High level phenomena and being dependent on the flow of underlying processes

When you exist at a certain level, but processes underneath guide your actions and determine your fate, you're a prisoner of fate.   Factors outside your control determine what you can and cannot do, they also determine your decisions, not just what choices are open to you but the very choice itself is determined by the underlying factors.

At the least if it was possible for the loop to be completed by gaining control of all relevant underlying factors, the 'freedom' of the individual could be conceivable.   But as it stands, the world, reality it is a prison without exit.   Only the illusion of choice hides this reality.