Dreams of Freedom

 This week's quote reads, "Tame birds dream of freedom, wild birds fly."

Which I think has a certain amount of truth in it, but also ignores the fact that sometimes, being behind bars (as symbolised by the tame birds) is not always (or even, perhaps, often) a matter of choice or custom, but a matter of unforgiving and unrelenting circumstance, outside our control.

There are two types of freedom: Freedom From and Freedom To. So, freedom from constraints, oppression, pain, for example. Freedom to believe and do what we like. Neither of which are available to us, all (or even much) of the time. 

How many of us can say, hand on heart, that we are truly free? I would guess that the lives of most of us are constrained in some way, at least some of the time - by not being allowed / able to do what we want to (constraints); by being picked on (or worse) by others because we do not fit in with some mythical "norm" (oppression); by our bodies letting us down or wearing out (pain). All these things limit our freedom.

And even fewer of us are free to do what we like, and not do what we don't like. There may be laws against it, or society frowns on it, or we have to spend a large proportion of our time doing things we need to do (like earning enough money to cover our costs of living or caring for our loved ones), or we simply do not have the time and energy to do it (whatever it is). To give one example, over the last few weeks, while I was poorly, I was signed off work and so in theory was free to do whatever I liked. But because I was ill, I was constrained by the limits of what my body could do.

Perhaps the only true freedom is that which resides inside our heads. We are free to choose what we believe about our lives, about God, about other people; and free to choose how we respond to those aforementioned unforgiving and unrelenting circumstances. Which may make all the difference to our happiness - I love the Serenity Prayer, by the Protestant theologian, Reinhold Niebuhr, the first part of which reads:

"God grant me the serenity

to accept the things I cannot change;

courage to change the things I can;

and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;

enjoying one moment at a time;

accepting hardships as the pathway to peace."

If we can attain (and then hold onto) that mindset, we will be truly free, in all the ways that matter.