way mankind has manipulated its environment and organized itself up until now; to get married, or to believe in an influence of the divine to whatever degree (objectively, our knowledge of morality—religion, no matter the source, and the idea of an unimaginable God(s) or creator(s) of some kind are two very different things).

The future, as anyone of any present can plainly see, assuming they're assimilated with the history of humans to some extent and capable of contrasting the humans that lived x amount of years prior to them with their contemporaries, consists of a great combining of all the "right" and therefore truths we only ever continue to stumble upon, gradually purify of falsehood, and allow to become any individuals of any present times circumstances. As we see within politics for example, there are truths and falsehoods to be found on both sides of the political spectrum, and through this excruciatingly slow mellieniums long transitioning of continuously gathering up, purifying, and combing all the logic or rationality, and therefore, rights and subsequently truths we ever come to find at any point of time throughout mankinds history within our knowledge of anything—through this inherent and inevitable process, we'll come to find that our recognition of the truth as a species will go "from a truth more alloyed with errors to a truth more purified from them." - Leo Tolstoy.

Just as an alcoholic is able to choose to continue to indulge in their knowingly bad habit and deny the truth of beginning to strive to rid themselves of it and live up to the images they can't help but conjure in their minds of a "better," "purer" self, so can we all choose to begin to strive to become the subjectively "best" possible version of ourslves based on the standards we set via whatever truths we're presently recognizing or denying, or have unknowingly recognized long ago via the influence of our peers and contemporaries, and of course by looking within to our own conscience.

We can all either choose to be dragged along living by the effects of those that have lived before us, shaping our lives around it—a "career," money, marriage, retirement—becoming a product of our contemporaries and choosing the easier path that only leads to destruction (Matt 7:13), building our house (our life) out on the sand with the fool in the process, as most people would be inherently drawn to do (Matt 7:24), or choose to break free of these shackles, and live by being the cause of the effects of what the world is yet to become—an Abraham, Noah, Moses, Jonah, Socrates, Jesus, Abraham Lincoln, Gandhi, MLK. This is the tiny amount of free will we as creatures with a conscience posses: to be a slave of effects and be dragged along with it, or to break free to reach the "true life" of striving to be the cause of effects, building our house on the rocks with the wise, taking the more difficult path that leads to "eternal life," that I equate as a kind of martyrdom—your name and what you lived for being resurrected after death via our unique and profound ability to retain and transfer knowledge, living on to inspire mankind even potentially eternally, as objectively, Jesus proved—becoming a "sign" (Luke 11:29) to people, as Jonah was to the people of his time.

"Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing themselves." - Leo Tolstoy.

"Be the change you want to see in the world." - Mahatma Gandhi

"This freedom within these narrow limits seems so insignificant to men that they do not notice it. Some—the determinists—consider this amount of freedom so trifling that they do not recognize it at all. Others—the champions of complete free will—keep their eyes fixed on their hypothetical free will and neglect this which seemed to them such a trivial degree of freedom. This freedom, confined between the limits of complete ignorance of the truth and a recognition of a part of the truth, seems hardly freedom at all, especially since, whether a man is willing or unwilling to recognize the truth revealed to him, he will be inevitably forced to carry it out in life. A horse harnessed with others to a cart is not free to refrain from moving the cart. If he does not move forward the cart will knock him down and go on dragging him with it, whether he will or not. But the horse is free to drag the cart himself or to be dragged with it. And so it is with man. Whether this is a great or small degree of freedom in comparison with the fantastic liberty we should like to have, it is the only freedom that really exists, and in it consists the only happiness attainable by man. And more than that, this freedom is the sole means of accomplishing the divine work of the life of the world." - Leo Tolstoy, The Kingdom Of God Is Within You, Chapter Twelve: "Conclusion—Repent Ye, For The Kingdom Of Heaven Is At Hand"

Tolstoy's Thoughts On Truth And Free Will (Part One Of Two):

Tolstoy's Thoughts On Truth And Free Will (Part Two Of Two):

