Are You Truly Free?

Jean Jaques Rousseau famously quoted, “Man is born free, but everywhere he is in chains.”

He asserted that the condition of freedom was inherent to humanity, an inevitable facet of the possession of a soul and sapience, with the implication that all social interactions subsequent to birth imply a loss of freedom, voluntarily or involuntarily.

So, what really is Freedom?

“It is the state of being an inwardly autonomous individual capable of exerting free will or freedom of choice within a given set of outward circumstances.”

In other words, Freedom is not merely what Society allows you to do. True Freedom is your own capacity to determine what to do.

Believers of determinism claim that freedom is an illusion; that the future is inevitably determined by prior causes.

Most of us are stuck in the cycle of Causality or the cause – effect cycle. We tend generally to see the consequences of an unconscious choice and then attempt to retrace and understand the cause. This is a classic case of being victims of a circumstance.

Sir Isaac Newton in his III law of motion states, “Every action has a reaction.” It simply means that for every known action a probable reaction can be predicted.

Why does the III law of motion have anything to do with the concept of Freedom?

I believe, wittingly or unwittingly, Sir Isaac Newton may have just laid a foundation for the defining and understanding of Free Will.

True Freedom can, in a way, be described as the breaking out of the loop of Causality and adopting Newton’s III law. It is a state where a person consciously makes a choice, fully aware of its repercussions, and paves their path in life.

The philosopher Isaiah Berlin drew an important distinction between “freedom from” (negative freedom) and “freedom to” (positive freedom). For example, freedom from oppression and freedom to develop one’s potential. He referred to positive freedom as one’s power to make choices leading to action.

Many philosophers have considered freedom to be a positive achievement of human will rather than an inherent state granted at birth.

Rudolf Steiner said, “Acting in freedom is acting out of a pure love of the deed as one intuits the moral concept implicit in the deed.”

Freedom engenders the capacity to make choices; that power inspires tremendous courage, strength and control, and thus responsibility.

Swami Vivekananda said, “It is the coward and the fool who says this is his fate. But it is the strong man who stands up and says I will make my own fate.”

A martial artist is a powerful person. Their actions have far reaching consequences. And thus, their every action must be carefully chosen; they can ill afford external circumstances to dictate their paths.

For instance, in attempting to protect an innocent from a group of thugs, a martial artist may find himself in a position to not just drive the thugs away but to grievously or fatally wound them too; which is what will happen should he give in to the adrenaline coursing through his veins and unleash, unnecessarily, his entire might upon them.

Would it be wrong for him to ask himself this one simple question – “Do I have the strength to walk away from this situation?”, before he rushes to the rescue of the victim?

The martial artist’s ability to ask that question liberates him, irrespective of what the answer to that question would be. It will, for a responsible warrior, be to save the victim. But he will do so knowing fully well that he had a choice, and that would give him the control he requires; to look at the situation from an observer’s perspective and prioritise his objectives.

Thus freedom builds responsibility. So, the next time you have to choose between what’s right and what’s easy, be aware, be free and make your choice!