Freedom

Apart from the political implications of this word, it has a very critical personal connotation as well. What do I mean by a personal connotation? I mean the implications of this word on an individual and his being.

What is an individual apart from being a complex mass of flesh, fluids and bones? In addition to this biological perspective, what makes a human unique is his thoughts, values and actions.

Gregory David Roberts put it beautifully through the first few pages of Shantaram. Man always has the freedom...the freedom of choices. Even when he was chained and beaten by the cops, he had the freedom... to hate them for it or to forgive them.

The lives and our being are a product of the choices we make. We can enslave a man's body, but enslaving his mind is not in our hands. That's a decision made by him alone. He could choose to be aware of his enslavement and hate it or adjust himself to it and play indifferent. His entire being might choose the former, but he will convince himself with the latter. Why? Because he thinks he will suffer less cheating himself of his own feelings.

Everyone has freedom. With that freedom, comes the necessity of being aware of one's actions and taking full responsibility of the consequences.

What I have observed amongst people is the tendency to prefer losing their freedom. Why? Because they prefer avoiding the responsibility of being themselves. Why? Because being oneself involves standing up for and living by your own convictions. That is not going to be taken well by some faction or another. Perhaps, they don't have the courage to stand up against the current. Perhaps, thats a compromise they are willing to make for that evasive concept called comfort.

These same people try then to impose the general, all encompassing ideologies onto anyone with the tendencies to individuality. Why? Because, they are a threat to their comfort.

Freedom realised is freedom lived. The very awareness of freedom is freedom even if one does not exercise it. This holds true as long as one is aware and true to himself.