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How would you define freedom? Are you free? Most of us like to think that we are, but are we, truly, or is it just a beautiful illusion?
This week's Spiritual Newsletter is all about what freedom is and isn't, and why it matters.
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“I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre
Free. We people of the world – and especially we people of the west – believe ourselves to be just that. We’ll proclaim it loudly to anyone who wishes to hear it, and even to those who do not: we are free. Our country is a free country, and we are free people, and we will spread this freedom to those who are in need of liberty until all of us everywhere are free, eternally.
A noble cause indeed. But how much of what we say is true? How free are we really, when you get right down to it? As I write this newsletter the UK parliament is busy debating a bill that would place serious limits on our right to protest. There is CCTV all around us. Our right to privacy slips through our fingers a little more each and every year – online privacy especially is becoming a thing of the past. We’re told that if we have nothing to hide we have nothing to fear, but that’s a nonsense. Everyone has something to hide. It need not be anything criminal. Who shares everything with everyone? I have my inner circle of people who I feel comfortable sharing most of myself with, and a wider circle of people who I share some of myself with, and I think that that’s the case for most of us. I believe that as I am not a criminal I have the right to privacy, and that includes my online interactions. Innocent until proven guilty.
Why am I talking about this in a Spiritual Newsletter? Freedom matters, and to be truly free we need to be able to recognise what freedom actually is. If we do not recognise it we can never succeed in establishing it, nor can we protect it when we have it. And if we cannot protect it we risk losing it, step by tiny step until, eventually, we will wonder where it’s gone. Within that loss may well be the loss of our right to practice our faith. That may seem farfetched, but history shows what can happen when the right of freedom of religion is lost. My ancestors on my grandfather’s side of the family were Huguenots who had to flee France due to religious persecution. Even now there are nations where it is difficult – even impossible – for everyone to practice their faith freely. If we do not stick up for this right when it’s under threat for people of other faiths, who will stick up for us when our own is threatened?
Of course, we can never be 100 percent free. We are social beings by nature, and as social beings we have ties to others and responsibilities to others that mean that we cannot simply do whatever we want to do whenever we want to do it, or at least not all the time. That’s okay. Mostly, these relationships are freely entered into, or freely maintained, and in exchange we tend to receive the love and support that we need in order to thrive. I say mostly, because some relationships are toxic. Unfortunately. If you are trapped in such a relationship I urge you to seek help and support. When all is well, however, our relationships make up for losing a small part of our freedom. The same goes for school and university – whilst there we need to obey the rules, but in return we receive an education. If the rules are fair, the education is worth the temporary loss of a small part of our freedom. It is the same again for our job. We must always be on guard against unfair rules and unfair practices, and weigh the pros against the cons, but generally speaking we can enter these exchanges without them being too much of a cause for concern.
Living in society in general means losing some of our individual freedom. Each society has its rules and laws without which it cannot function. On the whole, these rules make sense. We aren’t to cause harm to others. We aren’t to steal or defraud others. Without such rules society would be a deeply unpleasant place to live in. I think that most of us would agree with that.
What, though, when some of the rules don’t make sense? What if the society we live in changes a little at the time, adding layers of unfairness here and there? What if the media tells us contradictory stories for so long that we no longer know who or what to trust? What if politicians keep on lying to the public? What if elections are held, but you know that you cannot rely on their promises, so you cannot be certain what you are voting for? Are you free when you live in such a society? Or are you merely told over and over again how free you are? Perhaps if you were actually free it wouldn’t need to be repeated that often.
“The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud.”
― Coco Chanel
Some food for thought. Feel free to share yours!
NaNoKit
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Spiritual: March 17, 2021 Issue [#10670]
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