Freedom feels like…
Riding my bike down a (not-too-big) hill
Diving into water – river, lake, ocean, pool
Moving to a really good song
Freedom is a word that is tossed around a lot, particularly in the United States. “Land of the Free” is an admirable aspiration, but largely (especially if you aren’t a wealthy, straight, white man) its manifestation falls short.
What’s more, we come at freedom from different directions: freedom from (sometimes called “negative freedom), freedom to (or “positive freedom”). And these two kinds of freedom often bump right up against each other. (For historical underpinnings of these philosophical approaches to freedom, read this.)
As neither philosopher nor historian, I am instead curious about what freedom feels like and how we create it in our lived experience. American singer, songwriter, pianist, and civil rights activist, Nina Simone spoke of what freedom feels like in this short video (in 90 seconds watch her transform from aloof to deeply moved). In it, she says,
“Freedom is a feeeling….Freedom is no fear.” ~ Nina Simone (1933-2003)
As a Black woman living and performing in the mid-20th century, Simone’s emotional description of a nearly indescribable feeling makes complete sense. I can barely imagine the kind of constant fear she experienced and how much she was deprived of both freedoms from and the freedoms to.
For me, freedom is a feeling and yet often when I feel most free is when I am also feeling some fear. Doing something new, taking a risk, pushing into uncharted territory.
Which leads me to American novelist, Ursula K. Le Guin’s words:
“Change is freedom, change is life.
“It's always easier not to think for oneself. Find a nice safe hierarchy and settle in. Don't make changes, don't risk disapproval, don't upset your syndics. It's always easiest to let yourself be governed.
“There's a point, around age twenty, when you have to choose whether to be like everybody else the rest of your life, or to make a virtue of your peculiarities.
“Those who build walls are their own prisoners. I'm going to go fulfil my proper function in the social organism. I'm going to go unbuild walls.” ~ Ursula Le Guin (1929-2018)
While I certainly (absolutely, positively) did not have this kind of change freedom at age twenty, I do feel the possibilities for it as I approach sixty. Only now do I feel the glimmering prospect of making “a virtue of [my] peculiarities.” I know the power of change and the courage it takes to step into it. And the truth of “freedom is change” can only happen from the inside out.
Which, in turn, leads me to this from American singer, poet and songwriter, Jim Morrison.
“The most important kind of freedom is to be what you really are. You trade in your reality for a role. You trade in your sense for an act. You give up your ability to feel, and in exchange, put on a mask. There can't be any large-scale revolution until there's a personal revolution, on an individual level. It's got to happen inside first.” ~ Jim Morrison (1943-1971)
What is freedom in a time when political polarization has us clutching our freedom, glaring at each other, daring each other to take it away? How can I be free from the fear of gun violence when others want the freedom to bear military weapons? How can I be free to have full body sovereignty and autonomy when others want freedom for a fetus? How can a gender fluid person be free when others want the freedom to define gender as a binary?
Together, these three thinkers have the seeds of an answer: Freedom is a feeeeling, go unbuild walls, a personal revolution. Can I notice what freedom feels like in my body? What am I doing when I feel the most free? Can I notice where my freedom to do something impedes someone else’s freedom from something? How can I embody freedom and change?
Ursula Le Guin also said, “You cannot buy the revolution. You cannot make the revolution. You can only be the revolution. It is in your spirit, or it is nowhere.” Freedom must be in your spirit...and your body. When we embody freedom, we are freedom. Rather than approaching freedom from a fearful, clutching place, we can be freedom and work toward making it possible for everybody.