Every living being, including man, always strives for freedom. What does it mean to be free? Each of us reveals this concept in his own way, but at the same time, each of us wants to be free. The freedom of a person depends on himself, as well as on the society in which he lives, as well as on the content that he puts into the concept of "freedom".

Relativity of freedom

Let's take an example. A person, being still in childhood, dreams that he will grow up and become free: you can not listen to your parents, not learn lessons, not go to school. And this hour comes, but it brings other problems: work, children, family. The question arises: when did this person have more freedom? Probably during childhood. For now it is loaded even more and depends on many vital factors. Time has passed. Our hero did not make friends with the law and ended up in prison. Is he free today? Physically, of course not. Morally? It depends on his character: does his conscience gnaw at his deed? Does he care about his family? This shows that such a concept as individual freedom is relative.

From the example, we can conclude that different people in the same conditions will consider their position to be not the same: one may say that he is free, and the second will not be a free person.

What are the types of freedom

The concept of “freedom” is considered by scientists in all its manifestations, and based on this they define four types of freedom. Namely:

The first type is physical freedom. If a person is physically free, then he has the opportunity to go where he wants and do what he wants.

The second type is spiritual freedom. It enables a person to live in his perception of the world, he has the opportunity to express what he thinks about.

The third type is national freedom. A person can live with his people and consider himself a part of it.

The fourth type of freedom is state. It enables a person to choose the government under whose authority he would like to live.

What does it mean to be a free person

We return again to the question of human freedom. First of all, the freedom of the individual must be considered as the freedom of employment. He should do exactly what he likes. His activity should bring for him not only benefit, but also moral pleasure. Are we free from this point of view? Probably not, because today's time does not give us the opportunity to choose the type of activity. We have to do what will bring us prosperity. But material wealth does not provide us with a state of freedom.

Every day, when we come to work, we obey our management, the work schedule of an institution or enterprise, its charter and rules. In its own way, a person becomes a slave to the structure in which he works. It is good when there are the smallest human relations between the employer and the employee, when his work and efforts are evaluated according to their merits. Otherwise, he becomes a small screw of the system that oppresses him.

This leads to the conclusion that a person’s wealth and satiety determines his freedom. A person must work creatively, he must open his soul, give people his skills and show talent. Then it will be possible to say about him that he is really free.

The concept of human freedom can be viewed from many sides and positions, but the main indicator of the definition of one's freedom is the person himself, his thoughts and his attitude to life and the surrounding society.

One of the core values ​​is the right to take control of your own life. Some believe that it is given from birth. Others think that it should be given after reaching adulthood. Still others generally regard independence as a privilege of a separate group of people, based on gender, social or other characteristics. There is no single answer to the question of what freedom is from the standpoint of morality, ethics, philosophy, legislation or social norms. There is only a generalized concept and a large number of interpretations, depending on the point of view from which we consider it.

What is freedom?

The freedom of a person is his right to be the cause of his actions himself, without the influence of external factors. The most generalized definition reveals the essence of the concept, implying the possibility of independent choice of one's life orientations or actions. The issue of freedom is given considerable attention in all religions and philosophies of the world. Its presence is considered one of the highest values ​​along with life itself.

Who is a free man?

From the standpoint of legislation, a free person is one who has the right to certain behavior, enshrined in the Constitution of his country. It's about regulated freedom. The more developed the democracy of a country, the more rights its citizens have.

From the point of view of ethics, a person's freedom is expressed in his ability to manifest his will. But, in this case, it is appropriate to talk about morality, when the will of one can be negatively reflected on someone else. This means that people are still endowed with responsibility to society. Philosophers are the most democratic. Their definition of freedom resembles that given at the beginning of this article, without reference to legislation or a sense of conscience. On the other hand, the possibility of uncontrolled behavior raises a number of moral and ethical questions, making the concept of "absolute" freedom a utopia.

It is most correct to talk about the possibilities to freely perform certain actions, if they do not pose a threat to the life or health of other people, do not infringe on their honor and dignity. After all, otherwise, those around are also free to prevent the immoral behavior of someone by their actions. It turns out a vicious circle.

How can a person achieve freedom?

If we are not talking about extremes, then the possibility of unhindered expression of will is extremely important for everyone. Even if circumstances take away freedom of movement, no one can take away the opportunity to dream and think. In his head, everyone is free as far as his worldview allows him.

Free your mind

The most terrible of all are the shackles that restrain the mind. A free person is, first of all, a person devoid of stereotypes, open to understanding his inner world. It is appropriate to recall the saying about the dream of a slave - "a market where you can buy a master." An extreme form of enslavement, when an individual cannot even imagine something better. If someone decides to become more free, then this path should begin with their thoughts. To believe in freedom yourself, and then to achieve it.

