By Choice is Freedom

You can do anything you want. Though we often feel controlled by others and our circumstances, the reality is we are the ones who choose. It’s us and us alone. This can be easily tested.

We do this thing before us or we don’t—though there seems no choice, what we do is our choice. We choose it; we always have and we always will. We can refuse but there are often consequences.

Reframing Our Vision

By taking the time to notice the reality in the concept of our freedom, that which is actualised by choice, life takes on a fresh meaning. Sure, we have people relying upon us, and we even rely upon ourselves to do things toward the achievement of our goals, but we have control.

Now, there’s a great paradox to this control; we actually fear freedom—which gives us the ability to be responsible for our decisions, our actions, the things we’re accountable for; the things that history will note us liable for. We cringe under such responsibility at times.

Where we can conceive the knife-edge reality, that we both crave and fear our freedom, we stand with the possibility of reframing our vision. On the one hand what we crave we actually have, though it’s more natural to think we don’t have it. On the other hand we don’t imagine it consciously at all, but we fear our freedom; not linking the immense responsibility we have in being free.

As we reframe our vision, noting what we crave we actually have and not fearing our responsibilities because achieving them is routine, we have instant access to a meaningful freedom. Freedom works for us on both hands.

Symbolising Our Freedom

What we need is a daily reminder, even moment by moment, as we remember within our conscious thinking how free we are.

Some people carry an Ebenezer stone on them in remembrance of God’s faithfulness as Samuel did (1 Samuel 7:12). Other people carry upon their hearts an image or a liberating quote in their minds—they meditate on these. Others again have freeing routines that remind them their time is sacrosanct. Others, further, have discreet places where they become themselves to themselves.

By choice is freedom. By choice, and the use our imaginations, we decree what we will do. And beyond feeling controlled, we can feel in control just in the way we think. Even when, by our responsibilities, we must choose a certain way, we’re free to be responsible.

It’s enormously liberating to know how much personal control we have; to decide in congruence with what a mature person would decide. There’s much pleasure in that as only we’d feel it.

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Freedom isn’t as abstract a concept as we think. Within the boundaries that make up our lives we have indefinite freedom; freedom to love, to succeed, to fail, to have our opinions. There’s enough freedom in life to feel free, yet not too much to feel out of control. It is this way if we believe it to be this way.

© 2012 S. J. Wickham.