People use small self-imposed constraints to avoid confronting their freedom

Evidence

All these devices work because they allow us to pretend that we are not free. We know very well that we can always reset the alarm clock or disable the software, but we arrange things so that this option does not seem readily available. If we didn’t resort to such tricks, we would have to deal with the whole vast scope of our freedom at every instant, and that would make life extremely difficult. Most of us therefore keep ourselves entangled in all kinds of subtle ways throughout the day. Sartre gives examples: ‘I have an appointment this evening with Pierre. I must not forget to reply to Simon. I do not have the right to conceal the truth any longer from Claude.’ Such phrases imply that we are boxed in, but for Sartre they are ‘projections’ of my choices. They are, in his great vertiginous turn of phrase, ‘so many guard rails against anguish’. — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 504

Categorization

• DEFINE: Explains Sartre’s idea that everyday obligations are ‘projections’ of choice — self-imposed guard rails against the anguish of radical freedom.
• ADDENDUM: Connects to the ‘On Sacrifice’ piece in that both explore how people build comforting structures to shield themselves from confronting the void/their own terrifying freedom.
• XREF: connects to: Deferring a decision is an enacted form of self-deception about freedom — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 291; People self-sabotage to preserve excuses that protect self-esteem — Sheldon Solomon, Jeff Greenberg, Tom Pyszczynski, The Worm at the Core: On the Role of…, 247; Self-discipline can be externalized by physically constraining oneself (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• People self-sabotage to preserve excuses that protect self-esteem #expands (0.85) — Sheldon Solomon, Jeff Greenberg, Tom Pyszczynski, The Worm at the Core, 247
• Self-discipline can be externalized by physically constraining oneself #exemplifies (0.75)
• Anxiety about freedom drives subjects to alienate themselves in things #complicates (0.72) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 128