ON FREEDOM (part 1)

What and how I post follows a simple strategy: Perhaps I am free. I can freely imagine anything and any situation, as long as I am informed. I try to get away and be alone, to contemplate the whole idea of being free. Being around people, at first, had limited the idea of freedom. Then I started to realize that the limits of freedom were being chosen by me, in order to get, or maintain getting, what I want. But, realizing this, was to be aware that I am free.
A good example of a limit that I choose, is choosing to live. Schopenhauer said that I am subservient to the will to live. An involuntary volition, to maintain life. Others have added an instinct to survive. I don't agree. I don't agree with the many examples these people cite in nature when reacting to an immediate transgression is an example of this will or instinct to live. Because I want pain to stop does not mean that I'm fighting for survival. I have seen a film of a man, who has lit himself on fire, and while overwhelmed with flames, and skin dissolving from his limbs, he continues to try to kneel, and keep his hands together in some expression of prayer. He chose to do this. A wolf , who's leg is trapped, chews his leg off. The wolf chooses to get away from the trap. I can't infer some involuntary will or instinct to live.
In a world where everyone is free, there are illusions, but none are necessary. The world has always been filled with free beings.