Freedom to and Freedom From
How we should seek a liberative life
It is ironic that in a nation that boast “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” that there are about ten English words that describe freedom and eighteen that describe its opposite. In the English-speaking West, we seem to know more about enslavement than liberty.
When I was a young teen, I sought, like many teens, freedom to do certain things: freedom to drive, freedom to stay up late, freedom to be away from parents, freedom to do what I wanted. But then as I grew older the need liberty has changed to freedom from certain aspects of life: freedom from financial worry, freedom from censorship, freedom from mindless work.
Some people suppose that freedom is the ability to do whatever we want, whenever we want, and with whomever we want. Perhaps this is one notion of freedom, but how do you get that kind of freedom? Knowing people who have been in prison or who are in prison helps me not only understand what it means to not be free, but also what it means to attempt to be free. They, perhaps more than anyone else, have comprehended that there are very ways to achieve the above.
But any freedom has costs and limits. If I want freedom from heart disease, I have to lose weight and spend time in the gym and in the kitchen. If I want freedom to love my wife, I have to be a considerate husband, to listen to her, to be patient, to communicate my feelings. Freedom is not a vague and abstract concept that some Libertarians un-thoughtfully made up. Freedom is about my relationship with others and this world. It is not just thinking about my personal freedoms, but my those of my community and others. Freedom then might mean the limitation of some of my own desires. Not as a sacrifice, but as a gift. It is the feeling of graciousness extended.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, I we have all been faced with fears of freedom being taken away, and it was not by any government, but by our own selves. Our ability to get through the pandemic, to prevent deaths, and to find solutions depended on all of us doing what we needed to do to help ourselves and others: mask, social distance, vaccinate if possible, and help support one another. But we know that not all of us were on board with this because it meant possibility giving up some of our freedoms. My wife is immunocompromised because of a liver disease. If she got COVID-19 during those early days, it would have been terrible. Even after being very careful and being very consistent with our vaccinations, she finally got COVID-19 last year in the fall. I was thankful of the vaccines which helped us dodge the more severe forms of the virus. If she got it then I would not know what to do. I’ve known people who have died from it and this was not where we wanted to go. Still, her breathing had become bad enough that I had to take her to urgent care to get breathing treatments. When people who speak about COVID-19 and vaccines in conspiratorial non-sense and with the authority of a scientist, I just…, I have to spend much time in meditation. Like I’ve said before, I don’t think I’m over the pandemic. Some people can afford to get over it lightly and get on with their lives, but I’m not free from it yet, and people who think they finally are perhaps the most imprisoned.
As I make it pass mid-life (literally, since my father is now 89 years old) I come back to freedom to. It is freedom to love, freedom to give, freedom to acknowledge my limitations, freedom to explore mystery, freedom to be uncertain, freedom to make mistakes, freedom to give, freedom to forgive.
The gospel or good news is that we are empowered to be free. This makes the ground for our path, the road which we travel. God is working toward our liberation, just as the narrative of the Hebrews in Egypt, just as the many stories Jesus of healing people of their ailments in keeping with his mission:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed,” (Luke 4:18)
Each day, we have opportunities to engage our “freedom to”: to help a neighbor, to listen to a friend, to bring peace to our communities.
The one freedom we can never have is freedom from each other. One thing that I know for certain is all of us are inextricably linked. Sometimes may think that we are not, but there is no mistake that all our lives are bound to each other whether we like it or not. Mother Teresa has said,
“Today, if we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other-that man, that woman, that child is my brother or my sister. If everyone could see the image of God in his neighbor, do you think we would still need tanks and generals?”
When we forget that, instead of seeing that we belong to each other, we then want to own each other. Modern slavery comes from the denial of our shared kinship and a denial of the image of God in each of us. This was the ultimate denial of freedom.
When I say, she is my wife, or she is my sister or he is my brother, I am saying “my” the gentlest way. I am also saying that I belong to them also, that we don’t own each other, but belong to each other. We have mutual possession and not asymmetrical possession. We do not own each other as a person owns an object, but we are responsible for each other, accountable to each other. When my brother or sister hurts, I hurt. When they are joyous, I am joyous.
It’s been difficult for me to learn. My parents were often too possessive, too protective of me. So, to understand relationships in a healthy way, has been a difficult life lesson. How do I become a better friend? How do I use my freedom to love in the way it was intended? I’m very thankful that I have been liberated in many ways from these unhealthy patterns, and thankful that I am still learning how to be free each day. I am thankful for my friends and family who are patient with me as I learn these lessons. May you continue to live as liberated persons as well.
Thank you for your comment, Mark! I will have to look up your reference in Middle Passage.
Very helpful--that reminder about enslavement originating in the 'denial of shared kinship.' I suspect this pitfall is the root of so many other vices. Charles Johnson treats this in a rather humorous way in his novel, Middle Passage, this idea of shared sameness and our finally accepted it, even if it takes the delirium of the high seas to do so.