Understand what prevents you from being free

When a person has already embarked on the path of his inner liberation, first of all, he needs to understand what makes him dependent. These factors include:

• Fears, uncertainty, complexes;
• Someone else's opinion, social stereotypes;
• Dependence on financial well-being;
• Inability to make decisions independently.

Independence, being our right, sometimes requires decisive action. She appears in the fight. First of all, with yourself.

Conquer your inner barriers

Fears, insecurity, complexes are firmly rooted in almost everyone. They are the product of past failures. And not only their own, but also their own family. Sometimes parents, having not achieved something in their lives, begin to program children for failure, developing many complexes in them. This becomes the first barrier to individual freedom.

Be sincere to yourself

It is worth respecting the opinions of other people, but it is not advisable to follow it thoughtlessly. Parents, grandparents, friends, comrades, colleagues, can sometimes suggest the right things. But, everyone has their own life and how to manage it is an individual choice. This is the freedom of the individual. Before “turning on” the rebellious spirit, defending your opinion, it is worth, for starters, to develop this opinion. Be an individual, with your own views, desires, needs. If you only follow the rules of the majority, then you can never become yourself.

Stop chasing money

Money is very important in this world, but very often it becomes a trap from which it is difficult to get out. In pursuit of profit, people run the risk of becoming its hostage. This does not mean that it is necessary to give up financial well-being and devote yourself to hermitage. Simply, it is desirable to choose a job, additional income or open your own business in the area that causes the greatest interest and positive emotions.

Learn to make decisions on your own

A serious problem that prevents many people from gaining their independence is the fear of independence. One of the reasons is ignorance, which keeps people like real shackles. Very often, someone becomes dependent on others only because they do not know any other way. Learning more about the laws of the surrounding world, understanding their own capabilities and rights, people receive a powerful weapon in the struggle for their freedom. Fear, as a rule, appears in response to misunderstanding. Thus, expanding one's worldview is able to open freedom, thereby taking the first step towards it.

In addition, an important stage in the development of independence is practice. If you do not start doing something and decide for yourself, then how to become independent? Of course, failures are not excluded, but the one who does nothing is doubly mistaken. After all, human freedom is the realization of his will. The very word "realization" implies activity.

The question of what freedom is can be pondered for years. This is everyone's right. But, in addition to thoughts, it is desirable to embody it in life. If you want to be free, be it! There are a number of barriers along the way, but most of them are in the head. Therefore, the first step towards your liberation can be considered positive thinking and an active life position.

Freedom is a characteristic of the inner state of a person. You can talk about a person's freedom when he is confident in himself, not dependent on someone else's opinion. In turn, a person has confidence in the case when he respects himself (and, consequently, others), knows and accepts the limits of his own and others' responsibility.

A free person is one whose inner state is characterized by freedom.

The explanation presented may be dry and the relationship of one to the other may not be obvious, so I will try to explain in more detail.

When a person is self-confident, he does not care what others think of him, he does not build his behavior so that it necessarily corresponds to the desires of others. Consequently, there is no such situation when an individual would experience such a vile, unpleasant due influence of others on his own decisions - he makes them himself, of his own free will, in a situation of free choice. So he is free. Of course, he takes into account the opinions of others, but these opinions are only taken into account, taken into account when calculating the consequences, but are not a call to action, their cause.

If, for example, a person is imprisoned, having inner freedom, he accepts the situation as it is, and lives with what is here and now, he remains himself, surviving in new conditions.

In order to survive in the world in different conditions, respect and responsibility are needed. Respect, it is not only shown to another, it is also shown to oneself. Moreover, respect for others comes from respect for oneself. If a person does not respect himself, he cannot respect others. The reverse is also true: if a person does not respect others, he does not respect himself. But what is respect? Many confuse it with approval and admiration. However, these are all different concepts, and respect is nothing more than the recognition of a person's right to be the way he is. You recognize this right for yourself - others are automatically endowed with it. You do not recognize the right of others to be as they are - this is an indicator that you do not accept qualities in yourself (even potential ones) that you did not accept in others. The ability to accept is a very important skill, many do not possess it. (By the way, when you get into prison, it is important to “respect” the situation as soon as possible, stop denying it, and be in it (well, where can you get out of it?) And build your relationships with the surrounding new world, based on the new conditions of being in it .) And self-respect gives peace of mind: I know what I have the right to, what I don’t have, and not everything in life depends only on me - some circumstances are stronger, but even in them I am able to remain myself.

