What is Freedom?

We all want freedom. We all want to be free. We all want to be free to make choices, to fulfill our desires.

What is freedom? Is it just the ability to make choices, to decide, to follow one path over another?

I think freedom is the ability to make informed choices, AND the courage to live with the consequences of a choice, however painful and unpleasant.

I think it was Covey in his book, Seven Habits of Effective People, who said that, to be mature is to be able to make delayed responses to stimuli. To make an informed choice is to delay gratification, at least long enough to evaluate the relevant information and options. It doesn't mean paralysis by analysis, with such detailed collection of all possible options and information; it means relevant information. As Colin Powell wrote in his books, an intelligent person is one who has the kind of judgment to decide what is right. And to act on a decision when 100% of the facts and analysis are available is to be too late. He recommends acting on gut feeling after 40% to 70%.

After making the decision, the other side of freedom is the courage to live with the consequences of a decision. Sometimes the hard decisions are the ones that lead to unpleasant and frightening consequences. Courage is not having no fear; it is the ability to go on in spite of fear.

A balanced approach to freedom is the making of responsible choices, after collecting sufficient information to make an informed choice, walking with eyes wide open into the consequences of the choice to be made, the option set apart from all the rest, the act of deciding.

To indulge in all the myriad of material luxury in our society, the nomadic devices that are double-edged swords, is not to be free, but to fall into the trap of feeling free while being enslaved.