Sunday Ramble: What IS This Thing Called "Freedom"

These days, "Freedom" is a big buzzword, especially in a community such as Steemit, inhabited by so many Anarcho-Capitalists, Libertarians and other supporters of alternative/better ways of living.

But what IS this "Freedom" thing?

Yesterday, I came across @kafkarachy84's vlog examining Happiness and Freedom, and it got me to thinking some more about this thing we pursue...

What Comes to Mind, When we Think "Freedom?"

A bunch of Scottish Highlanders with blue facepaint, charging across the moors?

The abolition of slavery?

The fall of the Berlin Wall?

I know that for a lot of the freedom seekers on Steemit, it means "Freedom from Government," which is (more or less) an extension of "freedom from anyone telling us what we can — and cannot — do." 

Ironic, that we live in a society that allegedly values freedom, and yet we don't feel "free." Ironic, that we live in a society that values freedom, and yet goes around the world taking military actions to impose it's own version of "freedom" on others.

Wherever you may stand, it seems we just end up with lots and lots of versions of what freedom "means."

And do we seek Freedom FROM, or do we seek Freedom TO?

The Toxic Side of Freedom

Freedom strikes me as a nifty ideal, but it has its shortcomings.

Dominant among them, the tendency of many who purport to be "fighting for freedom" to be completely blind to the fact that the "version" of freedom they want may rob someone else of their freedom.

Maybe it's just part and parcel of human nature that we struggle to be able to "seek" and "have" something without also wanting others — of different mindsets — to "UN-seek" and "UN-have" their perceptions.

Control. Can you both control and have freedom, at the same time?

My wife (who's a counselor and life coach) is fond of using the saying "choices have consequences" and she holds her clients to that... particularly in the subtle ways our egos so often tend to push under the rug.

The Myriad Perceptions

One of the things I share in common with Graham ( @kafkanarchy84 ) is that we're both expats; he's from the US living in Japan; I'm from Denmark living in the US. Being multi-national offers some additional ways to step outside the proverbial box and look in. 

As a college student coming to the US from Denmark, in 1980, I was — in a sense — here in "pursuit of freedom." 

In my case, it was the very specific "freedom of entrepreneurship." Yeah, I wanted the American College Experience, but I had determined at a relatively early age (10? 12?) that I was ill suited for the traditional route of "going to work for a company" and working at a more or less soulless job for 40 years. 

I harbored no illusions that I could skate by without working; I just wanted to do my own thing, on my own terms. That was "freedom." It was a form of freedom rarely found back in my native land where a large part of a somewhat successful welfare state (social democracy) is largely contingent on conformity.

Your Freedom, My Freedom, Everyone's Freedom...

Thirty years later, I still go back to Denmark once every year or two and now I recognize the shades of freedom; the degrees of freedom; the variety of freedom.

My "freedom" in the US is policed. I am almost obligated to take it.

Here's one way I notice it: I go to Denmark and spend 3-4 weeks at an old family house. I slide into the local community; I go to town, drive around, go to the market, speak the language; integrate. 

In 3-4 weeks, I see maybe ONE police cruiser on the road, and maybe a couple of cops on foot patrol in the city. It feels natural.

I come back to my small town here in the US, and on the 5-mile drive from our house to the supermarket, I see maybe four police/sheriff's patrol cars in the ten minutes I'm on the road. I know it's normal, but it feels... jarring; grating.

I state this neither as "good" or "bad," but simply as "noteworthy." If we are so "free" in the US, why are we so heavily policed? And why do I not feel safe, seeing all that hardware on the road? Why do I not feel free? Why can't I shake the feeling that all those cops are there to either prevent someone from stealing my freedom, or to enforce my "right" to my freedom? Why am I looking over my shoulder?

And yet, I am free to sit here on Steemit, and to trade cryptos, and to have my weird assortment of tiny businesses that could probably not even exist in Denmark.

Accountability...

Freedom comes with a price.

I don't mean that in the military, police and bloodshed sense-- I mean it in the "choices have consequences" sense.

If we want to have freedom, the "consequence" is that we must also be accountable for that freedom. We don't get to just sit there like spoiled brats and demand freedom, and then think we get to let it be "someone else's problem" to make sure the framework that affords us our freedom works.

And therein lies a sort of irony.

The reason I feel safer (and thus more free) walking on a city street in Denmark is because there is a greater collective understanding of — and mindfulness towards — what is appropriate and inappropriate. 

It's very subtle, and hard to characterize. 

One of my Danish relatives perhaps summarized it best. This cousin likes to rent a motor home and travel around the US for 3-4 months, every couple of years, so she's quite familiar with both cultures. Loosely translated, she observed:

"In Denmark, WE have a great deal of freedom; freedom exists at the societal level; freedom is a collective benefit. In the US, there are a great many individual 'I's' that have freedom, but collectively you seem to almost imprison yourselves in 'legislated' freedom. You lose the benefits of the 'we' because there's too much concern with the 'me/my'."

It's not the most elegant translation, but I think there's something there. 

As I sorted through these thoughts, it seems there's no freedom at the end of the barrel of a gun, regardless of whether it's pointed at your head, or you're pointing it at someone else's head. If one party is threatened, it's not "freedom."

Freedom happens when we all become accountable for — and embrace — the fact that we are collectively responsible for being stewards of freedom, through our own mindfulness.

Well, time to end this little ramble; I'm sure I'll get some "hate mail" for this, and that's fine. The purpose of this was basically to invite everyone to pause and think about what freedom means... TO YOU. I have no investment in "being right," and I have no investment in YOU "being right," but I am interested in your perception of freedom.

What do YOU Think? What IS Freedom, to you? Have you ever felt this freedom? What would it take for you to feel you had freedom? Would that choice make it possible for others to also have THEIR freedom? Do you believe freedom can be a collective right, rather than an individual one? Or is it some of both? Leave a comment-- share your experiences-- be part of the conversation!

created by @zord189

(As usual, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, created expressly for Steemit)
Created at 180506 17:02 PDT