And if respect is acceptance, then responsibility is both an incentive to action and its limiter. In a situation of confinement, in order to live with maximum comfort, a person must reconsider his habits, restructure his behavior - this is his responsibility at the initial stage (where there is an incentive). It can limit, for example, the degree of "cooperation" with captors. And under normal conditions, it limits actions that are the responsibility of other people (natural or by agreement). And if you do not take someone else's responsibility on yourself, sooner or later the stranger will have an incentive to do the actions for which he is responsible on his own. I'm not responsible for the opinions and feelings of other people who are annoyed that I wear bright yellow boots and bright red jeans and a floral print shirt. I wear them for myself and for my pleasure. I have the right. Isn't that freedom? And if once I met someone on the way, I received an assessment in the form of the phrase "Hmm ...", and at the same time our paths do not intersect anymore, then everyone remains with his own opinion. And if a person and I often intersect, if I continue to ignore his phrases like "Hmm ...", and sometimes persuasion like "Well, you dress in a normal way, what's this one like?", then over time, a person to get rid of the feeling of irritation, you have to accept the situation as it is, recognize my right to wear what I want to wear, stop teaching me about life. Responsibility is shared, I'm still free, only now I don't have to hear how I should live.

Humans have a natural desire for freedom. Freedom as an end in itself, freedom as a blessing. Freedom as a lifestyle. We've all been through it trying to achieve freedom. But in all my life I have never seen a single free person. No matter how paradoxical it may seem at first glance.

Let's look at a typical human life path.

At first, the child, being a fetus in the womb, is bound by the umbilical cord to its mother and cannot be free. He receives oxygen, nutrients from his mother and is completely dependent on her. When the umbilical cord is cut, the person is again not free, because he begins to be dependent on obstetricians, then on his mother. What kind of freedom are we talking about here? I want to undress - they wrap it. I want to eat - weaned. Everything is determined not by the child himself, but by his environment.

The child is growing up. It seems to be freedom. But restrictions begin again: “don’t go there,” “don’t make noise here,” “don’t do that.” Again, all actions are determined by adults. Mom decides what you eat, how to punish you, when you sleep or go for a walk. Again there is no freedom. And a person thinks - “I’ll grow up and become free!”

School age is coming and, it would seem, you can make independent decisions. But again there is no freedom, because a person begins to depend on teachers, on the demands of all possible help around the house. And again, you do not make decisions, there is no freedom. “Okay,” the child thinks, “I’ll grow up.”

With growth, the child again does not achieve freedom. In high school, he already receives much more serious workloads, begins to depend on his classmates. A person enters society and now depends on him. Even more than from his parents, because he spends less time with them. Social factors determine his behavior.

The thought of freedom does not leave: “I will grow up, and real life will begin!” But after a few years, you begin to depend on another society, that is, on the university. Then you think: “Well, everything. Here is 18 years old - and no one will tell me!” And at the age of 18, for example, love happens, and you already feel responsible to another person. You start to depend on him. Again, you are not the only one who decides everything in your life.

And when you get married, you decide even less. Freedom is limited by other obligations, it is necessary to somehow support the family. You depend on the children, on their desires. Children grow up, responsibility increases, freedom decreases: instead of going with friends to drink beer, you go home because your wife and child are waiting for you at home. When grandchildren appear, you also cannot help but take care of them, because they are so good and loved. Then you get sick and start to depend on doctors. And so on until the end. Until the last breath you depend on someone ...

And now the question arises: where is freedom, and is it possible in principle. What kind of freedom then do people dream of? After all, everyone knows these milestones. How can one then dream of something that is obviously unrealizable? We do not see around us people who consider themselves free. And the question of freedom, as some kind of value in life, is constantly raised, but does not find understanding. It's good to be free, of course. Maybe. That's what we were told, at least. But we do not see such people!

What is freedom in the usual sense? It is the absence of any restrictions that can influence our actions and determine our behavior. We live in a society. A person's society changes throughout life, the intensity and nature of its influence on us changes. But we want to feel free from this society. We cannot feel independent because we are part of it. We can fantasize about freedom, and we will continue to do so until our last breath.

- We after all not only fantasize, but also aspire to freedom. Many adults try to gain this freedom by divorcing their spouse. Some teenagers leave home for this.

Yes. They try to get this freedom, but they never get it in the end. You can get rid of and not depend on your wife, but since you live in society, you cannot do without it. This place can be taken by your friends, another woman, to whom you will again have obligations. And there is no freedom again.

Of course, you can get rid of society. But even then you will not be free. Because you will depend on external conditions: on the weather, on the strength of the building in which you live. The security of your life will be threatened. Freedom itself in the understanding of the absence of restrictions is a complete illusion. It simply cannot be in principle.

- That idea of ​​freedom that you gave: that is, the absence of restrictions, limits, the ability to act in accordance with your desires - did you have it before, in your youth?

Yes. Just like others

- Did you have any events that changed your idea of ​​freedom or did it happen smoothly?

It's just that at some point in your life you begin to analyze, to look around. And gradually you come to the realization that freedom is something unattainable.

Let's see how freedom is interpreted in dictionaries.

