Freedom

 

Freedom.

It’s a word we all have our own idiosyncratic views about. It’s a well debated word too. The world we live in today, is in many ways, connected to what we perceive in this seven letter word. True freedom is what we all strive for in many ways. So, yeah, it is a very interesting topic, one of colossal significance.

What do you think of when you hear the word ‘freedom’?

Do you know what I think when I hear that word?

I picture myself being able to fly. I imagine that sheer energy that comes from being able to do something impossible. I imagine the joy at the prospect of something that limits me being stripped away. Yeah, we all can relate to that. What we see when we hear the word ‘freedom’ always has something to do with our limitations. And that’s no surprise. After all, freedom essentially means ‘being free’.

Freedom is something we all strive towards because we believe ultimate freedom will make us happy. But will it? Is our idea of ‘freedom’ a soup of fallacious ideas that has fooled our sagacity?

That’s what I was thinking of, a few days ago, when I looked out the window and saw a bird flapping it’s wings in pure natural majesty. If I asked that bird what picture comes to its mind when I say the word ‘freedom’, what would it say?

Would it talk about swimming in an ocean?

That’s something it can’t do, right?

Well anyways, it was a moment of epiphany for me.

The truth is that the value we give for what ounce of freedom we have, is in many ways based on our knowledge of our own limitations.

If you were born without any limitations, how in the world could you value freedom? The concept of freedom would not exist for you. It would be a joy you’ll never know. Not because you are not free, but because you do not know what a limitation means.

Why do we need true freedom if we can’t enjoy it?

I believe you feel true freedom, when you are limited but agree and see your limitations as a necessary part of your life, so much so, that you don’t want it to go away. This way, you are aware of what your limitation is, but you also accept it, making it a part of your freedom. When you start believing a limitation is not limiting you,  it no longer is a limitation. And I believe that is where we start enjoying true freedom

I believe we are blessed to be limited beings. For that is what helps us to enjoy what freedom we have.