--Andre Gide
What is freedom? I believe I have devised a perfect scenario to describe the idea. To determine Freedom take a little multiple choice quiz:
WHAT IS FREEDOM:
a) The ability to do as we please
b) The absence of moral obligation
c) The absence of political restriction
d) All of the above
So what was your answer?
A) The ability to do as we please seems to be the standard ideal for freedom. Yet we cannot do as we please, if we could i would have used my pencil like Joe Pesci in "Casino" and added a neck hole or two some people who got on my nerves over the years. We also cannot shout fire in a movie theater, as much as some movies should be burned by the sheer will of those who had to suffer through them. So we do have freedom, and you chose correctly if you picked "A".
b) The absence of moral obligation, many people claim to find freedom here. The way were led to believe as children most of us in religious institutions, are ways we have difficulties to break from. Spiritual, sexual, verbal, alcohol and drug related moralities have held up many people who though a thing wrong because it was not moral. Rock-n-Roll is a great example. the early church one of our largest (still) moral watchdogs, would bash rock as devils music, forgetting that hymns in the 1920's were set to the bar tunes in taverns so as to help un-believers to follow the tune. fast forward to now, may faith institutions realize that music ic a vehicle, not a message in and of itself. so while we didn't have the freedom to rock in church then, we do now. if you are a church going type, check it out, they almost get it. If we remove moral restrictions, say on sexuality, which most people have, there are still freedoms we won't allow. Say Pedophilia (the act of an adult having sex with a minor) for example. if we reject moral obligation ,then what is wrong with a consenting 15 year old having a sexual relationship with a 45 year old man? The obvious answer is: so many f#$%ing things wrong we cannot list the all here. so a lack of moral restrictions is not exactly freedom, because it tells us laws based on morality are biased. Well Laws murder and manslaughter are derived from things like thou shalt not kill. so a lack of morals doesn't necessarily provide freedom. Yet, if you selected (B) you still answered your quiz correctly. Patience kiddos we're getting there.
c) The absence of political restriction is the other obvious choice. this of course is our British brothers and sisters punk rock anthem: anarchy! The idea of anarchy lends itself to a free for all state. it become an issue of the survival of the fittest. It is not a freedom instead it creates an atmosphere of dictatorship by might. if some one does something you don't like bash em. if they have what you want take it. there isn't freedom there, merely a new more cathartic set of rules.so if you picked (c) you are right and wrong like all the other options. one more till we get to the reveal.
d) All of the above the obvious choice because it gives the most options, therefore more freedom to be had. if you chose this you are also correct and wrong. lets look at the question again, it's a trick question.
WHAT IS FREEDOM:
a) The ability to do as we please
b) The absence of moral obligation
c) The absence of political restriction
d) All of the above
The true definition of freedom is this,
E) the ability to choose how we will limit ourselves.
You have the freedom to take the quiz, but to follow through you have to choose to eliminate other options. If you want the political freedom that America provides, you are a prisoner to its continents, if you don't believe that try getting in trouble in Tijuana and see if being American gives you the rights you have stateside.
if you want the freedom of speech, you have to let the idiots around you also speak.
If you want the freedom to sleep around you have to accept the limitations of sexual disease or responsibility of parenting.
every choice is shutting down other options and limiting what you can do.
And that is a good thing. don't go and beat yourselves up on it, we don't want to do everything, just what we want. now we have the ability to decide what we should do by how that decision will limit us and others around us.
i used to be a pastor, this musing came from a verse i read in the bible. Romans chapter 6 verse 3: it says we have been set free from sin, and made slaves to righteousness.
those are also topics of another blog. sin and righteousness, everyone has those two all dressed up like 12 year old prostitutes in Thailand. In other words all wrong.
Point is we will always have a chain around us, so what do you want to be connected to?
I agree that freedom is often confused with liberty to do anything we want. Not only does freedom cost something, but it is also the choice to be connected to something/one. The oddness and greatness of that is that we can be free as slaves.
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