Freedom (and Discipline)

1) The power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants.

2) The state of not being imprisoned or enslaved.

If you Google the word “freedom” you will end up with the above two statements. No 1 is the one that comes to my mind first, of course, for obvious reasons.

When I was in college I remember in one of my philosophy classes I had the choice to write about freedom or happiness for my final paper.   I chose happiness (perhaps because that’s was I was craving then), because as far as I was concerned, freedom I already had. I was living on campus away from my parents, a fact that gave me plenty of freedom to do whatever I pleased.  I don’t remember what I wrote about “happiness” but I remember that I got an A- and I was very happy because my A- was the only one in class.  I had found happiness (haha); I was an expert on it at least for that semester. 

Then on my next semester during a religion class the professor asked us to define “freedom”. This was a seminar, which meant fewer students in a class, which meant I had to come up with something meaningful because no one will be spared. And again I don’t remember my definition of freedom, most probably because it was some general definition I read or heard or composed on the spot But I do remember the definition of one of the other students; an older woman who was attending college after a) raising 4 kids, b) loosing her husband and one of her kids in an accident and c) was suffering from insomnia.  She said that for her, freedom came hand in hand with discipline and then went on to say that freedom is the ability to choose the most sensible option. And naturally another student asked: “What is the most sensible option?”

“It’s the option that makes me happy because it’s free of guilt and enhances my discipline,” the woman replied at once.

And I thought wow she has really thought about this a lot.

After many talks with my classmates and my friends I realized that she was right. Even for me, freedom means the ability to act in such a way that eliminates guilt. Because if you act and then you feel guilty because of your action/s then that’s not freedom at all. That’s being enslaved, the opposite of freedom.  So yes, freedom goes hand in hand with responsibility, accountability for something/someone.

But still I am not sure about discipline.  In other words I am still not clear how freedom enhances someone’s discipline.  Doesn’t discipline mean obeying rules?  And doesn’t obeying rules mean restraining someone’s freedom.

I need to think more about this for sure!