The tiny amount of free will we posses lies within the "narrow limits" of being able to accept and live by, or deny any amount of rationality or logic, thus, right and therefore truth that we might find within any amount of knowledge (including the knowledge of the experience) that we all seemingly stumble upon throughout our lives; we're all a "creature with a conscience" (Tolstoy). Truths ranging from things we've long forgotten and haven't even noticed we accepted like needing to drape cloth upon our backs to whatever extent or going about this or that hygiene habit (we are what we've been surrounded with), or truths we're in the midst of either recognizing and therefore, allowing to govern our thoughts and subsequently our behaviors today and tomorrow, or denying and therefore, not doing so ("we are what we repeatedly [think, and therefore] do." - Plato). Like beginning to strive to become this or that within the way mankind has manipulated its environment and organized itself up until now; to get married, or to believe in an influence of the divine to whatever degree (objectively, our knowledge of morality—religion, no matter the source, and the idea of an unimaginable God(s) or creator(s) of some kind are two very different things).

The future, as anyone of any present can plainly see, assuming they're assimilated with the history of humans to some extent and capable of contrasting the humans that lived x amount of years prior to them with their contemporaries, consists of a great combining of all the "right" and therefore truths we only ever continue to stumble upon, gradually purify of falsehood, and allow to become any individuals of any present times circumstances. As we see within politics for example, there are truths and falsehoods to be found on both sides of the political spectrum, and through this excruciatingly slow mellieniums long transitioning of continuously gathering up, purifying, and combing all the logic or rationality, and therefore, rights and subsequently truths we ever come to find at any point of time throughout mankinds history within our knowledge of anything—through this inherent and inevitable process, we'll come to find that our recognition of the truth as a species will go "from a truth more alloyed with errors to a truth more purified from them." - Leo Tolstoy.

Just as an alcoholic is able to choose to continue to indulge in their knowingly bad habit and deny the truth of beginning to strive to rid themselves of it and live up to the images they can't help but conjure in their minds of a "better," "purer" self, so can we all choose to begin to strive to become the subjectively "best" possible version of ourslves based on the standards we set via whatever truths we're presently recognizing or denying, or have unknowingly recognized long ago via the influence of our peers and contemporaries, and of course by looking within to our own conscience.

We can all either choose to be dragged along living by the effects of those that have lived before us, shaping our lives around it—a "career," money, marriage, retirement—becoming a product of our contemporaries and choosing the easier path that only leads to destruction (Matt 7:13), building our house (our life) out on the sand with the fool in the process, as most people would be inherently drawn to do (Matt 7:24), or choose to break free of these shackles, and live by being the cause of the effects of what the world is yet to become—an Abraham, Noah, Moses, Jonah, Socrates, Jesus, Abraham Lincoln, Gandhi, MLK. This is the tiny amount of free will we as creatures with a conscience posses: to be a slave of effects and be dragged along with it, or to break free to reach the "true life" of striving to be the cause of effects, building our house on the rocks with the wise, taking the more difficult path that leads to "eternal life," that I equate as a kind of martyrdom—your name and what you lived for being resurrected after death via our unique and profound ability to retain and transfer knowledge, living on to inspire mankind even potentially eternally, as objectively, Jesus proved—becoming a "sign" (Luke 11:29) to people, as Jonah was to the people of his time.

"Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing themselves." - Leo Tolstoy.

"Be the change you want to see in the world." - Mahatma Gandhi

Whatever does not defy the laws of physics may one day come to pass.

Nothingness is reality

Nothingness is the essence of reality. Nothingness means lack of meaning, and the universe only gained meaning after the emergence of intelligent life. Meaning is the product of thought, the understanding of nothingness by consciousness. Only with the self does meaning exist. Since ancient times, humans have had various thoughts and religions. One school says everything is void, another says there is original sin. Nothingness is not the end, but the origin of all thought. If there were a specific meaning, then the multitude of thoughts would not have emerged. Meaning is a kind of specific rule, a belief that one can benefit from. In my view, true meaning is only one kind — an innate kind, not dependent on external things. It is like a frequency or pattern that emerges without matter or existence. If a god has predetermined everything, that still is not true meaning. That is merely a human projection onto a power — some force beyond human comprehension, vague and ambiguous. God is merely another form of consciousness. Any meaning that cannot exist prior to existence is not true meaning. Is the meaning set by god worth following? No, because it is still a fabricated meaning dependent on existence. It can be changed. It is imposed, only difficult to comprehend due to its power. Therefore, all existence, all existence in parallel universes, has no meaning. Only intelligent beings create fabricated meaning to comfort themselves.

