Confinement can
sometimes be better off than freedom. Wait, before you react to this, let me
just say that this piece doesn’t come from a person who is confined to an
ideological matter relating to something like… religion or politics, et cetera.
Because I will not let myself be bound to those ideas for me to think of
matters concerning what life should be, in my point of view. Hey, we’re all
beings of thought here, thus, we are entitled to our own opinions of our views
in life. So, what then is the reason why I mentioned those words in the first
sentence? Perhaps we should look better at confinement as a means for one to be
free rather than see confinement as a matter of being chained in a box outside
of being liberated.
Ironic
as it may seem but the truth of this matter can be seen in our very lives, I’ve
seen it in mine, I don’t know about yours. But mostly, as far as my observation
to other people’s lives (and mine) is concerned, I have seen this irony and am
continually seeing so as long as I’m breathing. So, why is it better for some
to be confined rather than be free? Why is it better to be bound to something
than to be liberated by someone, or something? I’ve been asking these questions
to myself more than a dozen times and have attempted to shed some answers to it
more than I ask about it.
Confinement as the Basis for Freedom
Whether we like it or not, we are not free; we are not in
a state we deem to think being free in any way. Being a part of a society that
builds itself on politics and laws, we are bounded on a set of codes that makes
our society what it is. Under those codes, we have set a standard for freedom
and if we deprive ourselves from those, we are considered outlaws of the
society we claim to be a part of. Unless, of course, we submit ourselves to
those moral codes that we’ve established that should exert punishment for our
deflection, we can have a chance yet to be accepted back by the society we
ought to live in. By this, I am reminded of what Jean-Jacques Rousseau pointed
out that, “Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.” In my
understanding of this, we are free yet that freedom is only a matter of what
the law says we are. If I’d furthermore explain this, we’ll just go
round-and-round the context that I’ve already presented, thus, we proceed to
another point by which I shall conclude this “opinionated” blog.
Freedom as a Means of Discord
I myself am a “professing” anarchist; anarchist by means
of subjecting myself with my own understanding of some concepts that others
prefer to accept without deeply looking at it. But I am not saying that others
just don’t view things deeper. As I’ve said, we have our own opinions and we
are subjected to raise those opinions whenever we want to. So, what then is the
basis of anarchism without viewing lawlessness and discord? As some view
anarchism as a matter of chaos and turbulence. But for me, anarchism is simply
viewing things differently from what most people view it to be. Anarchism is
therefore, for me, a matter of private opinion than a basis of turmoil.
Now let us go back to freedom. Have you ever heard of the
phrase, “Men are free, but not TOTALLY free.”? Well, for some good reason, this
phrase has a significant amount of validity since, as I’ve pointed out, men are
bound by the laws their society has built on. Now, being free, and I mean total
freedom, can be a basis of discord than a means of positive liberty. This is
where confinement then arrives. In order for a society to thrive and survive,
the law is created to suppress discord and therefore confine the people to a
norm that should make the society it builds be in harmony we can only describe
as “peace”. We now arrive to the conclusion that peace is the only way for a
society to thrive. However, peace is just another idiosyncratic mode of
building a genuine account for true liberty. There is a much greater factor
that we should view at freedom rather than discord, and we should confine ourselves
to it to be truly liberated from the superficial amounts of freedom that the
law provides. Love.
Love is the profoundest way that we should allow
ourselves to be confined with so that we can be entirely free. It is not just a
maudlin aspect, but the only true basis that we could conclude so that we can
be truly free. It is the object by which peace is contained, it is the prison
by which we should lock ourselves into, and it is the very matter at the core
of our search for genuine freedom. But it is ironic that we profess to love but
still we grip on hate, thus freeing ourselves from it, and in doing so, be
confined to the very thing we loathe… discord.