“Freedom is the possibility for the subject to manifest his will. Freedom is the ability of a person to act in accordance with his interests and goals, based on the knowledge of objective necessity. Freedom does not have an unambiguous understanding and interpretation.

If we go "from the contrary", freedom is the opposite of, say, slavery. When we do something to some extent for the sake of others, because of external pressure, against our will - this is slavery.

Let's see what happens to people. In fact, all this is easily linked to money. We don't do much for pleasure, not for money. Work is not for money - it's a sacrifice of your time, interests. Although it is highly valued by society. To some extent, such sacrifice can be called freedom. But now this trend is not developed. Basically we work for money. We marry because it is customary. We wash our socks because we have to. Otherwise we wouldn't do anything.

In addition, we depend on the idea that other people form about us. We are extremely dependent on the opinions of people and on our own claims: we never have enough power, praise and money. Our own claims make us dependent on what these claims are aimed at. We begin to do things that we, in fact, do not want to do: get up early in the morning, help someone with something, call someone. But we want to be considered good! And so they have to make some sacrifices. Instead of lying in bed in the morning, we need to get up and go somewhere so that the opinion of us is quite worthy. Plus money. Why do we need this money? And this is where our ego comes in. We think something like this: “I didn’t find myself in the garbage heap. Let those boobies drive Zhiguli. But I deserve more! And he must put his ass in a car with all the amenities. I will work hard, get up early and come back late! And then I will drive this car, show it to everyone and prove to everyone what I am worth!

Sometimes power is even more addictive than money. Some think: “Let me be paid less. Let me not come home and instead spend the day and sleep at work. But if only I get one more star for shoulder straps, because this will confirm my claims. I will prove to myself that I am not some kind of Vasya Pupkin, a miserable sergeant, but a whole lieutenant colonel.

Well, and so on the whole spectrum of our addictions. Dependencies on opinion, social status, power limit our freedom.

- Dependence on money is the most striking example. And it seems to be the most important addiction?

At the current stage of cultural development, this is the most basic dependence. But what is money really?

- Shredded green paper?

That is how it is. If we talk about the functions that they perform, then we can say that money performs the function of exchanging for material values. We know this from economics. It is clear that money is a necessary tool that has always been and, most likely, will be until the very end. Because using squirrel tails as money (we already went through this) is somewhat inconvenient. But there must be some universal and convenient medium of exchange.

But the question is not even in the money itself, whether it be squirrel tails, gold coins or multi-colored cut paper. It is about the motivation of their accumulation. And here such a pattern emerges: people earn and save money (by the way, money is the equivalent of the energy expended) JUST SO. We spend our whole lives in a crazy race, willingly losing our freedom in exchange for the money we earn.

We may do things during working hours in our own interests, but our interests are usually at odds with the interests of the organization we work for. Our self-indulgence will likely not last long. Perhaps in a week or two we will get bored with our occupation. Or it will continue until the first shout of the boss. And then our interesting occupation will no longer seem so interesting to us. Partly also because our actions are contrary to the opinion that we form about ourselves, as well as the opinion and attitude of other people towards us. We are very dependent on the second!

If such a case takes place, then we have to decide what is more important for us. Support your self-importance by sending the boss, and lose money. Or settle down and make money. That is, to decide which dependence dominates. And at the same time we manage to consider ourselves free! Here is an interesting paradox.

It turns out that we are changing one dependency for another.

The worst thing is that any person is dependent on power and money. Some desperately want to find freedom and shout about it from all corners. Well, since you want freedom so much, please, get rid of the main addiction - money. Hand out the money, wrap yourself in a skin and go to the forest.

- But punks, for example, have one freedom, while skinheads have their own. The latter, for example, are trying to make the world around them free from the “blacks” who seem worthy of extermination. .

What does "everyone has different freedom" mean? Freedom is one! It cannot be for someone like this, but for someone it is completely different. I want one, I don't want another. These are not glazed curds in the store. I want - I buy cheese from this manufacturer, but I want another. Freedom is the ability to do what you want. If you are forced to go against your will, stupidly earn money (not just work for pleasure or for the sake of variety for some time, but do it regularly and constantly: day after day, year after year, doing a certain thing), then you are not free! You are in the business of making money. You are definitely addicted. You depend on making money.

This might be good. You will not depend on money - you will depend on those people who will throw you bread or not. It is impossible to get rid of it. Freedom is impossible. If you are not dependent on your boss, then you will depend on a passer-by who will still think whether to throw you a penny or not.

And then what do we do with this money? This is an important point! We spend strength, health, our energy, deny ourselves something in order to earn money, put it in a pile and put it on a shelf. That is, this accumulated energy does not give us anything. It does not matter whether you take them to the bank or leave them at home and put them on the shelf. We believe that we are allegedly investing money in some kind of reliability, in our future. At the same time, if we think soberly, we understand that the future may not come. What is the logic here? Even if tomorrow comes, then something can happen to money: depreciation, devaluation, inflation. We have been through this several times.

