"Freedom is nothing else but a chance to be better." ---Albert Camus
As I was enjoying a walk today in the 50 degree sunny weather, I was thinking about the idea of freedom as it pertains to one's happiness. I thought about different people I know, the ways in which they seem to represent 'freedom.' When we think of 'freedom,' infinite associations with the word spring to mind: Free to do as one pleases, free to be oneself, free of responsibility, free of literal or metaphorical 'chains', free spirited, free to express, free to govern, and on and on...
Instead of thinking of freedom as an absolute, however, today I considered the possibility that maybe it's just about more freedom vs. less freedom. Having an overwhelming commitment or responsibility may prompt one to want more freedom. Lacking emotional and physical connections with others may trigger the opposite feeling of wanting less freedom and more security. But we can't have both, not really...not all the time. It ebbs and flows. Relationships can both free us and enslave us. So can our passions, our 'issues,' our jobs, our health, our self-esteem, our routines, our habits, our culture or society! But it isn't meant to be depressing. Maybe it's an opportunity to be cognizant of what could be waiting right around the corner (or not).
Freedom is also found in the pursuit, the anticipation.
2 comments:
Absolute freedom is absolute chaos. I believe that anything taken to its logical extreme (whether government, economics, relationships) has the possibility of becoming the antithesis it so jealously does not want to be. History is replete with examples. In the name of freedom from the tsars, the Bolsheviks begain the 1917 Revolution which ended up killing over 40,000,000 Russians to implement in the course of its 80 year reign and with some of the most restrictive terms placed on the people.
Freedom, in the republican or democratic sense, is actually much more than the chance to be better which is what Camus says. Freedom allows us to be virtuous. Better is nondescriptive and misleading. But virtue is something that is ALWAYS good, otherwise it would not be virtuous. Freedom allows the exercise (or non-exercise) of virtue. Of course, most people choose to go with vice since it is easier and more fun :). But again, this explains my opening thought. Excessive use of freedom to not choose virtue can cause the destruction of that power to choose. If we agree (and I don't think we will necessarily) that human nature is always prone to choose the vicious rather than the virutous then unrestrained choosing of vice will lead to limits on others who may choose virtue.
As Blessed Augustine says, "Freedom is a medium good" because freedom can tend towards both axes. Though freedom is in itself a virtue since true virtue cannot exist without freedom, its unrestrained use for the vicious makes it more depraved.
Am I making sense?
Thanks for your interesting and insightful response Chris. I think maybe YOU should have written a blog on freedom, not me (hahaha)...you seemed to articulate it better than I did. I have to admit though, you lost me on the last paragraph...got a bit confusing and convoluted for me, but maybe that's just because I'm tired. ;)
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