The world over, people are involved in the pursuit of freedom.
There is no individual of any age that is not involved in a fight for freedom on some level. From an early age, we are consumed by the insatiable desire for freedom from all manner of limitations. We are governed by a yearning to be free... yet we seldom stop to define freedom, to explore the parameters of that which we so fiercely pursue at all costs. Freedom...
The quest for freedom may be a plight to have the freedom of expression, or the right to freely proclaim religious beliefs, or perhaps it is a struggle to be free of a stifling relationship. In the history of our world, there have been those who fought for liberation from oppression; for justice where there has been injustice and for the rights of those who could not fight for themselves. In a global context, we support and even admire the fight for freedom. We understand the nature of the freedom that is being sought. We can identify with the prospect of positive change that freedom will bring.
Conversely, we are often crippled by the futility of our own searches for freedom as individuals. For many of us freedom is epitomised by the ability to do as we please. We fight to rebel against curfews imposed by those who have authority over us. We fight to have the freedom to try smoking, alcohol or other stimulants. We fight to wear what we please, go where we please – to have freedom from that which stops us from exploring our desires. Why then do we find ourselves entrapped by the very things we sought the freedom to choose?
As a child, I was disturbed by the paradox of war. So often portrayed as a fight for freedom of some sort, the process of war destroys the very object of the fight, whether it be a fight for the freedom of a territory or a people. The pursuit of freedom in war is the very means by which the liberation cause is destroyed. I am not saying that all war is in vain. I am saying that when we review history, war has seldom, if ever left that which the fight was about, intact. You may argue that freedom has a price. Indeed, that may be so, and perhaps there are instances where the price is still worth the cost. However, in order to determine whether the price of freedom was in fact justified, we need to define freedom, and herein lies the dilemma.
Could it be that in the pursuit of freedom, we all too often fail to understand that real freedom only comes within the parameters of safe boundaries? What is FREEDOM? Definitions of freedom include “liberty, lack of restrictions, free will, and independence.” To most people, freedom is simply the right to do that which they believe will satisfy them. What if true freedom to be that which we long to be, and to do and say that which we believe, can only be found inside the safety of protection offered to us by rules, regulations and limitations? For instance, our parents keep us safe by imposing rules and limitations. Our governments try and protect us by imposing laws for us to abide by, in the hope that we will be safe on our roads, and in our public places. I believe that God has given us His Word to keep us in a safe place physically, emotionally and spiritually.
I believe that freedom is a paradox. I suspect that it is an illusion that leads us down a road of danger and temptation, ultimately destroying that which we wish to set free within ourselves. Only when we recognise that some rules and regulations are there to protect us and keep us safe, are we really free. Liberated from danger. Free to be all that we were really born to be.