Understanding Freedom
Freedom cannot
truly be explained or put into place without a better understanding of what it
actually is. For any individual trying to grasp the concept of freedom, it is
always best to begin by overcoming fear so that one can find the courage to
question, “Is this my prison? Is this my cell? Are these my chains?”
If freedom is
to become more tangible, where it is completely felt and understood, then one
must first experience and undergo the greatest extents of captivity to
appreciate and better understand it. That is why most people never experiencing
certain hardships will have no genuine understanding of the freedoms they have
themselves. Instead, they will either abuse them or take them for granted. But
this works both ways. Take an individual begging on the streets for example.
You may have encountered someone experiencing severe hardships and they will
beg for change and then use this money to buy alcohol, drugs or often, both. No
matter what way you put it, freedoms have been abused.
When freedoms
are abused, fear is created. We see the most unfortunate in society and we do
not want to end up the same. We begin to blame others for their own
misfortunes. We create scapegoats and the fear we harbour, which then evolves
into ignorance. Unfortunately, being in a place of ignorance closes many doors
that enable us to think critically -- doors that enable us to see what is
behind them. We are easily duped because our fears are played on.
We become
divided and placed into separate classes. We start to see the world in duality
rather than oneness. We are constantly being mis-sold Payment Protection
Insurance (PPI) – I am sure many of you have been buggered by these guys! We
are coerced into giving up certain parts of our freedoms in exchange for better
security. Well, so we are told. Instead, they beat us with their batons and do
with us whatever they will. A war kicks off 5,000 miles somewhere else and we
are being fed a security story of why we must go there and deprive these people
of their freedom.
The more this
starts to happen, the greater the chance that you either fall so deep into fear
that you become entirely dependent on the state and others; leaving you closed
off, distrusting of human nature and buying into abstract things that govern
your everyday life because you have consented.
Or, you start to question the prison you are in. You start to see the
bars before your eyes and all these thoughts you've been having, are the
thoughts you have been engraving on the wall the entire time. Everything is now
starting to come together so you can see the map – You can see the way out. You
become enlightened, so much by truth, that you pick yourself up and stand
firmly on your own two feet and consent to autonomy – You consent to the right
to self-govern. Now, when we are
presented with the options of:
a) The Free
market
or
b) Government
Intervention
Already, we
crave freedom but paradoxically fear it at the same time. We start to fall back
into our shells, like a snail finding cover. We live our entire lives with our
heads in the sand because we are scared to hold our heads up and to see the
world. We fear abuse rather than challenge it. We fear action rather than
taking it. Because we fear, we make rash decisions.
We always
tend to think from our own perspectives. We see the other as the enemy because
we have formed profound relationships with our chains. We have built safety
nets that are held in place by the ideologies we have been taught and so we
say, “Oh yes, that is why! That is why it must be!”. We build up pride that is
instilled along the way. A pride that is instilled by fear. The fear to
challenge, the fear to think critically, the fear to question.
Our greatest
enemy is ourselves and unless we can step out of our own bodies, out of our own
chains and out of our own prison cells, we can never understand what it truly
means to be free.
Sean Ash
The Philosophy Takeaway Issue 48 'Freedom'
