If freedom means free of all kinds of restraint and obligation, free of all our domestic tasks, free of other people's demands, free of pretence and secrecy, then that's not possible, because we can't just wish away all the things that tie us down.
If freedom means being able to do whatever we want, that's not possible either as there are hundreds of laws telling us what we can and can't do.
I might feel free for a few blissful minutes when there's absolutely nothing to attend to, and nothing bothering me, but permanent freedom? I think not.
Even if I were wealthy enough to afford a bunch of people to look after all my daily needs and wait on me hand and foot, I still wouldn't be free. I would still be worrying about my investments, fending off begging letters, evading the paparazzi, and shooing trespassers out of my country estate.
Unless of course you mean simply the freedom to live your life the way you want to live it. With restraints and obligations, sure, but ones you welcome, ones you're happy to comply with because your life as a whole is a fulfilling one. A sort of comfortable captivity, you might say. In which case, I would say I'm extremely free.
As for that old cliché "freedom means nothing left to lose", then the ultimate freedom would be a sentence of life imprisonment. Doesn't sound much like freedom to me.
Great subject, Nick.
ReplyDeleteTo me the concept of freedom is largely not just of the mind (ie thoughts) but IN the mind. We can be incarcerated (literally or by our personal circumstances) but no one can take away our thoughts, our dignity, our integrity.
Your subject line "Am I free?" Yes, and no. We are and we aren't. The ultimate freedom I believe is that over taking our own life. And before you ring John to give me the Samaritan talk, do not worry, do not fear, I think it highly unlikely that I'd cut short that which is what I enjoy: Namely, my LIFE. My life, with all the constraints it comes with. You know one of the biggest constraints of all? Our own character, personality, genetic makeup, limitations, blinkers, education, geography, you name them . . . the list is endless. And they are not the physical shackles of slavery, prison, the mines or an office job.
In my next life I dearly hope to come back as a bird of prey. A big one. With a beak. Not because I like devouring raw rabbits - I don't. But because to me those birds are the very image of freedom - up there on the mountain, surveying the valley, the lay of the land. Solitary. Ready to soar. Free like the wind.
U
Ursula: You have a point about the ultimate freedom being IN the mind. But I think mental freedom would be almost as hard as physical freedom. Maybe some people can manage mental freedom during a lengthy jail sentence (Mandela comes to mind) but others will collapse under the weight of frustration, restlessness, anguish, anger etc.
DeleteI agree with Ursula, especially the bit about making our own prisons - mentally.
ReplyDeleteSx
Ms Scarlet: We can certainly make our own mental prisons, even those who from the outside seem to have a very comfortable and trouble-free existence.
DeleteThe absolute freedom of the Ayn Rand kind is impractical to say the least. There however is a freedom of choices that we make on our lifestyles that cannot be taken away from us, as long as we are willing to pay the price for such a freedom.
ReplyDeleteRamana: Yes, we have a freedom of choices, but for some people their lives have worked out in such a way that their available choices become very limited. People stuck in refugee camps for example.
DeleteYou have perhaps not read Viktor Frankl's Man's Search For Meaning. His experiences in Nazi camps is simply mind blowing.
DeleteRamana: I've heard of that book many times but never read it. I shall google it!
DeleteI believe the bottom line of personal freedom (and you are speaking of your own here?) is choice. And privilege gives choice. So many enslaved by poverty, be being the 'wrong' sex, by lack of opportunity, by the colour of their skin, by trafficking, by addictions to cope.
ReplyDeleteA far deeper topic than being rich or poor which is the implication of your post.
XO
WWW
www: Indeed, your choices can be pretty limited in situations like that. But I wasn't commenting on rich and poor as such, just saying that wealth doesn't necessarily bring a sense of freedom.
DeleteNo, prison wouldn't be much freedom.
ReplyDeleteMary: I wouldn't last a week in prison, there's no way I could adjust to it.
DeleteLots of things can hold us back from doing what we’d like to do. Money is one, but family obligations, cognitive/emotional/social abilities, and bad teachings drilled into you at a young age can stand in one’s way as well. Freedom is hard won for most.
ReplyDeleteBijoux: Yes, so many things that can hold us back. Especially what people say to us as a child. If parents and teachers have low expectations of us, we're likely to not reach our full potential.
DeleteHere in the U.S. some people defend their freedom by not wearing masks. I feel much more free in our grocery store where everyone is required to wear one.
ReplyDeleteJean: Personally I think distancing is the most important precaution. And two metres should be the minimum, not the one metre the government is now permitting. Even that may be too little, as some research says the virus can travel for eight feet (2½ metres).
DeleteI'm not sure masks are that important but we now have to wear them in shops and on public transport. In any case, the virus is well under control in NI.
I've never understood the nothing left to lose. Stupid.
ReplyDeleteJoanne: If that were the case, someone whose house had just burnt down would feel wonderfully free....
DeleteThat's been known to happen. One family was thrilled to only buy what they needed with their insurance money and move into an RV instead of another house. They enjoyed being free from deciding what to do with all that other stuff.
DeleteLinda: That's a very practical response to disaster! It certainly solves the problem of all that domestic clutter.
DeleteOf course, if China and other authoritarian regimes get their way, people will have a lot less freedom: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/09/china-ai-surveillance/614197/
ReplyDeleteJean: The rising tide of authoritarianism is worrying. Very hard to stop once an entire government machine has been commandeered to further it.
DeleteI don't feel that I have freedom when any choices I make are conditioned by control of the information I receive.
ReplyDeleteFly: That's true, but how can it be avoided? The information at our disposal is always incomplete, so all we can do is act on that partial knowledge.
DeleteThing about freedom is that the word covers such a lot of things. It matters so much to me to be free but if I didn't have to fit in with other people I would be a prisoner of loneliness!
ReplyDeleteJenny: Very true. I like to have just enough friends and acquaintances to feel connected to the outside world, without their taking over my life!
DeleteI’ll settle for feeling free if I can pretty much say and do as I please — without bringing harm to others, of course. I expect we all put constraints on ourselves of one kind or another which can be considered as inhibiting our freedoms in some way.
ReplyDeleteJoared: If you can pretty much say and do what you want, and if the constraints are ones you willingly accept, that's a fair degree of freedom.
DeleteIt's so complicated. I'm lucky, I think, by he circumstances of my birth (availability of education, white skin, no ongoing civil war in my country, etc) and so it's easier for me to feel free than for so many others.
ReplyDeleteAnd now I have Janis Joplin stuck in my head.
Agent: Indeed, those of us who enjoy huge privileges because of our birthplace, our parents, our sex, our skin colour and our upbringing can feel a lot more free than those whose lives are one big struggle.
Delete