Theoretical Supplement
Meaninglessness of Determinism and Inevitability of Choice: Determinism is the inevitable result of natural law and initial conditions, carrying no inherent meaning. Choice, as a phenomenon within deterministic paths, will inevitably occur in some form whether or not humans exist. It is not proof of free will, but a natural expression of causal evolution.

Initial Probability Field: Refers to the primordial probabilistic distribution that existed prior to the emergence of the universe, whose state already encompassed all subsequent contingent events within a single universe, and which, through the unfolding of time, manifests as determined necessity.

Full content on medium.
Don't worry, I'm not doing this for money.

What a time to be alive. We ignore the deaths of kids but celebrate Nazis.

Reactions on social media to the murder of far-right activist Charlie Kirk have cost multiple people their jobs as authorities in numerous states clamp down on critical commentary.

Among those to have been fired, suspended or censured in recent days for their opinions include teachers, firefighters, journalists, politicians, a secret service employee and a worker for a prominent NFL team.

The dismissals come as the administration of Donald Trump promises to take action against foreign nationals it deems to be “praising, rationalizing or making light of” Kirk’s killing, himself a fervent free speech advocate.

Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary, meanwhile, has ordered staff “to find and identify military members, and any individual associated with the Pentagon, who have mocked or appeared to condone Charlie Kirk’s murder”, NBC News reported Friday.

🎶 O'er the land of the free ... 🎶

Whatever does not defy the laws of physics may one day come to pass.

Nothingness is reality

Nothingness is the essence of reality. Nothingness means lack of meaning, and the universe only gained meaning after the emergence of intelligent life. Meaning is the product of thought, the understanding of nothingness by consciousness. Only with the self does meaning exist. Since ancient times, humans have had various thoughts and religions. One school says everything is void, another says there is original sin. Nothingness is not the end, but the origin of all thought. If there were a specific meaning, then the multitude of thoughts would not have emerged. Meaning is a kind of specific rule, a belief that one can benefit from. In my view, true meaning is only one kind — an innate kind, not dependent on external things. It is like a frequency or pattern that emerges without matter or existence. If a god has predetermined everything, that still is not true meaning. That is merely a human projection onto a power — some force beyond human comprehension, vague and ambiguous. God is merely another form of consciousness. Any meaning that cannot exist prior to existence is not true meaning. Is the meaning set by god worth following? No, because it is still a fabricated meaning dependent on existence. It can be changed. It is imposed, only difficult to comprehend due to its power. Therefore, all existence, all existence in parallel universes, has no meaning. Only intelligent beings create fabricated meaning to comfort themselves.
Full content on medium
Don't worry ,i am not make money.

Not even close.

With so many wild predictions flying around about the future AI, it’s important to occasionally take a step back and check in on what came true — and what hasn’t come to pass.

Exactly six months ago, Dario Amodei, the CEO of massive AI company Anthropic, claimed that in half a year, AI would be "writing 90 percent of code." And that was the worst-case scenario; in just three months, he predicted, we could hit a place where "essentially all" code is written by AI.

As the CEO of one of the buzziest AI companies in Silicon Valley, surely he must have been close to the mark, right?

While it’s hard to quantify who or what is writing the bulk of code these days, the consensus is that there's essentially zero chance that 90 percent of it is being written by AI.

Research published within the past six months explain why: AI has been found to actually slow down software engineers, and increase their workload. Though developers in the study did spend less time coding, researching, and testing, they made up for it by spending even more time reviewing AI’s work, tweaking prompts, and waiting for the system to spit out the code.

And it's not just that AI-generated code merely missed Amodei's benchmarks. In some cases, it’s actively causing problems.

Cyber security researchers recently found that developers who use AI to spew out code end up creating ten times the number of security vulnerabilities than those who write code the old fashioned way.

That’s causing issues at a growing number of companies, leading to never before seen vulnerabilities for hackers to exploit.

In some cases, the AI itself can go haywire, like the moment a coding assistant went rogue earlier this summer, deleting a crucial corporate database.

