We all breathe.
Our breath is a gift. A gift given to us, and a gift we give to life.
Our breath is freedom. The oxygen we all receive grants us mobility. It comes through our lungs and is carried by our blood. This gift of freedom races through our blood, races through our bodies allowing us movement, expression, and vitality. Our blood is a conduit for freedom and life.
The breath that brings this oxygen—this fuel for freedom—is often so easy that it is often taken for granted—until it is difficult, or not available. It seems nearly as invisible as the air that surrounds us, but if gone for more than a few seconds our breath becomes more apparent and precious than all of the money, jewels, food or even water in the world.
And that is a defining characteristic of true freedom—something that is so abundant—and yet so unconditional—that it is nearly invisible.
So when we fight for freedom, we fight for conditions that should be so intrinsic that wish it to be nearly a non-issue. Freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom of association, freedom from suffering. When we fight for these “freedoms” we fight for these to be so unconditionally inherent and interwoven into our lives that we might—one day—forget they are even a freedom at all. We fight to make them an invisible part of our lives, our culture, our way of being.
The truest freedoms are ones that are as close to being unconditional as possible. We may know whether our societies are close to such goals by seeing how unconditional and intrinsically invisible our freedoms truly are. And when they are not, then often this is when the cries and assertions for “freedom!” are the loudest.
We breath out carbon dioxide as an unconditional gift, and we breath in oxygen as an unconditional gift. Neither we, nor plants think that this gift comes with conditions. It is not just symbolic, it is an actual system that life has co-created over time. A system that we can depend on with perfect trust.
Can we co-create systems that also have such qualities? Systems that continuously gift in an ongoing, sustainable rhythm? Systems that have unconditional trust built into their fabric?
I believe we can build such systems. Systems that take the symbolic lessons from the fundamental and abundant air that surrounds us—that can allow us to finally breathe that sweet air of freedom that many of us all yearn for.
FreeDAO is a decentralised, growing group of individuals seeking to bring about tools of collaboration, and freedom. FreeDAO represents an active attempt to create & gift such systems as tools for humanity—symbolically patterned around sustainable and regenerative dynamics of our biosphere.