At the same time, we seriously believe that money is freedom. If anyone can resolve this paradox, I would be very grateful.

But the worst thing is when we put money in the bank for the future and save it up to, say, $100,000. And at the same time, we think that when we accumulate, then we will become free. And when we make the last contribution, and we have the amount that we aspired to, then we not only do not become free, but even more dependent, dependent on money. Now we are forced to think about how this money does not disappear, so that the bank does not heat us up. That is, we begin to think about how we can protect ourselves from losing this money. The situation is this: there really is money, and they should give freedom. But it turns out quite the opposite ...

And by the way, the most unfree people are rich people who have to constantly think about money. They have to sacrifice their time, their health, their families, relationships with children, friends. It is known that nothing can quarrel as much as money. There is a saying, "If you want to make an enemy, give someone a loan." This is how the equivalent of our labor works, in which we want to see a symbol of freedom.

Well, by the way, one lack of freedom can pass into another. Here is an example - Khodorkovsky, a man who had a lot of money. He was not free from money and from his own claims, and he wanted to convert his funds into power. Converted. Now he's not truly free. But freed from money. Man exchanged one freedom for another. And after all, a person, probably, also dreamed of earning a certain amount of money and becoming free ...

Freedom from power is another example. In general, money and power go together. One is converted to another. What freedom does the President have? Each step of his is determined by the head of security. Every step! A person not only does not have a personal life, he cannot live a full life. He doesn't really belong to himself. The bigger the boss, the bigger the responsibility. The greater the responsibility, the more a person has to sacrifice his own interests for the interests of the workers. If we are talking about a normal responsible boss. Where is freedom here?

By the way, a person who earns money eventually has to spin even more in order to invest this money, not to lose it, etc. That is, with the growth of power, responsibility increases, the energy costs to maintain this state at some stable level increase.

In Orthodoxy, money, power and everything that we exchange our freedom for are synonymous with the word "passion". Passion to get a high position, earn extra $100,000. And when you ask why you need this money, you get the answer - "To buy a new apartment." - "Why?" - "To be comfortable there." Why do you have to work like a convict all your life in order to live in your old age in a luxurious apartment? Is this a smart investment?

Everything that is happening now with our attitude to money is fueled by the media, fueled by the propaganda of consumerism instilled in us. On the radio station "Echo of Moscow" you can hear such slogans: "Who for how much?" (Is it normal at all?) or “Money doesn’t smell!” (That is, it does not matter what kind of money and how received).

So, people thus become slaves of money or things. And this slavery is complete. It is beneficial only to those who produce these things and are at the top of this power structure. If before slaves were dressed in stocks, and they could not escape anywhere, now it is done easier - with the help of money and bills. With their help, they prove to you: “You will still run to the owner! And you will play by our rules!”

If you do not have a new refrigerator, then you are the last sucker. Everyone has it! And the same idea is inspired by advertising, which works in this direction. You're stupid if you haven't bought this juice yet.

Many people succumb to this advertisement and start buying advertised products. From the manufacturer's point of view, a person who does not buy products is not valuable to them. This is an extra person. They are trying to put everyone on some kind of tea for weight loss, on technical means (so that the consumer constantly buys new models and upgrades). And a person becomes a real slave, because he is dependent on advertising, and it forms his way of thinking.

- Probably also the opinion of others.

And so does it. The opinion that money is needed is also imposed from outside. And it is accepted without any critical reflection. With the help of these "trojans", thrown into the human brain, it can be easily controlled (like a computer infected with a virus). That is, no pads are needed anymore. A person can be manipulated anyway. He will play according to the prescribed rules, he will become a cog. Moreover, it is precisely on passionate things that people are kept: on accumulation, on a sense of their own significance, on the weaknesses of a person that are embedded in him. Any religion calls them "passions". What kind of freedom do you want after that, being in prison (that is, being dependent on money, on manipulation, on circumstances, on some of your passions). Some people think: "But I, so smart and free, look at you fools sitting in prison."

Yes, how smart are you? You are in the same prison, only in the next cell!

Our bondage in the form of passions is not enough for us, we still have such a powerful mechanism as lending.

Speaking of loans, we can draw an analogy with a fisherman. Here is a man who works every day for his uncle and goes fishing on weekends. He sits on the shore and thinks: “Here is a fish - a fool. It's on the hook." Although the same person is being led on the same hook. He is here and now (immediately!) offered to buy a thing. Here and now! And it doesn’t matter that a person then overpays 10 times, repaying interest. But he wants to buy the thing now. He doesn't think about the future. Moreover, they say to him - “What are you? Everyone in the West lives like this!” Now, in general, they look askance at those who do not live on credit. We are told: “Come on, take it! Take while the loan is given!

