Locked Down? Here's How to Be Free

“The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.” Albert Camus.

When our movement is restricted, chances are high that we feel trapped. No matter if we are in prison, in a mental hospital, or quarantined between the four walls of our home; the very idea that we cannot leave can drive us nuts, and nostalgia may arise for the times that we were able to go places.

But there is more to freedom than the mere restriction of physical movement. Moreover, how free are we in the first place? And how can we experience freedom when we are physically trapped?

We could say that the human experience takes place in two separate realms: the outside world and the inside world. Regardless of what’s happening outside, it’s the mind that processes the information that the senses perceive and makes judgments about it based on ideals, convictions, frames of reference, et cetera. This means that different minds can judge the exact same situation in a completely different way.

What one person thinks is acceptable, another thinks is intolerable. The same goes for ugliness and beauty, and also for freedom and imprisonment. Throughout the ages, the concept of freedom - or more specifically: freedom within the outside world - has always been transforming.

The hunters and gatherers of old age, for example, we could see as absolutely free. They were not subjugated to a government, didn’t know national borders, and wouldn’t be arrested when they slept in the wild. However, in a sense, they were also very much unfree.

Because they were always in survival mode and lived with uncertainty in regards to meeting their basic needs, they probably hardly had room for things like self-realization. And as opposed to us modern humans, their lives were restricted to one area.

Not only because there wasn’t any fast transportation, but also because exploring uncharted areas was very dangerous because of wild animals and other tribes that could be hostile. Compared to us, their world was very small. Also, their life expectancy was much shorter.

So not only were they restricted by their mobility; they were also prisoners of time. And we still are, even though modern civilization is much more advanced, which leads to a longer life expectancy.

And through technology, we created the possibility to travel the world and even shoot ourselves into space and visit other planets. In the physical sense, we are way more free than our ancestors. However, our existence is still chained to the things we do not control.

According to absurdist philosopher Albert Camus, humanity is simply a random occurrence in an indifferent universe that imposes all kinds of situations upon us that we have no power over: things like life and death, health and illness, and if we are born in poverty or in a wealthy family.

As Jean-Paul Sartre put it: we are thrown into this world. Thus, it has never been our choice to be here. And even worse: we are bound to our condition. The only way to escape this is suicide, which, according to Camus, is the only truly important philosophical problem.

Long story short: we are quite unfree. Camus compared the human condition to that of a mythological character named Sisyphus, who was a king that challenged the Gods. As a punishment, he was condemned to push a rock uphill that rolled down again when it reached the top, and to repeat this process for eternity.

In a way, Sisyphus is quarantined within the limits of his repetitive task. If that’s us, how could we possibly feel free? If we look at some religious explanations of the human condition, we discover the claim of determinism.

Determinism means that we are all part of a divine plan, and our lives and actions have already been written in the stars. This means that there is no free will, and that everything happens according to the will of God.

But paradoxically, the acceptance of this idea actually gives us a sense of freedom under any circumstances. It’s not that we become physically more free; but the freedom lies in th...