image courtesy of fazen

Since Monday’s post, I’ve been thinking a lot about freedom. What is it? What is it for? As I unpacked and organized and pondered these questions, I remembered Naomi Wolf’s wonderful book Give Me Liberty: A Handbook for American Revolutionaries, and specifically this passage on the Declaration of Independence:

The Declaration is not saying: “Hurrah, you are born free, enjoy your bingo or your yoga as you see fit.” ... Rather, it is saying something darker and more personally demanding: you have a sacred obligation to take the most serious possible steps and undergo the most serious kinds of personal risks in defense of this freedom that is your natural right ... Jefferson left us not a guarantee of a life basking in a lawn chair, but rather a guarantee of a life of personal upheaval and sacrifice when necessary.

In May I wrote that this blew my mind, and that’s still the case several months later. I’ve made a lot of changes over the last few years in the pursuit of more freedom—creating a flexible work arrangement, saving money, even starting a practice of meditation, which is largely about gaining freedom from one’s own history and thought patterns.

This process has worked well, and at this point in my life, I am freer than I ever have been. Many of us are—more people are working for themselves and traveling and designing new lifestyles than ever before in history. The people reading this site are, for the most part, free in a way that has no precedent in human history.

The question now is, what are we doing with this freedom, with these opportunities?

Just as money freed up doesn’t amount to much if it’s frittered away, so personal freedom is absolutely useless if not put into the service of something greater. It isn’t just about being able to do what we want. In its highest expression, freedom is fierce and productive. It seeks to expand and concoct.

Today my goal is to remember what freedom is for—creation and contribution—and to use mine wisely.