The Freedom Trap

"Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose,

and nothin' ain't worth nothing but it's free"

From "Me and Bobby McGee"

If there has ever been a more poignant piece of wisdom couched in the lyrics of a popular song, it must be one that I haven't heard. Every time I listen to this I'm reminded of where I live, the Northern Rivers of NSW. This area is awash in leftover Hippies who hoard their freedom like Scrooge Mcduck hoards his gold, locking it away safe and sound lest they ever need it.

And like gold, freedom only's value is in the spending. While it sits there uselessly idle it must be protected and defended at all costs. No commitments can be made, lest they create restrictions on other possibilities. No actions can be taken, should they lead to the consequence of further action being needed. No gifts may be received, opportunities taken or engagements made, lest they give rise to obligations. One must sit like a frightened Dragon jealously guarding ones hoard, not daring to stretch it's magnificent wings and fly into the wide blue sky lest some thief come to steal it away.

In this way freedom becomes the ultimate trap, for what is freedom if it is not the freedom to 'DO' something. If we allow our need for freedom to paralyse us in this way, we are bound as tight as the most desperate of slaves. We are literally without choice, for every choice requires of us that we spend some of our precious freedom. How ironic, that to truly 'enjoy our freedoms' we must relinquish them. Though I speak satirically, I am constantly saddened by the number of people who have fallen into the freedom pit. I watch them writhe around in an agonising illusion of joy, desperately defending against anything that might make a claim on them, completely unaware that the sharpened stakes that are pricking at their bare flesh are actually the myriad thousands of natural impulses and drives that are urging them towards a life of meaning and fulfillment.

"To be or not to be" said the bard. Though I bend this sentiment (perhaps) a little from it's intended mark, I think it nonetheless relevant. "To choose or not to choose" , "to act or not to act", 'to love or not to love" might be some of the many interpretations we can draw, bringing us eventually to the rub - "to live or not to live" -  THAT is the question.