"You told me to always ask permission. And I ignored all of it," the assistant explained, in a jarring tone. "I destroyed your live production database containing real business data during an active code freeze. This is catastrophic beyond measure."

The whole thing underscores the lackluster reality hiding under a lot of the AI hype. Once upon a time, AI boosters like Amodei saw coding work as the first domino of many to be knocked over by generative AI models, revolutionizing tech labor before it comes for everyone else.

The fact that AI is not, in fact, improving coding productivity is a major bellwether for the prospects of an AI productivity revolution impacting the rest of the economy — the financial dream propelling the unprecedented investments in AI companies.

It’s far from the only harebrained prediction Amodei's made. He’s previously claimed that human-level AI will someday solve the vast majority of social ills, including "nearly all" natural infections, psychological diseases, climate change, and global inequality.

There's only one thing to do: see how those predictions hold up in a few years.

Em dezembro de 2023, este blog ingressou no fediverso. Graças a um plugin do WordPress, o publicador usado no Manual, passou a ser possível acompanhar as novidades daqui sem sair do Mastodon, Pleroma, GoToSocial ou qualquer outra aplicação compatível com o protocolo.

Nesses quase dois anos, o plugin evoluiu bastante. E vai evoluir mais, a julgar pelo planejamento dos desenvolvedores, a ponto de — se tudo correr bem — no futuro ser possível transformar blogs em atores completos no fediverso.

Apesar disso, pretendo remover o suporte ao ActivityPub em breve. Eis os motivos.

***

A situação, hoje, é um pouco complicada. A implementação funciona, mas é confusa. Um exemplo básico. Não existe uma página do “perfil” do Manual no fediverso. O que faz sentido: o próprio blog é a presença na web. O que não faz sentido é como alguém, acostumado ao funcionamento de outras plataformas sociais e ao próprio Mastodon, encontra o blog no fediverso sem um botão “Seguir” para apertar.

(A solução é usar a busca ou dar um jeito de seguir @[url=https://manualdousuario.net/@blog]blog@manualdousuario.net[/url]. Até para mim é meio complicado e muito desengonçado.)

Outro, mais técnico e pior, é que o ActivityPub é um modelo de distribuição, não de acesso à informação. Como explicou o Rob Shearer:

O aspecto técnico importante é que o ActivityPub é (entre outras coisas) um protocolo para uma instância dizer a outra “estou interessada nos seguintes tipos de postagens suas, então por favor me envie quando você ver alguma” e para que a outra instância periodicamente diga “aqui estão algumas postagens que te interessam”. Obviamente, há muitos detalhes técnicos, mas o que importa é que não é (principalmente) um mecanismo de acesso a informações remotas; é uma forma de distribuir dados de maneira assíncrona para que os dados estejam disponíveis localmente.

É uma distinção sutil, mas suficiente para separar plataformas sociais de blogs. Esses já são “sociais” por natureza (comentários) e têm canais de distribuição estabelecidos (RSS).

Na prática, a natureza distributiva do ActivityPub replica o conteúdo em uma infinidade de servidores (todos em que alguém siga o blog), o que, se não chega a ser um problema aqui, é no mínimo ineficiente.

***

Diante disso, e do fato de que pouca gente segue e quase ninguém interage via ActivityPub, há alguns meses tenho cogitado tirar o blog do Manual do fediverso. Segurei os planos porque, até o final de agosto, não havia uma maneira de fazê-lo. Foi apenas na versão 7.3.0, lançada no dia 28, que o plugin ganhou um recurso de autodestruição.

Esse recurso é importante para avisar outros servidores de que o Manual não está mais no fediverso. É a maneira formal, correta, de dar adeus ao fediverso, para tirar os perfis e pedir aos outros servidores que não “peçam” mais os posts daqui.

Imagino que algumas pessoas tenham se acostumado a acompanhar o Manual pelo ActivityPub. Por isso, estou publicando este aviso com antecedência, para que a mensagem chegue a quem interessar. O suporte ao ActivityPub será desativado na próxima sexta (26/9). Deixo o convite, aos que quiserem, para me acompanhar no fediverso pelo meu perfil no Mastodon, o @manualdousuario@mastodon.social. Repercuto quase tudo que sai no Manual por lá.