And the person swallows this hook. And then it is in slavery and will not go anywhere. And all why? And all because we want to live "here and now."

These aspirations are fueled by advertising. There is a lot of cash. Money has to work. It makes no sense to invest money in serious, science-intensive industries while fools live in the world. Let them better borrow goods, let them pay interest. And rich people do not need to invest money anywhere, everything is simplified with lending. 10 years ago, no one gave a loan. Money accumulated from those people who put it in a jar or under a mattress. Now that money is being shaken out of them. And to understand this mechanism is very simple, there would be a desire ...

And when you think about all this, it becomes very funny to watch "smart" fishermen. And yet they consider themselves free people! They are sure: “I myself choose what I want? Myself! Do I voluntarily cry? Yes! So I'm free?" Nobody will tell you that you are a slave.

So what is freedom? There are such words in the Gospel: "Know the truth, and the truth will make you free." In the light of what we have said, this sounds rather strange. It would seem that we know many examples of free people. In fact, there are few of them, literally a few.

In fact, free people are people who are in inner harmony with themselves, and dependent only on God. They were not dependent on money and on some passions. And by and large they were not tormented by conscience, they lived in harmony with themselves.

Imagine a situation - a merchant comes to some Orthodox monk and says: “Come on, father, jump three times, say “ku” and bow twice. And I’ll take a bag of money off the cart for you.” In such a situation, the elder will be surprised: “Lord, have mercy! What did you think, dear man? Sick, right?! Why do I need money? My soul is more important to me!” And he will send the merchant to reprimand.

The same elder can be offered power: to become an abbot or a bishop. He will refuse that too. And he does not need all these little things, as they limit freedom. He doesn't need anything. Here it is - inner freedom. There are no attachments, no passions.

One can object: there is no freedom from God. But you can say that there is a loving Father who gives everything to his son. And the son, out of respect for the Father and for the Father, does everything on a completely voluntary basis. This does not in the least contradict his desires and interests. In this case, in general, a person has complete freedom. He does not depend on external factors, does not depend on his father. Whatever the father wants, the son does voluntarily. This is the moment of complete freedom. Not to be free from passions, desires.

If you touch on Buddhism, then here freedom is the state when you are free from attachments. That is, you cannot calmly go to heaven when you have some attachments left on earth. In this case, you leave a particle of yourself on the ground. The same is said in Islam. In general, all religions say that a person cannot be free if he is attached to something here on earth. But it's still difficult to say about the absence of attachments - you still become attached to people, you do good. In our case, we are talking about attachment to things: fame, vanity, to some empty blessings that do not benefit your soul. Your soul will leave this earth and take nothing with it.

And then the elders did not only guess. They had real experience. The experience of observing all the bustle of the world. King Solomon, the richest man of his time, called life "vanity of vanities." What did he miss? Of money? Bulk! Authorities? Above the roof! Concubines? A whole harem! And the fame of his wisdom spread throughout the world. And after all, not the poor man, but the greatest king said that there is nothing earthly that would be worth our efforts. Except love. That is, human relations are important, it is important to have a desire to give away from oneself. Love, sacrifice to another. This is the highest degree of freedom, when I give something, but I don’t need anything in return. Whether a person accepts my gift, does not accept it and spits at me - it doesn’t matter in principle. I am free from any of your decisions: I gave, I gave, and you are free to take or not to take. They say that God is infinite love. And largely because he wants to give. This is freedom in the highest degree!

Previously, after all, people lived free from the weather, from natural disasters, from passions. Now there are few such people. By the way, I saw such free people before their death. Not often, but I had to. The state when a person realizes that he will die. He humbled himself, completed all the affairs on earth and became completely free. He doesn't care what happens next. He is at peace with the whole world. And already even with the sky. And this oncological patient has such calmness, such confidence, such harmony in his soul despite his illness. It's just amazing to watch...

And in war, such cases are possible. When people are under fire. When they accept this inevitability of death, they experience the greatest freedom. They are not tied to anything.

But no one aspires to such freedom. We live in the concept of ephemeral freedom.

Even the same oligarchs are dependent people. They are not really free, being in competition. They can't let their production stop and their competitors go over their heads. Therefore, they are forced to modernize production, produce new products with improved characteristics, or (in the service sector) offer new services to customers.

- Do you aspire to this state?

I aspire, but I think that I am not yet ready to experience such a state. This requires maturity. To do this, you need to do a lot of work on yourself. It doesn't matter how long it takes. Effort matters. It will take a lot of work and the desire to completely remake yourself.

It's very hard to let go of everything. What kind of person, for example, would voluntarily give up power? People, of course, resign, they are fired. But this is accompanied by stress, an internal crisis. Downgrading is always bad, in our understanding. Those people who have power over us (no matter what kind of power it is: with the help of money or power over minds) cannot renounce it. On the contrary, they will try to bind us by all means and use all available opportunities for this.

