“NONE ARE MORE HOPELESSLY ENSLAVED, THAN THOSE WHO FALSELY BELIEVE THEY ARE FREE”

It’s a wonderful word freedom; it conjures up a life with no commitments, no responsibilities, the world stretched out in front of you with no one to hold you back.

 Dr Seuss stated “You have brains in your head; you have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You’re on your own and you know what you know. You are the guy who’ll decide where to go.” 

There are times when everyone longs to get away from people and the accountability they impose.  People consume time and energy we would rather spend on ourselves; but is being alone the same thing as being free?  If you had no one to think about but yourself would that make you free, or would it make you lonely.

Great minds ponder on whether if no one is there to hear a tree fall in the middle of the forest; does the sound of it falling actually exist?  In the same way does never having to explain or justify your actions make everything you do less important? If no one says “well done” is the deed diminished?

Most of us need to share life’s dramas in order to make sense of them and to give them meaning. We need to seek advice, receive praise, and gain sympathy.  If we have to become less free, to experience the comfort of feeling someone cares, we consider it a fair trade.

Gide wrote “To know how to free ones self is nothing, the arduous thing is to know what to do with ones freedom”,   

If you feel suffocated by the people around you and yearn to be free, take comfort in knowing that there will be times when you have to stand alone, and you will find satisfaction in proving that you can, but if you begin to wobble, it's reassuring to know that someone is there to catch you.  

Title quote by Goethe