The delusion of freedom
At the break of dawn I was driving on the open road with a lightness in my soul. I felt free. It wasn’t a particularly spectacular dawn, rather grey and misty.
The feeling of freedom must have come from something else. Still, it was great.
I started thinking about what freedom means, and how to calculate how free I am. Is freedom something to aspire to, like happiness? And is there a correlation between the two?
I also wondered if I want to be free. This may sound strange, and I’m still thinking about it, but it’s worth a few minutes of our time to contemplate the option.
“You don’t become completely free by just avoiding to be a slave; you also need to avoid becoming a master.”
— Nassim Nicholas Taleb
To check my freedom status, I asked a few questions.
Does being free mean there are no rules to follow? No, as long as you have values, there are rules to follow. Often the rules are self imposed. The more self imposed rules I have to follow in a day, the more freedom I have.
Does being free mean you’re rich? Not at all. Money has little, if anything, to do with freedom. I think I’ll write about this soon — I have thoughts to share that don’t belong here.
Does being free mean you have no responsibilities? If you have rules to follow, or at least one rule to follow, you’ll surely have responsibilities.
Does being free mean I can do whatever I want? Certainly not always. It doesn’t seem possible that even the freest of the free can do whatever they want, whenever they want.
If I love someone, even care deeply, or am loved by someone, am I free? This is complicated. I don’t even know where to go with this point. My initial thoughts are conflicting — I’ll come back to this later.
The whole concept of freedom is complicated. Am I free, or am I destined to be a slave? Does it matter?
There are so many definitions of freedom. Perhaps a starting point for all these questions is to decide which one I identify with.
There is the idea that freedom means having no master, being totally autonomous. Answering to no one.
“Freedom is the absolute right of every human being to seek no other sanction for his actions but his own conscience, to determine these actions solely by his own will, and consequently to owe his first responsibility to himself alone.”
— Mikhail Bakunin
Then there is the idea that freedom is the absence of oppression. Being able to express your views without interference.
For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.
— Nelson Mandela
Finally, there is the belief that freedom is the presence and involvement of the right master. This comes with a recognition of being ill-equipped for total personal autonomy.
I don’t feel any closer to the answers.
What I do believe though is that freedom can’t exist in a vacuum. It isn’t a personal concept. Our freedom is reliant on the freedom of those around us.
To be truly free, we all need to be truly free. A lofty goal indeed, especially when there are people unwilling to accept freedom, to accept the consequences of their own decisions and their actions.
It is the responsibility of every human being to accept and live their freedom. More than simply a lofty goal, it can be a terrifying thing.
“Freedom makes a huge requirement of every human being. With freedom comes responsibility. For the person who is unwilling to grow up, the person who does not want to carry his own weight, this is a frightening prospect.”
— Eleanor Roosevelt
All this leads me to revisit my first thoughts about being free. Perhaps that’s not what it was.
I believe what I may have been feeling was independence.
This doesn’t absolve me from my human responsibility to be free. To carry my own weight, as Eleanor so beautifully put it.
We all need to accept our human responsibility to be free.