By The Well Infidel – August 01, 2010
Not many doctors conduct freedom tests on their patients
during clinical history taking. They check blood pressure, heart rate,
weight and height, cholesterol and triglyceride levels and sometimes body
composition, but almost never ask patients about how their liberty is going or
if they feel free enough. In his classic work "How I Found Freedom In An
Unfree World" (Avon, 1973), Harry Browne's first sentence was,
"Freedom is the opportunity to live your life as you want to live
it." That sentence set me on my path to wellness.
Maybe doctors SHOULD conduct freedom checkups on
patients. If not physicians, somebody. Does it not seem as important to a person's well being as weight and
height, and other traditional measures of health that doctors explore in
standard examinations? I think so, mainly because I believe freedom is a
vital element of mental and emotional health, as well.
Freedom is a genuine power word with many connotations and a
lot of historical power and baggage. It is a rallying cry for saints and
scoundrels alike. It has been the watchword for many revolutions, barbaric and
totalitarian as well as democratic and enlightening. Mention the word freedom
in a speech or comment and most will nod assent, but nearly everyone will be
innocent of clues as to what in blazes you're specifically referring
to. Freedom to do what, when, where and under which
conditions? Freedom is more complicated than it sounds.
Yet, most in Western societies (unlike in Islamic theocratic
nations) seem to regard freedom highly. Hegel saw the history of the world
as a record of humanity's progress toward (or retreat from) freedom.
Webster's ninth suggests that freedom is "a quality or state of being
free, a political right, a franchise, a privilege." Further, and this is
where the link with a REAL wellness lifestyle becomes apparent, freedom is a
sense of not being unduly hampered or frustrated.
A key to optimal health and an ability to enjoy the best
life offers in a freedom-based democracy is a vigilance to safeguard mental and
emotional freedoms. At least two health benefits will come from exercising
such freedoms.
The first is less stress, thereby adding to your chances for
personal mastery and a choice-friendly existence. You will have less
stress in part by being more tolerant of people, viewpoints and differences.
You need not worry so much if others approve of the way you dress, how you
look, what you say and with whom you associate. You won't feel a need to reform
others, change the world, right every wrong (choose carefully the wrongs you
plan to right) and vanquish every foe. The second health benefit is that you're
likely to be a more effective and happy person. You will more often get what
you want and less frequently feel angered that people are so screwed up, evil,
stupid and daft (even though all of these suspicions may be reasonable on
occasions).
Consider what the 19th century's greatest orator and leading
advocate for freedom said on the subject well over a century ago—this is
from an 1896 speech entitled "Why I Am An Agnostic:"
When I became convinced that the universe is natural-that all
the ghosts and gods are myths, there entered into my brain, into my soul, into
every drop of my blood, the sense, the feeling, the joy of freedom. The walls
of my prison crumbled and fell, the dungeon was flooded with light, and all the
bolts, and bars, and manacles became dust. I was no longer a servant, a serf,
or a slave. There was for me no master in all the wide world-not even in
infinite space.
I was free-free to think, to express my thoughts-free to live
to my own ideal-free to use all my faculties, all my senses-free to spread
imagination's wings-free to investigate, to guess and dream and hope-free to
judge and determine for myself-free to reject all ignorant and cruel creeds,
all the "inspired" books that savages have produced, and all the
barbarous legends of the past-free from popes and priests-free from all the
"called" and "set apart"-free from sanctified mistakes and
holy lies-free from the fear of eternal pain-free from the winged monsters of
the night-free from devils, ghosts, and gods.
For the first time I was free. There were no prohibited
places in all the realms of thought-no air, no space, where fancy could not
spread her painted wings-no chains for my limbs-no lashes for my back-no fires
for my flesh-no master's frown or threat-no following another's steps-no need
to bow, or cringe, or crawl, or utter lying words. I was free. I stood erect
and fearlessly, joyously, faced all worlds.
And then my heart was filled with gratitude, with
thankfulness, and went out in love to all the heroes, the thinkers who gave
their lives for the liberty of hand and brain-for the freedom of labor and
thought-to those who proudly mounted scaffold's stairs-to those whose flesh was
scarred and torn-to those by fire consumed-to all the wise, the good, the brave
of every land, whose thoughts and deeds have given freedom to the sons of men.
And then I vowed to grasp the torch that they had held, and hold it high, that
light might conquer darkness still.
These are a few reasons why freedom, the "R" in
REAL wellness, has such a central place in the quest for a high quality of
life. Where do you stand? Do you see freedom topics as big for wellness
seekers of optimal well being, maximum satisfaction and meaning? Do you think
Ingersoll's words above still ring true today?
I'm always delighted to hear from you, whether you
agree with me, or vice-versa.
Donald B.
Ardell is the Well Infidel. He
favors evidence over faith, reason over revelation and meaning and purpose over
spirituality. His enthusiasm for
reason, exuberance and liberty are reflected in his books (14), newsletter (543
editions of a weekly report) and lectures across North America and a dozen
other countries.