13 September

I think it’s tempting to say freedom is the freedom from responsibility. From attachments, ties, obligations. But I reckon that’s another one of life’s paradoxes. The more attached we are, the more obligations we have and more rules we have to follow, the freer we are. I think when people take rules, for example, and say they restrict freedom, they’re freeloading off an environment they live in which already allows them the choice, to break rules. Gandhi’s family said it cost them a fortune to keep him in poverty, and this is similar - it takes a lot of attachments and rules and obligations (a society) to give a person the ‘freedom’ to ignore rules, obligations and attachments. A better test case for those who think obligations restrict freedom is sitting them alone in the wilderness, or in the middle of the ocean. And see how free they feel, for how long.