Human beings are, in the ultimate sense, free. It is into freedom that they are born. Breaking through the secure abode in which they had lived until yesterday, they are suddenly born into their own individuality and sense of self. Their very first cry at birth is a declaration of freedom. Although the cries of all infants may sound alike, each child’s cry is distinct enough to be recognized as its own, for within that cry reside its individuality and its awareness of self.
Yet the one who is born into freedom and longs to be free is soon seen being constrained by the world around him. In one sense, this too is a comforting kind of dependence- or rather, a prudent dependence. His freedom of independent thought, his longing to be free, is restrained by others. Certain experiences that he is capable of touching and understanding for himself are forbidden to him out of fear and the awareness that they might harm him. What is lost in the process is his freedom itself. Yet this dependence is, from his perspective, for his own good. Through it he learns a profound lesson: freedom is not the license to do whatever one feels like doing. To do so would ultimately harm oneself.
Many events in later life wound his longing for freedom. Others come together to restrict his freedom or to draw boundaries around it. Thus, the human being who is born to be free is gradually reduced to the limits of dependence.
Love, religious faith, and human relationships all wound freedom in different ways. They impose limits upon it. The more a person values relationships, the more deeply religious they are or the more they are loved, the more their freedom is circumscribed. The bonds of love tighten around them in many ways, binding and restraining them.
Today, everyone seems to advocate freedom beyond all limits. “This is my freedom” has become a refrain heard in many homes and social settings. It is a rallying cry for the freedom to do whatever one pleases. We also live in a time when publicly hurling abuse, drinking alcohol, using narcotic drugs and even engaging in sexual relations are mistakenly proclaimed as expressions of freedom. Not every freedom is meant to be abused. Freedom is a celebration; but excessive freedom is anarchy.
It is we ourselves who must define and regulate our freedom. My freedom acquires its true worth only when I decide how far, for what purpose and in what manner I shall exercise it. It ceases to be freedom when someone else determines my boundaries. Greater than external freedom is the inner freedom a person experiences.
It is inner freedom that makes one happy and content. True freedom resides in the soul. Of what use is every other kind of freedom if there is no freedom within the soul?
