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When freedom ceases to be false
Ask anyone whether they want to be free, and the answer will be "Yes". But what is freedom? And how free are we really?
Contents
No one has absolute freedom to do irresponsibly whatever they please. Freedom exists within certain principles, which people — not understanding them — perceive as limits on their freedom.
- Perhaps I dream of climbing a high mountain, flapping my arms and flying away. Yet such dreams cannot come true without the help of technology.
- Perhaps I want to become a famous painter, musician or gymnast, but that requires such ability and training that my chances of realising this dream are slim.
- If I urgently need money, I may decide to steal it. But the moment the crime is discovered, I lose whatever freedom I had.
These are a few examples where our freedom seems to be restricted. The sources of these apparent restrictions are the laws of physics, our natural abilities, or the standards of behaviour accepted in society. What would we think of a person who rebels against such circumstances, insisting that they are not free?
Freedom of will
There is another side of freedom that is often forgotten — freedom of will. Even though our freedom may be limited and our range of choice extremely narrow, at the moment we make one decision or another we feel free. We know we could have chosen a different path. But let us consider how free we truly are.
If you decide to do something and then back away from your decision, are you free? If you do something you will later regret and still cannot stop yourself, are you free? Do you have the freedom to follow your conscience? Do you ever give in to the temptation to do something you know is wrong? Do you have the freedom to forgive people, or do you sometimes say: "I will never forgive him"? Do you have the freedom to restore a relationship broken by conflict by asking for forgiveness, saying: "I'm sorry, I was wrong"? Is anything holding you back at that moment?
We often feel that a struggle of powerful forces is taking place inside us, pushing us towards directly opposite actions. Sometimes people say they are not free, that their behaviour is determined by biological inheritance or by the social environment they grew up in. And yet, at the moment of making a decision, of choosing between two or more possibilities, we feel as though we are free.
This may sound strange, but freedom is closely bound up with self-control. Only a person who has self-control can not only make a decision but also carry it out. By contrast, someone unable to govern the slightest impulse of their soul turns out to be a slave to their own emotions and desires. Is a person who has grown used to alcohol free, for instance? In one sense yes, because no one forces them to drink; in another sense they are a slave to their craving. And what shall we say about someone who wants to quit smoking but cannot? If we are unable to govern our passions, then our will is not free.
"Only the one who has overcome himself will find freedom from all the passions that bind the world." — Goethe
Many possibilities open up before a person who has inner freedom. They discover genuine creative freedom, many-sided growth and development. No one can be deprived of freedom of spirit — unless they willingly give it up themselves. Such a free spirit will always, including spontaneously and unconsciously, express itself in good deeds, creating an atmosphere of kindness and support around it.
The outstanding Austrian psychologist Viktor Frankl, who survived the horrors of a Nazi concentration camp, wrote this while reflecting on the freedom of the human spirit:
"We who lived in concentration camps remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others and giving away their last piece of bread. There may have been few of them, but their very existence is sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a person but one thing: the last of the human freedoms — to choose one's own attitude to the circumstances one has been placed in, to choose one's own way.
And there were always choices to make! Every day, every hour offered the opportunity to make a decision that determined whether or not you would submit to those powers which threatened to rob you of your soul, of your very self. That choice determined whether you would become the plaything of circumstance, giving up your freedom and human dignity to be moulded into the typical inmate".
True freedom is the freedom to follow one's conscience while preserving personal integrity. Yet this often demands great courage. We have to work through a difficult inner conflict in order to follow the voice of conscience. Real freedom must not be equated with permissiveness — the freedom to do evil, to be selfish. Rudeness and egoism cannot be expressions of true freedom; they are mere wilfulness. They lead us to lose the very thing we actually want: a peaceful and friendly environment, trusting and dependable relationships.
"Freedom! A beautiful word when rightly understood. What freedom would you choose? What is the freedom of the freest? To act rightly!" — Goethe
Freedom of action
Besides freedom of will, which we have just discussed, freedom also includes freedom of action. If we look at history, we see that the sphere of free action has always been widened by people who wanted the freedom to worship God as they themselves chose; the freedom to believe what they wished; the freedom to seek the truth; freedom of speech and of the media, in order to discover the truth and spread it. People have never fought for the freedom to lie or to treat others badly.
People have also sought a freedom defined and protected by law, so that they could live, move about, take up the occupation of their own choosing and do as they pleased within the limits of the law. In doing so they would be safe from unlawful encroachments on their rights by other people or by the state. Finally, people have fought for the freedom to own property, because it allowed them to develop their creative abilities.
"Outside freedom there is no spirit, and outside spirit there is no freedom. Freedom cannot be received from without. Free science, free art and a free society can be achieved only by a free spirit. Servile souls can create nothing free" — N. A. Berdyaev
Freedom of will and freedom of action are inseparably linked and equally necessary to a human being. However, when people enjoy complete freedom yet do not follow the voice of their conscience, the result is anarchy and the degradation of society. If a person has only outward freedom, this can easily lead to a sense that life is meaningless and aimless. If we have freedom but no purpose in life, we experience psychological emptiness. A free society in which people lose their sense of morality is doomed to fall apart, and as the crisis deepens, order is restored by force, accompanied by the loss of liberty. There can therefore be no free society that is not at the same time a moral one, in which all citizens and social institutions reflect a mature and responsible approach to life.
