Lanterns in the Garden of Dawn (Part 5)

We trace the arc of free will across the story of human societies.
From the raw urgency of survival — when every choice determined life or death — through the rise of villages, kingdoms, and modern cities, the practice of free will shifts with the weight of necessity.
As comfort grows, the stakes of choice diminish. Survival no longer hangs on the hunt, the fire, or the field. Yet in this plateau of abundance, decisions twist into contradiction — and it is here, in the quiet absence of need, that autonomy is most clearly revealed.
Perhaps this is when we are most watched: when no chains bind us, no famine drives us, no storm compels us — and still, we choose.
True agency is not proven under pressure. It is revealed in silence.