Existential Thought - What is Freedom?
"The chains that bind us are often invisible."
Its crazy to think that we all want freedom but often we are unappreciative of what it really is.
I’ll give you an example of my somewhat cryptic opening statement.
Recently, around the time of writing this article… I acquired a property as part of Le Haus. I genuinely thought it would give me freedom. The property is Turtle Cove House, the first in a series of Le Haus offerings. The property is ocean front, right on the water. It is breathtakingly beautiful with a large pool and wonderful spaces. When I first saw it - I thought - this is truly what freedom looks like. You’ve seen the picture: turquoise waters, palm trees and sunshine for days. But then reality sank in - the financial burden, the operational management, the maintenance and upkeep: the pool, the grounds, everything!
Do you know how expensive it is to ensure every suite always has toilet paper and always looks great?
I do now.
The issue is, I just never fully processed the thought before I plunged in and just as well, as I might never have!
Ask someone what freedom means and you'll probably hear one of several familiar answers.
The freedom to travel.
The freedom to choose.
Financial freedom.
Freedom of speech.
Freedom from oppression.
Yet despite living in one of the most connected, technologically advanced periods in human history, many people have never felt less free.
We have more choices than any previous generation, yet anxiety continues to rise. We have more conveniences, yet less time. We have more possessions, yet often feel owned by the very things we worked so hard to acquire. This is me … right now!
So perhaps freedom isn't simply the absence of restriction.
Perhaps freedom is something far more complex.
The Illusion of Choice
Modern society celebrates choice.
Hundreds of television channels.
Thousands of careers.
Millions of products.
Infinite content.
We assume that more choice equals more freedom.
Yet psychologist Barry Schwartz, in The Paradox of Choice, argues that too many choices often produce the opposite effect: paralysis, dissatisfaction and regret. I get this sense every time I have to plan a vacation/holiday. Too many uncurated choices, a lot of uncertainty. The only fun part is the discovery and the exhilaration when it all works out! … if it works out!
Freedom isn't measured by the number of doors available to us.
It is measured by our ability to walk confidently through one of them.
The Golden Cage
Imagine two people.
One earns £500,000 a year.
The other earns £40,000.
Instinctively, most people assume the first person is freer and better off. And in some sense they very well might be!
But what if the first person works seventy hours a week, cannot take holidays without checking emails, carries enormous debt to sustain an expensive lifestyle, and fears losing everything they've worked so hard for and built?
Meanwhile, the second person finishes work at five o'clock every day, spends evenings with family, sleeps well and has few financial obligations. They might not have all the trimmings but its a simple life. Its a beautiful life.
Who is truly free?
The Roman philosopher Seneca wrote:
"It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor."
Perhaps wealth and freedom are not as closely connected as we assume.
Ownership or Responsibility?
Throughout history, people have pursued ownership believing it would create independence.
A larger house.
Another business.
Another investment.
Another promotion.
Yet every acquisition carries an invisible invoice.
The larger house needs maintaining.
The successful business needs managing.
The investment needs protecting.
The title demands performance.
What began as freedom slowly and too often quickly becomes obligation.
This does not mean ambition is wrong.
It simply reminds us that every "yes" creates a new responsibility.
Freedom is not accumulating endlessly.
Freedom is choosing carefully.
The Invisible Chains
Some prisons have no walls.
Fear of failure.
Fear of judgment.
Fear of disappointing others.
Fear of starting again.
Many people remain in careers they dislike because they fear uncertainty more than unhappiness.
Others remain in relationships that no longer serve them because familiarity feels safer than change.
Some spend decades becoming the person everyone expects, only to discover they have never truly met themselves.
The greatest prison is often psychological.
As Carl Jung observed:
"Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate."
In todayism - one would say - it is the will of the universe
Discipline: The Unexpected Path to Freedom
This seems contradictory.
Surely discipline limits freedom?
Yet the opposite is often true.
The disciplined person is free from debt because they control spending.
Free from poor health because they care for their body.
Free from panic because they prepared.
Free to choose because they built options over time.
The person without discipline eventually becomes controlled by consequences.
As Jocko Willink famously put it:
"Discipline equals freedom." But I think that was only half the quote
Perhaps discipline is not the opposite of freedom.
Perhaps it is the price of it.
Think of it this way, every time you want something - what do you do? Generally speaking, you buy it and perhaps freedom is just another commodity you have to purchase but the currency is not cash.
And this is exactly the point… Whatever the choice, there is always a price. So choose your hard - because everything is. Everything costs.
Freedom Is Internal
History provides remarkable examples.
Nelson Mandela spent twenty-seven years imprisoned.
Physically, he had almost no freedom.
Yet he emerged without hatred consuming him.
His captors controlled his body.
They never fully controlled his mind.
Viktor Frankl reached a similar conclusion after surviving the Holocaust.
In Man's Search for Meaning, he wrote:
"Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms, to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances."
This may be the deepest form of freedom available to any of us. That power of ownership over yourself is the truest expression of freedom.
Not controlling our circumstances.
But choosing our response to them. How we manage ourselves is ultimately the only thing we have control over.
It is our only true freedom.
What Does Freedom Cost?
Every freedom requires sacrifice.
Financial freedom requires delayed gratification.
Physical freedom requires discipline.
Creative freedom requires courage.
Emotional freedom requires forgiveness.
Time freedom requires saying no more often than yes.
The question is never whether freedom has a price.
The question is whether we are willing to pay it.
A Different Definition
Perhaps freedom is not having unlimited options.
Perhaps freedom is waking each morning able to live according to your values rather than your fears.
To spend your time intentionally.
To choose purpose over pressure.
Relationships over appearances.
Peace over approval.
Enough over more.
Maybe that is what freedom has always been.
Not escaping responsibility.
But choosing which responsibilities are worth carrying.
Because once we begin to understand freedom, another question quietly emerges.
If freedom isn't measured by what we own... If freedom is more internal than it is external. If freedom always carries a cost.
...what does it really mean to be wealthy?