Freedom
What does freedom mean to you now, and will it change say, if you turn 50?
This was one of the questions asked by the monk I had met on my trip. Well, I am 27 now, and lately, the definition of freedom I have started believing in is – freedom means the lack of fear. In any situation, if I succeed to drop the level of fear in my action, and words- I, in my opinion, experience and exercise freedom. But has this been ceaseless since I’ve understood the meaning of the word? Certainly not.
Same word, different meaning
When I was a school kid, freedom meant choosing subjects of my interest, going to coaching classes as per my whims, and wearing clothes that made me comfortable. So, back then freedom for me was – making decisions for myself. However, it was only limited to that. How many hours to study what subjects, and then how much to gain marks in those subjects were not my decisions. That was a peer pressure verdict. What position to grab in my coaching tests was again not my decision. That was my ego verdict. Wearing comfortable clothes, yes but what clothes should make me comfortable was not my decision. That was a society’s verdict. Was it really freedom then?
When I turned into a teenager, freedom for me was to go out and start an independent life in a new city. Make new friends and hang out with them in my free time. Freedom meant freedom of thought to climb the ladder of success and prove to anyone and everyone what I was capable of. It meant watering my roots in the hope to see myself growing from a bud to a blooming flower. However, it was only limited to that. How to live and how much to live in that city was not my decision. That was a situational verdict. Made friends, yes, but who to make friends with was not my decision. That was a need and necessity verdict. Climbed the ladder of success, but the definition of success was not mine. That was a people verdict. Yes, watered my roots but the choice of the flower was not my decision. That was a status verdict. Was it really freedom then?
Now I am an adult, in my late 20s and I think freedom is the lack of fear. However, what possibly made me think or frame this definition? I believe, the ‘restricted freedom’ that I have been tasting till now has coupled up and has waved this intrinsically in my mind.
The fear of losing the first position,
The fear of making the society comfortable
The fear of not living an independent life in a ‘right’ way
The fear of not adapting to the situation and making friends
The fear of not being successful
The fear of not growing at the pace of others,
And the fear of not living this life, fearlessly!
If you realize, the meaning of ‘freedom’ in all the stages of my life is interlinked. The first two stages, were the struggle to wireframe freedom in my mind and life, and this stage is all about acting on it and giving it life in a true sense because what really is ‘restricted freedom’ my friends? Funny thing is, even this lately realized definition is not an absolute statement- it is just the binding up the pieces statement of the earlier two stages.
Freedom is what we are
The monk’s definition of freedom was to let go of all his relationships first and then the society in a broad sense. He didn’t want to think about his family, friends, or economy because all those relations restricted him in some way. Now coming to his question that he had asked me- what will be freedom for you when you turn 50? I did not take much time to think (as if it was somewhere already wired in my mind) and told him, the state where I would not have to take the charge of making someone happy, I’ll feel free. This sounded like a selfish statement then, and it still sounds a selfish statement while I’m writing this, but that is exactly what I had said. If I think through it, then maybe when I’m 50, I will not want to interfere so much in someone’s life that their happiness becomes my responsibility. Maybe because I don’t want to give this charge to anyone in my life now (and later)- giving it away might seem like giving a piece of my own to someone which is I guess the opposite of freedom.
Freedom is not always about letting yourself free from relationships or leaving all the responsibilities behind and living a rowdy life. Instead, if you think, freedom is us, what we are. Freedom is what we are in an absolute sense. To taste freedom, it is important to know who we are. Freedom is not an external concept that someone can ‘give’ us, or something that we can ‘take’. It is inside us, the human within defines freedom for us after all. Hence, the static definition of it will change, as we get to know ourselves better. Or I should say, the definition of freedom will evolve, as we evolve.
If I connect the dots, I believe freedom is nothing, but it is the mental, emotional, and physical urge to be you, every second of your life.
What do you think?
Good write-up
Thank you!
Freedom ka naam sunte hi mujhe freedom 251 yaad aata hai 🥲😭.Lovely article btw 🙌
Thank you, Anuj! <3
Accepting the truth of life in true sense and living accordingly is freedom. Like
Accepting you born, live and die alone.
Death will come this time our life will go.
Whatever we have done and whatever we will do was and will never be in our hand.
No matter how much we hard to create our identity and stand out of rest through love or success we will not succed
Accepting nothing is in our hand even we are nothing in life”s existence.
Observating thing ,life and self as it is only one and last thing we can do .
Losing all false hopes.
And finally living in ultimately life’s truth which is same for all irrespective of age, work, culture and gender is one and only freedom.
Last i know one after reading these words you or anyone of it will forget even i will forget , accepting such small hold over information make us really meaningless and power less being and once you accept it in positive sense than again it is freedom.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts Ankit! Do read my next blog- ‘Do we matter?’ Let me know your thoughts on that too 🙂
http://www.throughmyeyes.in/do-we-matter/
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