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Freedom and Responsibility

indigooceanPosted for Everyone to comment on, 5 years ago5 min read

You know, I understand that a lot of people are only motivated by necessity. Without it they are lost, like a plane flying in a storm without a navigation system. They just sort of wander through life, hoping not to crash into anything, praying they find a good place to land eventually. A hope and a prayer indeed, but no coordinated action.

So to get to live a quality life, they create all sorts of external constraints on themselves. It may seem like the constraints are coming from others, but past childhood it really is the person causing it themselves. They may just have others fulfilling the role of jailer. But they are the ones writing the script then casting someone in the part.

Thankfully I've not really been like that. The very building blocks of my personality were to give it my all, no matter what I was doing. I was one of those kids who was fascinated by every subject at school. I just wanted to learn everything, and also always wanted a perfect score whenever being graded.

Whether that was natural curiosity unsuppressed, or fear of failure amplified, I don't know. Either way, the result has been that I've always been able to motivate myself without necessity. I don't require hardship to get myself thinking creatively and acting enthusiastically to improve things, whether for my benefit or that of others.

The Relationship Between Freedom and Responsibility


We get only as much freedom as we exercise responsibility.

The less responsible you are, the more you will find that your freedom is restricted. That is either because you create all sorts of restrictions for yourself to productively channel your energy, or because your life simply falls apart, cutting off most options to you.

I sit here now, retired while still in full health, and realize that there is a tendency to think of things to add to my schedule that restrict my freedom. I think of ways to give productive order to my life. Thankfully I come to my senses quickly and realize how much more I enjoy each day when there is nothing in particular I need to do at any particular time.

And you know, I don't feel like I'm wasting my life. It doesn't feel dull or boring. I don't wonder "Is this all there is?" Nope. Thoroughly satisfied.

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Of course, I do still have a bit of set obligation to others in any given month. I volunteer at a local shelter. I am planning a free financial workshop series for locals. I lead an online community for people of color endeavoring to rid themselves of the mental chains put on by generations of persecution in their family line. I intend to get out an article a day for the blockchain. But these things are mostly pretty fluid, and certainly don't make my days feel structured.

I have maximum freedom, allowing me to be here or anywhere else in the world, doing nothing or any given thing I might want to do. And I have it because I am so responsible that I can live a life that doesn't fall apart without having order imposed upon it from outside itself.

Now I choose to be in this place living this particular life right now partly because of my decision to do what is best for another living being. I am free to make the choice to prioritize the needs of others above my personal preferences. (My preference would be to be on a beach in Ghana right now, just so you know.)

Freedom and responsibility. They go hand in hand.

If I Wasn't Responsible


If I wasn't so naturally motivated to make the most of my days without needing anything imposed on me, I would probably be working a job right now.

I wouldn't have been able to get myself into a situation where I don't need a set schedule and someone else telling me where to show up when, what to do while I'm there and with whom, and when I can leave. Instead I would have someone telling me how much money they are willing to give me to live on and what I need to do 5 out of 7 days of my week to earn it.

That's because I simply wouldn't have the personal discipline needed to have a completely open schedule and still make enough money to support myself. Or I could manage that, but I wouldn't let myself get far enough ahead to no longer have a grueling schedule I make for myself to maintain it all.

As a business consultant, I knew many, many entrepreneurs who always had themselves in the hustle. They always felt they were falling behind and needing to work harder to be okay. It wasn't real, but it was the story they had convinced themselves of, because they had been trained to need external pressure in order to feel like things were okay.

They saw too much freedom as a threat. They therefore sabotaged themselves whenever they started down a path that was about to lead to financial freedom with abundant free time as well.

In Summary


Well really I could go on about this topic at length. Perhaps I will address other aspects of it some other time. The main thing I'd like to leave you with today are these 2 questions:

What does complete freedom mean to you?

and

Do you think a world in which everyone is completely free would be good or bad?

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