Yesterday, my daughter finished her book "The Road to Freedom" by Joseph Stiglitz, and we discussed the same. She told me that the author has discussed how freedom is related to the economy and finances. The author has argued that the state should work for the welfare of the poor because the poor can't gain freedom due to the lack of money, and they have fallen into the trap of poverty not because of their choice, but because a few in the society own disproportionate wealth and somehow wants to maintain those disparities. That deprives the poor of equal chances to grow. In fact, a child born in a financially insecure family has to struggle hard to study and become capable. Struggle is there on every front: right from school fees, to good books, to getting good teachers, to getting a conducive ecosystem, to getting guidance about different possibilities, to money for getting admission to good universities. In most poor families, children also take up some or the other work to add to the resources of the family, and slowly they lose interest in capacity-building, and remain low on capacity all throughout their lives. Slowly, the gap between their skill set and the skill set required for well-paid jobs widens, and they compromise with the low-paid jobs.
Is freedom all about economic, political, or legal freedom? Does that mean that a person in Nazi concentration camp can't be free? Does that mean that a freedom fighter who was imprisoned by the British Government can't be free? I mean to ask whether freedom is dependent upon the circumstances? Are the billionaires in this world free? Are the most powerful leaders of the world free? Are the most powerful bureaucrats free? Are they not slave of their own greed for power and money?
I feel that freedom is a very different concept. We are "free" if we are not "bound". Bound by our fears and greed. We are generally afraid to lose what we have. Be it little money or more money we have; be it our influence in a little group or across the nation; be it our self-image of being good or powerful; be it our social perception of being good, powerful, or rich; be it a shallow relationship or deep. We get tempted by what others have and become greedy for those things, such as money, power, position, image, appreciation, or credit. These needs are the foundation of ambitions. Till the time we have these fears and greed, how can we be free? It is these greed and fears that will keep driving all our decisions. No doubt, our mind will own up to these decisions and pretend as if these decisions are own own decisions. However, the fact of the matter is that we are not "free" and acting under the influence of some or the other "fear" or "greed".
Every moment may be a moment of "freedom" or alternatively driven by "fear" or "greed". Say in this moment, I am writing this blog, it may be driven by some greed of "influencing others" or fear of "losing viewership", or it may be driven by the freedom to express my thoughts. The studies of children may be driven by the fear of scoring fewer marks in the examination or the greed of getting admission to a good college. Or the child may explore the subject matter with freedom. Our work in the office space may be driven by fear of losing the job, or greed to get promotions. Or it may be driven by the freedom to explore something new. The work of a homemaker may be driven by the fear of criticism from family members or the greed for comforts or validation. Or it may be driven by love for the family. Our relationships may be driven by the fear of losing our partner, or fear of criticism by society, or the greed of the constant comforts provided by our partner. Or relationships may be driven by the freedom to explore life with the support of each other.
We have the choice to live life with freedom in almost all situations. It is our fears and greed that make us slaves. A cricket player may enter the field when his team is in the best position and may get out due to the greed of hitting a six, or he may not hit at all due to complacency, leading to an early dismissal after a poor inning. On the other hand, he may enter the field when his team is in the worst shape and play an inning like the one Kapil Dev played in the World Cup. Freedom is not a product of circumstances. A weak mind calculates excessively, and many weak minds are so preoccupied with the calculations of "profit" and "loss" that these thoughts are rarely in the present moment. A free mind, in contrast, is fully present and that adds magic to his inning in this world. Valmiki can write freely despite having been a dacoit early in his life, and Kalidasa, once thought a fool, can become one of the wisest individuals and one of the greatest poets. It all depends on whether we have "freedom" in the present moment or are still lost in computations. We fail to understand that life is not merely a profit and loss statement at the end of the day; rather, it is a memoir of exploration, or a travelogue to be precise.
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