Actually, slave owners used to do the same with slaves. They came up with the mechanisms of enslavement. No one before on their own initiative, unless, of course, these actions were dictated by some spiritual motives, did not let people go free. Now clear mechanisms for enslaving people are also being created. And the best of them is to tie people to money, that is, to inspire that money is the most necessary thing. And then you can use money to influence people's lives, their desires and actions.

Your feedback

In society, people often talk about freedom; freedom of speech, personality, choice, and many others. Everyone says, but not everyone understands what it is - freedom.

But what does this freedom consist of, and does it mean that a free person should not be responsible for his freedom? These are the questions we decided to discuss at our next round table.

Freedom, like any abstract concept, will cause each person his own ideas and reflections.

In my opinion, freedom is not an external, but an internal state. For example, you can be married, but feel like a free person, free in the sense that you have the right to your opinion, your time, etc. And vice versa, being outwardly a free person, inwardly he seemed to have built a fence around himself from various prohibitions and beliefs.

Freedom is something that cannot be taken away from us and given to us, without our desire to do so. Freedom is an inner state!

Freedom is inextricably linked with responsibility, a person cannot be truly free if he does not take responsibility for his life, if he shifts it to people or circumstances.

Figuratively speaking - "I have the right to any act, thought and feeling, but for each of them I myself am responsible, I am responsible for what I do or do not do."

Therefore, responsibility is one of the criteria of freedom!

Let's feel free and responsible for our lives!

Freedom of speech is that society allows its members to express their thoughts. Provided that these statements do not offend other people, that this is not a threat, that this is respect.

If there is no freedom of speech in society, then people become withdrawn and aggressive. If in society freedom of speech is understood as the freedom to speak nonsense, then society becomes stupid.

Freedom of speech is not the choice of an individual, it is the choice of society.

In general, such general questions are not very clear to me. They can be discussed ad infinitum, but there will be no result. Or it will be abstract, like the question itself.

Hello, dear readers, colleagues.

Being a free person just means taking full responsibility for what happens in my life; for what has already happened in my life: how I live now, who and what surrounds me, how satisfied I am with what I have, how healthy and happy I am. To take full responsibility for what kind of life I am already creating for myself in the future, as they say, what you sow, you will reap: sow a lie - get betrayal; sow greed - get poverty; sow indifference - get loneliness and so on. And in this understanding of freedom there is a lot of freedom of action, freedom of choice, freedom to live the way I like and according to my laws - the freedom to create my life without fear and reproach and without regard for other people's opinions, but at the same time harmoniously fitting into the community of people and wisely using the available social resources for their own benefit and sincerely sharing what has been achieved with others.

The more truly free people, the safer, more interesting and richer life is.

We are all initially FREE in our choice.

We are all responsible for our lives.

However, there are those who recognize their freedom and responsibility, and those who, for some reason, do not.

Freedom and responsibility are strongly intertwined.

With the recognition that ONLY YOU are responsible for YOUR life, and ONLY for your life! give you the FREEDOM to dispose of it as you like, and not waste your energy on limiting the freedom of another person in one way or another.

However, it is important to remember that FREEDOM OF CHOICE is the most precious thing a person has, we are endowed with this from birth. We are always free to choose. That is why it is so important to respect the other person's freedom of choice.

Every day we make this or that CHOICE. Even leaving everything the same is a choice. Even thinking that we are not free is a CHOICE.

An interesting observation: those people who recognize their freedom and responsibility usually show respect for the freedom of choice of other people, they do not impose their opinion, they always strive to give responsibility to a person for his life, but those who do not recognize their freedom themselves strive for this freedom limit others, and they also like to shift responsibility.

Only the recognitionthat you yourself created everything,what do you have in life nowand drew to itself all events (responsibility),give you the opportunityit's ALL Change (freedom).

• Addictions are natural, such as food, sleep, clothing, etc.
• There are superfluous addictions, for example, smoking, as it is not a natural occupation for a person, but an acquired one.
• The human desire for freedom is the maximum desire to get rid of a greater number of addictions by all means. The desire for freedom is a good desire to be better.

I agree, the topic is philosophical. Everyone has their own measure of freedom. For one, this is the freedom to speak the truth in the face of the Other, for another, it is the freedom of choice, and for the third, it is a mirage, an unrealizable dream.

Freedom and responsibility, from my point of view, are interdependent concepts. The more free, the more responsibility.

But I am closer to the definition of freedom as "freedom want". This is the ability to choose a dress, not because Armani or Dior showed "what you want" this year, but because I like it and it suits me. But, definitely, you will have to answer for your desire. At least before the "fashion sentence" :- )

The freedom to be yourself in general is a very unpopular thing in our time. Standards, goals, images hung in front of the population.

