Freedom

When we think about freedom, there is a special feeling we tend to have, that there is nothing that can take us away, but at the same time, there are many examples that frighten us about that fragility we have, as if our most prized treasure can be taken away in an instant.

Absolute freedom, by itself, means nothing, todo whatever we want is not the same to be whatever we want, because our desires are limited, and we enjoy limits. Our lives are full of them: the body we have, the height, the weight, our DNA, the family heritage, our culture, religion, language, etc. Everything has a limit, even words mean something, not everything.

Freedom grants the opportunity for greater meaning, but by itself there is nothing necessarily meaningful about it. To be able to do everything we want or can limit us to do nothing, if we can do everything then we become useless to do something. having all the options to do whatever we want is a great void, where to begin?, what things I want more?, will we be able to execute it? Why do it? Justo because we can? Does it even matter?

Having freedom without meaning becomes shallow, is useless. We only have meaning when we reject from different options, and consider the ones that we can do and are the best, we narrow our freedom, to have choice of commitment to one place, one belief, or one person. And we fill it with meaning by avoiding a¡other forms of life, because we chose this one.

When we travel, when we read, when we meet new people, we discover the richness of other cultures, ideas, is a fantastic self-development tool, because it extricates you from the values of your culture and shows you that another society can live with entirely different values and still function and not hate themselves. This exposure to different cultural values and metrics then forces you to reexamine what seems obvious in your own life and to consider that perhaps it’s not necessarily the best way to live. 

To know what is different of what we are used to is a great reference to appreciate what we have, to give meaning to what we do and why we do it, and to focus on being open to diversity without loosing ourselves. If you had absolute freedom, what would be the first thing you would do?