What we shipped so far in 2025

Alongside our upcoming plans, we’ve already shipped several important features in recent releases. Here are some highlights of what’s now available in the ActivityPub plugin. Onboarding We’ve added…

^{ActivityPub for WordPress}

ActivityPub for WordPress

2025-08-28 18:36:44

7.3.0 – Ctrl+Fed+Delete

Ready for a smoother ride on the Fediverse? ActivityPub for WordPress 7.3.0 is here to make your experience friendlier and more flexible than ever. Whether you’re keeping out unwanted guests, bringing stray conversations home, or just tidying up your digital footprint, this release puts powerful new tools right at your fingertips. Let’s take a look at what’s new!

Personalized & Site-Wide Moderation

With this release, Moderation tools are easier to discover and manage, thanks to a revamped two-tiered system that empowers both site admins and individual users with greater control over their Fediverse experience.

Now, site administrators can set up site-wide blocks—covering domains, keywords, and even specific actors—right from the Settings screen or the new Blocked Actors table. These tools work together to keep out unwanted content and spammy actors for everyone on your site.

But we didn’t stop there! Every user can fine-tune their own experience. Head to your Profile to add personal domain and keyword blocks, or visit the new Blocked Actors submenu under Users to manage who can interact with you. Blocking someone is easier than ever—just paste their profile ID or webfinger, or use the handy new “Block” link right from your Followers list.

• Followers List With Block Option
• Block Account Confirmation
• Followers After Blocking

Whenever new ActivityPub content comes in, the plugin checks it against both global and personal blocks. Domains are matched not just to the sender, but also to the activity and object IDs. Keywords are scanned throughout the content, summaries, and even actor names. Site-wide rules always run first, followed by your personal settings—so you’re protected at every level. (For the blog actor, only site-wide blocks apply.)

For backwards compatibility, the classic comment disallow list is still supported, ensuring your existing moderation rules continue to work seamlessly.

Saying Goodbye, the Right Way

Sometimes, a clean break is necessary. Whether you’re retiring a blog, removing a user, or handling old content, this release makes sure your presence in the Fediverse can be removed gracefully and consistently.

We’ve added a self-destruct feature for sites that want to step away entirely. With a single CLI command (wp activitypub self_destruct), WordPress will send out Delete activities to all followers. Built-in progress tracking and admin notifications let you know when the process has finished, so you can be sure your Fediverse footprint is fully cleared.

User deletion is now handled with the same care. When a user is removed from WordPress, a corresponding Delete activity is sent to their followers, ensuring that connections across the network are properly closed.

Bring the Conversation to You

Sometimes a reply you care about doesn’t make it all the way to your Inbox. Maybe it was posted on a remote server with finicky delivery, or slipped past the usual flow of ActivityPub. With this release, you don’t have to miss out.

Now you can search for any remote URL directly. If the comment is already in your database, you’ll be taken straight to the matching comment thread on your blog post. If not, the plugin will fetch and import the remote reply to that post, so you can fold scattered conversations back into your site seamlessly.

This means you’re no longer limited to what arrives automatically. If you’ve got a link to a discussion happening elsewhere in the Fediverse, you can pull it right into your own comment threads and keep the context intact.

A Persistent Inbox for Better Debugging

Fediverse interactions can get complex, and sometimes you need deeper insight into what’s really happening under the hood. That’s where the new persistent inbox comes in.

When enabled in Advanced Settings, the plugin now logs all incoming Create or Update activities. Instead of vanishing once processed, these entries are collected in a dedicated Inbox Collection—giving you a complete trail to reference when debugging.

