Principles of Freedom – Liberty
I have pondered why the words “liberty” and
“freedom” are often used in the same sentence when I used to think they meant
essentially the same thing. I have come to understand that, while
complementary, they are specific, separate and have definite meanings that we
should consider. Likewise, the words “slavery” and “servitude” are different in
scope and concept.
Most people understand freedom to mean the
absence of constraint - the ability to move, think, express yourself and create
without fear or coercion that we will be limited or punished for doing so.
Freedom comes with the responsibility to not infringe on other people’s
freedoms to do the same and to not do harm to their physical well-being or
property or their emotional or spiritual life.
The term liberty is a little more esoteric.
Liberty is a state of mind, one of being truly free in mind and heart. A person
who is in a state of “liber” or liberty understands justice, equality,
rightness, fairness and many other positive values and lives by them in their
relationships with others and demands that same treatment for themselves. J.B.Books
(John Wayne in the movie The Shootist) says it this way, “I won't be wronged. I won't be
insulted. I won't be laid a-hand on. I don't do these things to other people,
and I require the same from them.”
Liberty is living in harmony with
principles of truth and having those principles as your guiding star. It is
respecting the rights of others and not taking advantage, even if we have the
“freedom” to do so. To me, it is the
imperative that we all need to aspire to. It is what William Wallace
(Braveheart) meant when he yelled “Freedom” and his men joined in the chorus.
Slavery is a term most of us understand but
have not experienced. It is the forcible extraction of labor while being
compelled to stay in a location or under a situation that we have no control
over. Many nations had conditions of slavery in their history and some people
are still used and abused by systems that allow or encourage it. Today those
conditions are maintained more often by threat of violence or forced addiction
to illegal drugs than by chains, but they do exist even in our “free” country.
Servitude is again a more opaque term.
Historically, it could apply to sharecroppers or others that were allowed to
live on land owned by another as long as a significant portion of the
production was given to the land owner as tribute or tax. This situation is
created when the privileged few own most of the land or necessities of life and
dole them out reluctantly to those who work to produce the wealth the few
enjoy. We are moving more and more into a servitude system as the corporations
control more land and wealth and the individual is minimized more and has less
and thus relies more on the “generosity” of those who have much (including the
government).
Because
this is a gradual process, most do not see how servitude to the government and
corporations is eroding our freedoms. Most do not see how much of the education
our children are receiving teaches them to be good worker bees and contributors
rather than creators and leaders. We individually and as families need to be
more aware and educate ourselves as to how we can help reverse the trend
towards servitude and create in ourselves the understanding of liberty and
freedom.
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