Freedom - a word that is commonly used and seldom elaborated upon. Everybody I've met wants to experience this. However, I've come to understand that they all mean different things when they talk about freedom. People in some ways even differ in their expectations of freedom and to what degree they want to experience it. In addition to that several conflicts arise in our pursuits and lives as each of us is pursuing freedom in one form or the other. There are several known systems that can deal with some of these conflicts in a very effective way. I'll reserve the discussion of conflicts to a separate post as it takes a huge section in our discussion of freedom.
Freedom exists at several levels. I can identify existential freedom, individual/social freedom as belonging to two different levels. It can also be broadly classified into "freedom from" and "freedom to". Some kinds of freedom on the individual and social level are freedom from exploitation, corruption, abuse, discrimination, hunger, poverty, oppression, injustice, financial and economic dependence. On the "freedom to" category I can identify freedom to live, prosper, pursue our dreams, to express our opinions, to pursue development, to develop our skills and knowledge, to decide on our personal relationships, to lead a life according to our aspirations in an ethical manner and the freedom to create and innovate.
Some of the freedoms in both the categories can be gained only through work at least for most people and some can only be granted by the society of which we are a part of. For example, most people need to have some form of gainful employment to achieve freedom from financial dependence, where as freedom from systemic corruption or oppression can only be achieved with the help of other individuals in the society to a large extent.
Then there is existential freedom from all or some physical and biological constraints/ limitations that is part of the nature of our beings. We don't have wings to fly, hence building machines that help us fly is one way of breaking free from this limitation imposed on us by nature. However, this freedom comes with a new dependence on the technology that helps us overcome that limitation. Hence the question for potential freedom needs to be framed in a way that accounts this creation of new dependence as we overcome some limitation. What is the potential for freedom that exists in our being itself? Is there a way to free ourselves from the physical, biological and social conditioning by using an aspect of our own being?
The second question is about the social context in which any freedom can be achieved by human beings as we are social beings.Is it possible to achieve any of these without the help of society and nature as we are all parts of society and nature is a part of us. These are difficult questions that have fascinated humanity for a long time.
I don't have answers to all these questions at this point. I guess the first step is to identify the question and define it clearly. I'll explore these questions through my own experience and through the lives and works of several thinkers and explorers in subsequent posts.
