“Freedom is secured not by the fulfilling of men’s
desires, but by the removal of desire.”
This
wonderful observation on man’s personal freedom was recorded by the highly
acclaimed Greek stoic philosopher Epictetus,
recognized as one of ancient Greece’s most respected and honored
social philosophers. He firmly believed that all human beings must be held
responsible for their own actions, which they can control through vigorous
control of their desires. This belief has continued unchanged over the
succeeding centuries of man’s existence on earth even to the present.
Freedom is never
meant to imply the unlimited expression of personal desires irrespective of
their effect on others. And it certainly does not imply a free license to think
or say or do whatever one chooses without due consideration to the prevailing
circumstances. Freedom is not a right bestowed upon an individual by virtue of
birth, position or ability, to act or not to act as he pleases. Freedom should
never be equated to survival of the fittest or control over the weakest, nor is
it ever related to success or domination. These are all merely excuses designed
to enhance the ego and reinforce power and desire.
Freedom in fact
is all a total state of mind. It exists only when the mind is free of fear, or
of any compulsion or risks that undermine living. It is not necessarily related
to success, achievements or recognition, nor is it a reflection of one’s
aspirations, ambitions or educational achievements. These are all merely
manifestations of satisfaction of the ego and have nothing to do the
fundamental desire for freedom of spirit. Freedom is in fact, a deep desire to
pursue one’s own hopes and expectations in one’s own way, so long as that
effort does not deprive others of their own, or impede their efforts to obtain
their own.
Freedom demands acceptance
of responsibility for the way the world is viewed and also, how that view
affects one’s behavior in the world. If successful, this results in freeing
oneself from the prevailing external circumstances and becoming master of
oneself and no longer slave to events beyond control. This freedom, one of hope,
thought, expression and action, is an innate right of every person to share. But
it can be easily lost or abandoned by inexperience, or trampled upon by another
person or circumstance. True freedom begins from deep within and always with an
expression of inner satisfaction. But this is not strictly, as so many believe,
the right to do whatever one pleases so long as it does not affect others, but
rather doing those things that are right, even when doing so is at the expense of
personal desires. As the great South African freedom fighter Nelson Mandela so very wisely observed:
“For
to be free, is not merely to cast off your chain, but to live in a way that
respects and enhances the freedom of others.”
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