The Price Of Freedom

Many seek freedom, but few know its price.

One of the aspects that attracted me the most in entrepreneurship is creative freedom. I can work on what I want, whenever I please, with whoever I desire―at least in theory.

There is a form of transcendence in navigating past the known world one could call freedom. Entrepreneurship is a quest for truth, and when I think about truth and freedom I’m always remembered of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave: if you happen to inadvertently break your chains and face the blinding sun, you are exposed to a new reality, hard to understand because fundamentally different from the one you experienced in the cave.

I sometimes feel unworthy of the freedom I have been granted―maybe it’s part of the Imposter Syndrome we all experience at some point in life. Let’s call it Freedom Guilt: the irrational feeling you owe a debt to the world for the freedom you are experiencing. In Plato’s allegory, the free man goes back to the cave to bring the new-found truth to his fellow men to make up for the guilt. It’s a vicious cycle that cannot end up well.

I see a parallel with the concept of Original Sin: accessing new knowledge results in a collective guilt humans have to make up for.

Freedom is power, does it always imply responsibility? I am convinced people tend to underestimate the price of freedom: time isn’t the most expensive thing in the world, because freedom is.

Freedom is built. It requires skills that take years to learn, be good at, and live from—even something apparently as simple as cultivating a garden to grow your own food. One is neither born free nor granted freedom, for golden jails are everywhere.

Freedom is bought. It doesn’t require much capital, but one needs to control his personal finances―and thus his desires―to rule over his life. You can never completely live outside of society, so money remains a necessary medium.

Freedom demands a sacrifice called solitude. People live for people: they bring us joy, fulfillment, and liberate our soul. But the one that can’t live without others constantly by his side is also a hopeless slave of the crowd. Not to mention toxic relationships that only corrupt the mind.

If freedom is the highest good, giving it up is the best present one can offer. Be wary of who you marry, who you hang out with, who you work for… for freedom is easily given and hardly received.