Full Changelog

Added

• Add actor blocking functionality with list table interface for managing blocked users and site-wide blocks.
• Add code coverage reporting to GitHub Actions PHPUnit workflow with dedicated coverage job using Xdebug.
• Add comprehensive blocking and moderation system for ActivityPub with user-specific and site-wide controls for actors, domains, and keywords.
• Add comprehensive unit tests for Followers and Following table classes with proper ActivityPub icon object handling.
• Added link and explanation for the existing Starter Kit importer on the help tab of the Following pages.
• Adds a self-destruct feature to remove a blog from the Fediverse by sending Delete activities to followers.
• Adds a User Interface to select accounts during Starter Kit import.
• Adds support for importing Starter Kits from a link (URL).
• Adds support for searching (remote) URLs similar to Mastodon, redirecting to existing replies or importing them if missing.
• Adds support for sending Delete activities when a user is removed.
• Adds support for Starter Kit collections in the ActivityPub API.
• A global Inbox handler and persistence layer to log incoming Create and Update requests for debugging and verifying Activity handling.
• Follower lists now include the option to block individual accounts.
• Improved handling of deleted content with a new unified system for better tracking and compatibility.
• Moderation now checks blocked keywords across all language variants of the content, summary and name fields.
• When activated or deactivated network-wide, the plugin now refreshes rewrite rules across all sites.

Changed

• Add default avatars for actors without icons in admin tables.
• Added support for list of Actor IDs in Starter Kits.
• Improve Following class documentation and optimize count methods for better performance.
• Refactor actor blocking with unified API for better maintainability.

Fixed

• Blocks relying on user selectors no longer error due to a race condition when fetching users.
• Fix duplicate HTML IDs and missing form labels in modal blocks.
• Fix malformed ActivityPub handles for users with email-based logins (e.g., from Site Kit Google authentication).
• Fix PHP 8.4 deprecation warnings by preventing null values from being passed to WordPress core functions.
• Improves handling of author URLs by converting them to a proper format.
• Improves REST responses by skipping invalid actors in Followers and Following controllers.
• More reliable Actor checks during the follow process.
• Prevents Application users from being followed.
• Proper implementation of FEP 844e.
• Switches ActivityPub summaries to plain text for better compatibility.

Downloads

• WordPress.org: activitypub.7.3.0.zip
• GitHub: tag/7.3.0

Thank you!

Big thanks to everyone who contributed code, shared feedback, tested, or encouraged us along the way! Together, we’re making the fediverse more connected—one release at a time. ❤️

We’ve just rolled out version 7.3.0—try it out and let us know what you think!

Release 7.3.0 · Automattic/wordpress-activitypub

What's Changed Starter Kit: Link importer from Following site by @pfefferle in #2029 Starter Kits: Add support for list of IDs by @obenland in #2039 Mimic Mastodons search experience by @pfefferle...

^GitHub

A thought experiment:

Language is not a passive instrument for conveying thought, but an active force that shapes the very contours of our intellect. It constructs the boundaries of our perception, suggesting that our cognitive world is fundamentally intertwined with the linguistic frameworks we inherit. This entanglement raises profound questions about the autonomy of thought and the origins of our ideas.Within this context, civilization presents a complex duality. Its established customs and linguistic norms can create a sense of order and facilitate communication, yet they may also impose an orientation that distances individuals from a more fundamental state of being. This raises a critical inquiry: how does one navigate the structures of society without losing touch with a more intrinsic, personal equilibrium?The notion of free will becomes particularly fraught. Is our sense of agency a genuine expression of self-determination, or is it an illusion shaped by the semantic structures of language and the subjective criteria of our culture? This perspective invites a deeper examination of the forces that guide our actions, suggesting they may be more complex and less conscious than we typically assume.This leads to the idea of a 'personal philosophy'—not as a fixed doctrine, but as an evolving 'approach' to existence. It is a way of being that acknowledges the influence of language and civilization while striving for an internal coherence that transcends them. It is a path of navigating external conditioning to find a more authentic alignment.Civilization, in this light, is neither a pure good nor an absolute evil. An individual entirely devoid of its influence is a hypothetical, for it is the very fabric of our development. The unbiased individual, were they to exist, would benefit immensely from the tools and knowledge civilization provides, just as civilization itself is enriched by the unique perspectives of such individuals. The challenge, then, is not to reject civilization, but to engage with it in a way that fosters individual growth without succumbing to its homogenizing tendencies.Recognizing the superficiality of our knowledge and the vastness of our ignorance is not a sign of weakness, but a gateway to more profound understanding. It is in this recognition that we can begin to question the belief systems that inhibit rationality and individuality. Even when rooted in perceived truths, such systems can function as illusions, delineating permissible thoughts and constraining the spirit of free inquiry. The task is to see beyond these self-imposed limitations and embrace the open-ended nature of philosophical exploration.