You Do Not Want To Be Free.

Let me take a liberty here.... (cheeky wink).

You are neither free nor do you want to be.

And... No... It does not matter who you are.

The Dalai Lama could be reading this from the vantage of full enlightenment and I would maintain that they are:

a. not free

and

b. would not want to be.

None of us want complete freedom.

I put it in big font again... just to show how serious I am!

Now, I may have opened with a cheeky pun but, I can assure you, I am not simply being flippant about freedom. All I am doing is choosing to express myself differently to how others may expect.

I am sure you can guess why...

Because, I am free to!

You got it!

I may have the liberty to open a serious discussion about freedom in the midst of an atrocious and inhumane war with a pun and a touch of flippancy BUT... this freedom of expression that I have is not absolute... and if you want to know what I think about that... I think this...

Thank Goodness!!!!!

What?

Freedom is everything isn't it?

Freedom is something that we will literally fight to the death over and willingly sacrifice our lives for...

Quite right too.

Some freedoms are completely deserving of that sacrifice. Racial equality, emancipation of women, human rights, the dissolution of privilege, lbqtia+, defending yourself and your children from the persecution of an invading army - all freedoms that I would willing stand on the front line in defence of.

That said...

I would also fight on the front line to protect us FROM absolute freedom.

"Where is she going with this?"

Let's have a definition to anchor this argument:

According to Merriam-Webster's dictionary:

Absolute Freedom is freedom "having no restriction, exception, or qualification".

Can you imagine a world where all of us could go about unrestricted, without any exception what-so-ever, without having to prove ourselves in any way?

It would be utter madness!

Not sure I like the colour of your kitchen.

Think I will change it to suit my mood.

Hope that is ok?

Ha! Why even ask?

Of course it is ok... to stop me would be against my freedom.

Mayhem!

I am sure you like the colour of your kitchen and I am pretty sure you don't want me walloping a load of cerise paint all over it because I like it better (I do like a bit of pink).

Thank goodness I am not free to do that!

Perhaps I am still being flippant.

Although, in defence of my flippant free speech during such difficult times....

Sometimes difficult topics have to be made light of. Laughter can often get to the heart of a matter faster than an encyclopaedia.

As can simplicity.

Rather than start talking about Sartre's theories of Radical Freedom, or about freedom as a relative construct, or other philosophical discourse... I am simply going to state this...

Too much of anything is bad... including freedom.

Think about those who believe they are absolutely free to do what they want. Putin, for example, he thinks he is completely free to do as he likes. Now look where we are.

The rarely spoken truth of freedom is this: It means nothing without limitation.

It needs governance.

How that governance is organised on a one to one, local, national, or international level is open to debate and these debates are subject to factions, influences, opinion, prejudice, discrimination, privilege, and politics.

But it is still needed.

Without it we open the floodgates to absolute freedom.

Which none of us wants because...

Absolute freedom is the same as absolute power.

It can corrupt, absolutely.

(Feel free to discuss.... 😉✌❤)