Freedom and responsibility
If someone forces you to do what you do not want to do, are you responsible for it? If we shift responsibility for our own life onto someone else, do we remain free? Do you enjoy making decisions and answering for their consequences? Or would you rather someone else made the decisions for you?
The problem is that people who do not want to take responsibility for their own lives and make difficult decisions end up trying to escape from freedom and welcoming anyone who will solve those problems for them. But if we hand our responsibility over to someone else of our own accord, do we have any right to complain that we have lost our freedom?
The English writer and playwright George Bernard Shaw wrote: "Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it". People like freedom because it gives them a sense of their own significance, the ability to dispose of things and of people. At the same time, a person who has not reached moral maturity wants to enjoy the praise for everything they do well, but will always find someone else to blame for their failures. A mature person, by contrast, is ready to take responsibility even for mistakes and failures that were not their fault, and to share the praise they receive with others.
So the point is that everyone wants to be free, yet at times we are thrown into confusion when we face the need to make hard or unpleasant decisions. That is why we feel relief (many people will recognise this feeling) when someone else makes the decision for us, or when "fate" intervenes and the situation resolves itself without our conscious participation. We try to escape from freedom. And then, if something does not go the way we wanted, we always find someone to blame. But in doing so, are we not turning ourselves into puppets who blindly carry out someone else's will?
The very idea of freedom cannot be separated from responsibility. As children we have little freedom, which means our responsibility is small too. As we become more responsible, we gain more freedom and can make more and more independent decisions that shape our lives. We want the freedom to be responsible, the freedom to make mistakes and learn from them. When someone intrudes into our sphere of responsibility, we feel our rights have been violated, because it is freedom that makes us human. Yet this freedom does not only mean that we have a choice; it also means that we must answer for the consequences of our actions, that we must be ready to accept both praise and blame.
We are responsible not only for what we do, but also for the kind of people we become. Every thought, word and deed is "recorded" in our character. We create our own character through the decisions we make. If we make the right choice in a given situation, it lays down the right path for solving similar problems in the future. Likewise, if we make the wrong decision, it points us down the wrong road in future, and gradually it becomes harder and harder to find our way back to the path of good. In this way we shape our own destiny, which depends to a large extent on the character we are building.
Freedom and the law
We have already seen how freedom is limited by law. Today some people think a person should not be constrained by any laws or norms at all. Some ask: "What do we need laws for? Why can't I simply do what I want — isn't that the ideal?" Yet if every person on the planet did exactly as they pleased, we would inevitably end up ruled by the strongest dictator, and everyone weak or unwanted would be destroyed. Freedom exists only under the shelter of a law applied equally to everyone, regardless of their position. "Right is freedom defined by law", said B. N. Chicherin, a nineteenth-century jurist, historian and philosopher.
Real freedom presupposes the voluntary observance of certain laws. Freedom that recognises no limits brings nothing but destruction. Imagine you are playing chess. Can you move the pieces however you like? Why are the rules needed? Is a game without rules perhaps more interesting and more elegant than one with a great many rules? Which game is more absorbing, chess or draughts? Rules help us anticipate the course of the game and the possible moves of the players. They also prevent disputes and conflicts. And in the end, it is the rules that create the game itself — and as long as we follow them, we are free.
Now let us turn to society. If a society has laws against theft and murder that apply equally to every citizen, then everyone can feel safe. If there are no such rules, no one can feel free enough even to step outside in the evening without fear. The purpose of the law, then, is to protect people from crime in order to preserve their freedom.
As long as a train stays on the rails it can move fast or slow, backwards or forwards. In other words, it has freedom. But the moment it leaves the rails, all that freedom is lost — there is a crash, and lives and property are destroyed.
So although conscience and moral principles seem to limit our freedom, they also keep us from setting out on the road of self-destruction and evil. What is more, human conscience, moral principles and the laws of society exist in order to achieve unity, order, harmony, freedom and happiness for all people.
True freedom therefore always leads to results that are good and true. So why do we long for freedom? We want the freedom to love and to use our creativity so that we and other people may be happy. If our life is filled with love, then everything the law demands of us becomes natural. Real love cultivates the habit of self-sacrifice — that is, of putting the interests of the one we love above our own. If you love, you are always ready to forget yourself and give up your own wishes to make the person you love happy.
Only by following the path of love and goodness in life can we become truly free
FOR YOUR DIARY
Imagine you have been unjustly accused of a serious crime and imprisoned. You have no one to talk to, and your freedom is confined to a solitary cell. How could you feel inwardly free in such a situation? Do you think it is possible without losing your mind?
