Freedom: Are you Free … Or just a meat robot – Part 1

This is the armchair used by George Washington as he presided over the almost continuous sessions of the Constitutional Convention, to determine how the United States was to be governed.

As the last delegates signed the U.S. Constitution, James Madison recalled a memorable comment from Benjamin Franklin. Looking at the sun depicted on the president’s chair, Franklin remarked, “I have often looked at that picture behind the president without being able to tell whether it was rising or setting. But now at length I have the happiness to know that it is a rising and not a setting sun.”[1]

In that moment, the Americans were taking a bold step towards securing their freedom, determined to shed external constraints and safeguard liberty against future threats. The delegates came with different views on inherent rights and how to build a system that would protect individual liberty, but in the end, they reached an agreement. Dr. Franklin’s optimism reflected his belief the new governent and liberties were just beginning to rise and not doomed to setting below the horizon of history.

Their achievement in creating a system of freedom was remarkable, yet incomplete. The glaring contradiction of slavery stood in stark contrast to the declaration that “all men are created equal.” The fight for true freedom has been a constant battle throughout history, whether for oppressed groups under tyrannical regimes or for a teenager negotiating independence from  parents. There are many sources of control able to restrain freedom, and many levels of

restraint, but one key factor is often overlooked—a factor my good friend Abdu Murray refers to as the missing piece of the missing peace.

History teaches us that victories for liberty are always partial and never final. Even if we free ourselves from the control of governments or cultural conditioning, there will always be someone closer—a boss, a family member—exerting influence over our lives. And even beyond that, we face limitations from within emotional, psychological, and even biochemical constraints can inhibit our freedom.

The fight for freedom is vital and should be pursued, but can this battle ever truly be won? Most of us long for peace in this area, and believe it or not, peace is possible. In fact, many have already found it. To determine if this kind of freedom and peace is possible for you, we need to explore a few things:

First, we must get a comprehensive picture of what freedom really means.
Second, we need to understand our options when it comes to personal freedom.
Finally, we must make our own free choice as to whether we want this type of freedom.

[1] https://www.ushistory.org/more/sun.htm

To start, let’s take a look at how Merriam-Webster defines freedom:

1. The quality or state of being free, such as:
   • The absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action.
   • Liberation from slavery or restraint or from the power of another: INDEPENDENCE.
   • The quality or state of being exempt or released from something onerous.

This definition prompts a few important questions:

1. Is this definition sufficient?
2. Is complete freedom possible?
3. On a personal level, what level of freedom will bring peace to the world—and to me?

Is this definition sufficient? Yes, and no. While the simplicity of ”the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action” is a strong starting point, the definition mainly focuses on external constraints—what most people think about when they consider freedom. But this is only part of the picture.

However, not only are the self-inflicted constraints, previously mentioned, ignored, but also the most important constraining force on everyone’s thoughts, choices and actions is absent from consideration, likely due to its ubiquity – natural consequences.

Consider a successful entrepreneur I go biking with, who runs his own business and appears to have the freedom to make decisions, travel, and control his own schedule. Very privileged position as far as freedoms go. Yet, every time he rides his mountain bike down one of the crazy downhill paths in rock-filled Pennsylvania, or big-drop Colorado, his freedom of choice and action is constantly constrained by reality, which includes dangerous trails, his age, and both his and my own low level of mountain biking skill.

We all make our choices within the context of the environment around us. Reality brings natural consequences for every decision we make. A good example comes from the aforementioned Abdu Murray (see image), who it perfectly in a statement posted by his Embrace the Truth ministry: “The boundary for freedom is the truth.” If we don’t embrace the truth when making choices, the truth will find us in the consequences that follow.

Reality is a silent but powerful player in the freedom game. It doesn’t have personal motivations, but it is, without a doubt, the most valuable player. We live in a world of cause and effect, where the truth of any given situation shapes our choices. Reality imposes limits on our choices, depending how well a person is able to be realistic about the situation and analyze risks and rewards (some people, like those featured in “epic fail” videos, are less able at this than others).

Reality never fails to impose its consequences. These constraints limit our current choices, add new restraints for future choices, and create barriers to future opportunities depending on the type and severity of the outcomes we face.

So, going back to Merriam-Webster’s definition: can anyone really have “an absence of necessity” or constraint? Only if natural laws and consequences didn’t apply to us—or if we knew for certain the consequences of our choices would always work out in our favor. Can either of those situations apply to us? We will consider this in parts 2 and 3.

To complete the picture of freedom, we must account for reality. Here’s a more complete definition:

Freedom: The state of being where thoughts, choices, and actions are not constrained by external or internal factors, including future consequences.