What does it really mean to be free?
The ability to do whatever we want, whenever we want, however we want? Maybe.
If you were to wander into the wilderness by yourself, technically you’d be “free,” if that’s how we’re defining freedom. In the wilderness there’s no one to tell you what to do or what not to do. Run. Be free. Satisfy every desire you have with no need for an end. Freedom?
Or is it that in this case we are merely at the whims of our own animal desires? Is there more to freedom than that? One begins to wonder if we are ever truly free, so long as we exist.
This might appear to be turning nihilist, but read on for just a minute and you’ll see that it isn’t.
So let’s say you do run off into the wilderness to be “free.” Yay for you. Just one question: now what? You’ve left behind all the restrictions that society and the cruel patriarchy have tried to place upon you, you’re in charge now. Now you’re playing by your rules, and currently those rules are “you can do anything.” So…what now?
Restrictions inspire creativity
Think about board games for a minute. Your friend invites you over for board game night. He picks out a game, opens the box, and begins to unfold the board while you shuffle the cards. He pulls out the game pieces and organizes them into neat piles. Finally, the dice are rolled and it is determined that you will go first. Just one problem:
“How do I play?”
“Oh, you’re free to play as you like.”
“Okay…but what are the rules?”
“There aren’t any. You’re free to do whatever you want.”
So you sit there for a minute and contemplate what you might do. You could choose a piece and move it a few spaces on the board. You could also draw some cards. You could move all the pieces. You could hang the board on the wall and throw the pieces at it, or you could just throw the dice at your friend. Infinite possibilities! A truly groundbreaking board game.
Except for the fact that I’m guessing none of you want to play this board game. Unless you’re a complete anarchist (which I guess is possible), the game doesn’t sound appealing at all. With no restrictions, there’s no reason to play. No goal is placed, no rules about how you are to achieve that goal are set, and no system of right and wrong gives the game any interest.
While there aren’t any board games in existence like this, there are some video games which claim to be similar. If you’ve ever played many video games, I’m sure you’ve heard of “sandbox” games or a “sandbox mode” in some games, the most notable sandbox game being Minecraft. If you’re not a gamer, that’s okay, I’ll give the details to make my point even if you’ve never played any of these games. Sandbox games or sandbox mode in a game is a style where the player has complete freedom to do whatever they want in the game, walking around, building things, or exploring the world without any fear of hostility or hinderance of any kind.
Games like this are often enjoyable in the beginning, but quickly lose their appeal due to the lack of direction or motive for the player to continue. What little appeal they still have is a fact of the restrictions of the mechanics of the game itself, such as Minecraft having a finite number of block types that the player can build with, or Garry’s Mod having a physics-based world.
If you take a look at content creators in the world of video games, especially the ones who have made their name playing sandbox games, you’ll find that many of them will often take on “challenges” within the games, upping the ante by adding additional restrictions to the game so viewers remain interested, and I’m sure also so they themselves don’t die of boredom.
It becomes obvious looking at board games and video games that often we desire restrictions. I picked these two examples because they were familiar to me, but I’m sure there’s many other examples of this. Restrictions inspire us to do something great in spite of the restrictions. They give us a path forward, so long as we can learn how to use the restrictions to our advantage. If there are no restrictions, we’ll make some up to conjure some purpose out of the nothingness.
So this talk of restrictions leads to purpose and keeps things from being boring, but what does it have to do with freedom?
To understand that, we must turn our attention to musicians.
Freedom Through Submission
Imagine you lived in Vienna when Beethoven was in his prime. One evening, you are privileged to be able to attend a live performance of Beethoven, performing his latest piano sonata. You sit in the audience in awe as you watch his fingers fly across the keys, his eyes closed and his head back, as the music just seems to flow from inside of him. He plays minor arpeggios at insane speeds, and pulls out trills and grace notes with no sign of effort. You listen and begin to think “wow, he can do whatever he wants!”
In his book The World Beyond Your Head, Matthew B. Crawford relates a similar experience he had while listening to bluegrass guitarist Tony Rice. Tony Rice had complete freedom while playing his instrument. Yet, Crawford says that “‘freedom’ doesn’t seem quite the right concept to capture this expressive power, if by that term we mean an untutored exercise of the will.”
So freedom must be more than merely doing “whatever we want” with no limits to the context in which that applies. If we saw a musician beat their instrument with a hammer or punch it with their fist, we wouldn’t react by saying “wow, they can do whatever they want.” There are specific limits and rules in which this ‘freedom’ must be obtained.
For a musician to gain this ‘freedom of expression,’ she musician must first submit herself to the rules of music.
“The musician’s power of expression is founded upon a prior obedience.” - Matthew B. Crawford
Only in complete obedience to the rules of music does the musician gain complete freedom to express themselves however they desire.
These rules aren’t arbitrary either, the rules of music follow the mathematical rules of physics. Changing the length of the string on a piano directly correlates to the change in pitch. Our human minds and bodies are uniquely attuned to rhythm because of the rhythm required to be able to walk without stumbling and the rhythm that our heart beats to keep us alive.
“The education of the musician sheds light on the basic character of human agency, namely that it arises only within concrete limits.” - Matthew B. Crawford
Unlocking the freedom of flight required humanity to submit to the laws of physics. Understanding them, abiding by them, and harnessing them.
To learn a new language and gain the freedom to express yourself within that language, you must submit to the rules of said language: the grammar, the vocal intonation, the particular sounds and rhythms that make the words what they are. Without the rules of language, communication would be impossible and meaningless.
If you’re familiar with the Biblical story of Jehovah delivering the Israelites from their enslavement in Egypt, you’ll also remember that shortly after God gives the Israelites His own law. At first glance one might think that the Israelites have just gone from one oppression to another, from the Egyptians robbing their freedom to God doing the same. But if you look at the Israelites, you’ll see that’s not how they feel. Through the law, they are brought closer to God and begin to understand who He is.
Conclusion
…the skills one exercises in any impressive human performance are built up through submission—to “authoritative structures”… - Matthew B. Crawford, The World Beyond Your Head
It might seem a strange concept that freedom would come through submission to a set of rules. Understandably so. But clearly through many examples we can see that that’s how the world works.
It’s not about having no rules, it’s about transcending the rules and going beyond them. Understanding the rules so much that they are no longer just rules, they are Truths. Obviously, this requires finding the right set of rules, as some may not be able to be called Truths, but they are out there.
Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 5:17-19 KJV