"Freedom Is Life's Great Lie"
Photo by Johannes Plenio on Unsplash
Chris Brogan, a writer whose thinking I really admire, recently wrote about the idea of freedom and the struggle so many of us face between our decision to lead (which requires venturing into the unknown) or be led (where we’re told what we should be doing), especially when it comes to our work.
To illustrate this idea, he included in his most recent email (which I’d highly recommend you subscribe to), a quote from Loki, from the Marvel Comic Book Universe, as he subjugates a crowd of people:
“Is this not simpler? Is this not your natural state? It's the unspoken truth of humanity, that you crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad scramble for power, for identity. You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel.”
It’s not the most positive of quotes, I’ll admit, but I was intrigued by the underlying argument, and as I looked into it, I came across another Loki quote, where upon his arrival on earth, he announces:
“I come with glad tidings of a world made free.” When asked by Nick Fury what that world is free from, he says: “Freedom. Freedom is life’s great lie. Once you accept that, in your heart, you will know peace.”
(Full disclosure: I might have some of the context behind the quote wrong because, shhhh, I’ve only seen a couple of the Avengers movies. But that’s not the point, though.)
The point is, this idea that freedom isn’t what we want but rather it’s something that “diminishes” our life’s joy really got me thinking.
I mean, at first blush, we’d shake our heads when hearing those words. Of course, we all want freedom. We all want to be in charge of our own destinies, in control of charting our world and our path forward. We bristle at the idea that we would willingly be controlled by others, their ideas and their agendas.
Then why don’t we act like it?
As much as we say we demand control, we don’t actually always behave in that way.
From a young age, we’re geared towards structured education models and traditional learning modalities. Our values and doctrines are defined for us by our communities, our families and our schools. We are then, at least in commercial terms, encouraged along well trodden career paths and trajectories that are designed to maximize our well being but only within programmed risk constraints.
And when we then embark on those careers, we more often than not allow the ‘tide’ to guide us, making decisions that are usually carried along by majority consensus, conventional thinking and (often) emotion, versus our own individual judgment and decision-making.
This approach, frankly, is more the fact of our existence than the exception. And why not? It’s the more comfortable path because it offers mitigated risks, certainty of benefits and (oh so important) social acceptance and respect. It’s clearly the easier path.
To choose otherwise would mean venturing into the unknown and charting our own path, which brings with it (potentially) far greater rewards (not just economic but psychic) but a far higher beta (i.e. risk). That’s a trade off we’re often not willing to accept.
Thing is, though, I’m not sure that’s a decision we make consciously - thought through, iterated and then determined on the basis of considered analysis (and yes, a modicum of hopeful optimism).
Instead, we allow the decision process to ‘run itself’, guided by criteria, parameters and metrics that have been configured subconsciously via indoctrination (our upbringing, teachings, biases and baggage, not to mention the related hopes and fears these have generated).
So, I’ll ask again: is ‘Freedom’ what we really want?
I don’t know what you believe, but I’ll tell you what I think. Personally, I believe it is what we want, but it comes at a cost. Costs that we have to decide we’re willing to accept.
And to action this idea requires one of two things to happen: either determined thought and action, or a trigger event that pushes us to that point at which we decide we have no choice but to take the reins.
The former approach is hard. It’s a process fraught with anxiety and uncertainty, one where we need to grapple with our fears and determine that we have less to lose and much more to gain (and if we don’t make it, that we’ll learn to live with the consequences).
The latter (the trigger event) leaves us with no choice. Some shift - external in our environments or internally within us - pushes us well out of our comfort zone leaving us with no choice but to change.
To be clear, this is not a diatribe about leaving your job and blazing down the entrepreneurial path. It could be, but not necessarily.
It’s simply about taking control for ourselves, making our own decisions (for better or for worse) and then living with/dealing with the consequences. At the risk of oversimplifying the core dilemma, each of us need to decide whether or not we believe Loki is right.
If freedom is NOT life’s great lie, then it’s up to us to make it so.
