Open Arms

Independence

An Essay for Ashleigh Bairstow

Freedom is the most worthy goal of all, even more than happiness, even more than the happiness of others. Without freedom, we are incapable of making decisions; all of your actions are to some extent decided by others. Before freedom, we do not see the world fully. Instead, we see it as Plato suggested, only the shadows from the firelight on the cave wall and not the objects that create them. Until we are free, we have no way of knowing if what we do is right, because we are not making our own decisions and judgements. Freedom must come before happiness because until we are free we cannot know what happiness really is. Happiness without freedom is based on ignorance. It is the happiness of cattle and it is a false happiness. This may all sound selfish, but the freedom of others is of course equally important, since we have no way of knowing that we are more important than anyone else in the world. However, being free in the mind is more than half of what freedom is, and so we all have to take the final steps ourselves. It is much easier to free oneself than others, and so probably a better use of our time.

Having said how great I think freedom is, I haven’t mentioned what I think it actually is. Freedom is control. That sounds weird; but I don’t mean control over others, I mean self-control. Only when we are in complete control of our lives, physical and mental, will we be free. What Gautama Buddha called ‘Enlightenment’ is pretty much the same thing as what I’m calling freedom. The difference is, Buddhist freedom is a mystical, religious thing. I speak generally, because Buddhism is a broad religion with a lot of variation, but in of its most varieties it is still a religion, with a belief in the supernatural (whether or not this was what Gautama originally intended I don’t know). Buddhist freedom is not only freedom from craving (by which he meant all mean all of the things which stop us from controlling ourselves), but also freedom from the physical world and admission to a higher spiritual plane. I’m not a religious man, so that’s not really my kettle of fish, though its about as reasonable as religion comes. I don’t think there’s any kind of meaning to life, I just think that it’s probably better than death and so I’m willing to make a go of it. Returning to the topic, I don’t believe it’s possible to be free of the physical universe: we will always be controlled by the laws of nature. Therefore, ultimate freedom is impossible. As far as I can see, the only kind of freedom we can have over the laws of nature is the freedom of acceptance. This is the kind of freedom I think Nietzsche was talking about, and what Orwell meant my Big Brother’s slogan ‘Freedom Is Slavery’. The idea is that freedom is impossible and so can at best be illusionary (he was referring more to human society more than the laws of physics). Therefore, the best we can do is control ourselves to the extent that what we wish coincides with what actually happens to us. There is no conflict, and in this way we are free by our acceptance. I would suggest that Orwell did not actually believe this, seeing as this is a slogan of ‘the Party’ which stood for everything he hated, but Nietzsche’s idea is of course much more complicated than my little summary gives credit for. I don’t believe this in terms of human society, so I think it would be a bit hypocritical to try and apply this kind of freedom-by-acceptance only to the laws of physics to get round the inevitable limits they place on freedom. Still, it’s an interesting angle, and perhaps a route to freedom you may find convincing, although I’d rather just accept that our freedom is always going to be limited.

I still haven’t used the word independence. Being independent is being able to determine your own fate and that’s pretty much what I would call freedom as well. Anything that stops us from acting rationally and doing what we know to be right harms our independence. The greatest threat to independence is prejudice. Any kind of received wisdom which we do not question means we are no longer in control of our own opinions.. Independence of thought is the most precious of all independence and once we stop questioning and analysing the world it is lost.

The most basic definition of the word is not to be dependant. People can depend on all kinds of things like alcohol, drugs, sex or food. Just like the laws of physics, we can’t completely escape our dependence; we’ll always depend on the air we breathe. But we can still reduce it, by combating our addictions, whatever they may be. Simply in accepting gifts from other people, we make ourselves dependent on them; we do not get used to dealing with our own problems and a part of our life falls out of our control. We may feel we owe some kind of obligation to our benefactors but feel unable to repay it properly because we do not know how much it is worth. Charity reduces our independence. Ayn Rand took this so far as to mean that we should never help other people without payment, and that government attempts to support people will only make them worse off. I am not as sure as her, but I would say that we should not necessarily always take what is given to us, and when we give to others we should give freely and not burden the recipient with guilt.

Our most serious dependence is usually not drugs or possessions, however, but other people. Power is one manifestation; people try to compensate for their own lack of control over their lives by trying to control the lives of others. In reality those in power are the most restricted of all because they feel the continual pressure of expectations and responsibilities. The desire for status is similar to power. It is a desire to fit in to an acknowledged hierarchy with security and stability. Security and stability which mean, ultimately, restrictions and captivity. It is a coward’s option; security rather than freedom, the same thing that makes us desire peace rather than justice. George Bernard Shaw: ‘Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.’

Even the most sacred subject of our culture ties us in knots of dependence. The desire for love, connected closely with the desire for status, probably does more to reduce our independence than anything else. Here I am battling against all of human evolution which has trained us to desire popularity above all else as a route to further reproduction.. The desire for approval and popularity force us to give up our individuality and live up to the expectations of others, renouncing our independence. Even the more sacred sorts of love, between friends, lovers and families are full of dependence. We become depend on other people, begin to need their approval, need them to understand us. In the process both sides begin to lose their independence, lose the ability to recognise why they loved each other in the first place. I have a great need for other people to understand me, and I strongly suspect the same thing is true of other people. But this is an ultimately doomed endeavour. In the end our minds are separate and can only exist that way. We can never truly understand what another person is thinking; never really get in their shoes and in their skin. I’m not saying we shouldn’t try, only that it’s foolish to expect it. Not being able to fully understand us, other people can only let us down if we do. They may not mean too; but they cannot truly understand our intentions and so cannot fulfil them. We ourselves alone have that power.

Anything that stops us from being able to control ourselves reduces our independence and freedom. Does this really mean that all emotion has to be resisted? Anger certainly makes us lose control, and so does sadness, fear and disgust. Even love and happiness make us act in ways which are beyond our control. In one of his last essays, George Orwell said that he did not like Gandhi because his saintliness made him seem no longer human. Perhaps you think sainthood and perfect independence is something we should all aim for. Perhaps you’d rather remain a flawed human than pay that price. I leave it to you.

Summer Rain

people running round, people running out of time

feels such a struggle, struggle just to rhyme

but its easy to be happy, when the rain’s on your back

the winds prepare to pound, just before the clouds attack

you don’t mind the water when you’re drenched to the skin

its too late to worry once the thunder begins

but I see these intimations

do not move you like me

on thoughts of summer raindrops

our minds will not agree

your icy skin will never burn

your feet will never know

the touch of paths untrodden

the feel the naked snow.

this is also a song about raindrops falling on the shore

a dry land called America that called out for more

we are boats against the current, struggling always to return

beating ceaseless for past loves for which we yearn

I don’t blame you that your faith was so small

‘s easy to survive, just a little lonely, that’s all

the rain abandons us when the wind will blow

the storm has passed over, and I must go.