In the words of Sartre “Freedom is what you do with what’s been done to you.”

Imagine a prisoner who has been locked up for life. They are not free to do as they

please or go where they want to go, so we might think that this person is not

free. However, Sartre disagrees. Even when our circumstances force us into certain situations,

we are still free to choose how to react to that situation.

Not doing anything, or denying that you have any options or freedom is what Sartre calls

living in ‘bad faith.’ Living in bad faith means to deny your total freedom,

to deceive yourself into thinking that you don’t have to make choices all the time and

therefore don’t have to act all the time. But Sartre says even living passively and letting

yourself believe you have no freedom to act is a free choice you make. All you achieve

by living in bad faith is denying yourself any power over who you are. This feeling of

lacking control over your life and yourself can reasonably be seen as the key to unhappiness.

Most people live in ‘bad faith.’ People often lie to themselves and give themselves the sense that

they have a certain ‘essence.’ In this way we live in prisons of our own making. When we identify too

deeply with our job, status, function or role, we let it control our lives. We alter our behavior

in accordance with how we think someone with that title should act, instead of acting authentically.

We do not consider taking another job, moving, or leaving a partner, because we feel it would

betray the false identity we live by. We behave how we think we should instead of how we want to.

And even in situations where we think we are actually unable to make our own choices,

like being in an actual prison, we can - in Satre’s view - still live in bad faith.

A prisoner can choose how to behave in prison, how to regard their own sentence,

how to talk about their experiences and how to socialize with the other inmates. Any prisoner

who believes to be completely robbed of his freedom will not consciously consider

and choose his attitude and behavior. They are blind to their own options and freedom.

According to Sartre, we are conscious human beings free to act and to take control of

our own life and who we are - We should confront our ever-present freedom. Even

in the most dire of circumstances, Sartre urges you to ask yourself the question:

“How can I react to this situation? How can I act? What feels authentic to me?” and then do

that. Not acting is an act in itself. In simple terms: make sure never to catch yourself saying,

“I had no choice.” React authentically to the situations you find yourself in and analyze

what your actions and reactions say about you as a person. Only then are you able to act freely.