And that's the whole point! There is a huge difference in the phrases "I need to be successful" or "I want to be successful." From the second phrase comes through freedom, from the first social conjuncture. Thus, I would correlate the word freedom with the word " individuality".

And the last binding, freedom and life. I think while a person is alive he develops one or another measure of freedom. And only death does not need freedom.

For each person the concept of "freedom" has its own meaning. For example, to be a free person means:

Be free from prejudice.

Be free from other people's opinions.

Be free from resentment and criticism.

Don't be afraid to be misunderstood.

To be open.

Being the first is the first to make contact, the first to smile, the first to start a conversation, the first to express feelings.

Be free in your choice.

You can add to this 5 FREEDOM Virginia Satir:

1. Freedom to see and hear what exists at the present moment here and now, and not what should be, was or will be.

2. The freedom to express what you think and feel, not what others expect of you.

3. Freedom to feel what you feel instead of pretending.

4. The freedom to ask when you need something rather than waiting for permission.

5. The freedom to take responsibility, take risks, instead of choosing safety and not daring to do something new.

freedom , this word, term, from time immemorial excites the great minds of mankind, and various thinkers in the works can find their own definition of this phenomenon. In many ways, these definitions will depend on the personal qualities of the person and the many factors associated with the description.

Homo sapiens, in its quest to become free, has gone through such a long evolutionary path that it seems that the fortress is about to collapse, whether this will actually be known only in the future, perhaps not as far away as it seems.

Freedom is a vague term that has absolutely lost its meaning in modern society. And everyone will give their own definition. But not everyone thinks about it. Maybe he is free who does not go into discussions about freedom? It seems to me that as soon as a person begins to think about freedom, it means that now something or someone is making him unfree. The concept of freedom and unfreedom are connected with each other much stronger than it seems at first glance. For me, the main questions here are: how does a person make himself unfree and for what? Sometimes freedom is not feasible for a person and it is much calmer to be in some lack of freedom. The main thing is not to confuse lack of freedom and a sense of affection, the presence of a connection with things and people.

The term Freedom - has a rather vague definition and therefore, everyone who comes across it often has a subjective understanding. To begin with, we note that freedom is External, when someone either allows us something, or limits it, and internal, when we allow or limit it to ourselves. Sometimes it happens that external and internal freedom coincide, then we have a complete dispersion of thoughts and actions, but this marginal act can be avoided by having clear boundaries that include responsibility for what we do or do not do. Allow or restrict. It happens that external freedom dominates over internal and then we are faced with the limitations of our own capabilities and self-realization. We constantly find a stone in an empty place and by this we justify our inaction. But sometimes inner freedom prevails over outer freedom, and here we see the syndrome of a revolutionary, such a pioneer who is looking for the meaning of life in rebellion. And the last case, there is neither external nor internal freedom - the so-called zone of permanent security. Where everything is always peaceful and calm. No art or creativity. Everything is within the established rules! And in the end, I would like to say that the main thing in freedom is the ability to be who you are, i.e. To be youreself! And then both external and internal freedom will be synchronized and balanced!

Freedom is a theoretical concept, it cannot be felt, touched, smelled - it is something indefinite.

After all, we cannot give a clear definition of this phenomenon and say that freedom is this or that. It seems to me that few people can feel free. Since a truly free person is considered independent of either external or internal factors. And where can freedom come from in a world in which all existing phenomena are interconnected with each other and there is not a single creature that would be absolutely independent of anything?

For example, a child is dependent on the mother from birth, the mother, in turn, is attached to the child and is no longer free to manage her time as she would like, etc. A person depends on the society in which he lives, on a small and global scale, starting from the country and ending with the conditions of work. That is, it is possible to contrast freedom-dependence. That is, a person is free to the extent that he has no dependencies of various kinds. This seems unrealistic to me. But this is if we talk about freedom in the global sense of the word - that is, in my opinion, this is an illusion that comes from the fact that a person thinks that he decides his own destiny and is free from any external and internal influences. That is, paraphrasing, we can say that a person is born free so much that he is able to choose the degree of his slavery.

But in a more subjective sense, freedom seems more real when there is freedom from fears, and the most basic human fear is the fear of death. Since, feeling the acceptance of death as an inevitable factor of any life, a person accepts life itself in the full degree of its freedom, which implies, first of all, openness to what is happening, acceptance of all aspects of life. Openness to yourself, your fears and complexes. Then there is an opportunity to see them closer and get rid of them. Freedom is above all to be natural, that is, to live in harmony with oneself, with the world. Live at the behest of your soul, so to speak, go your own way and be free from any prejudices, patterns, and other things ..

Of course, realizing his choice, a person accordingly assumes responsibility for it. Learning to hear and listen to oneself is the true freedom of man. After all, a truly free person is a person without borders.

"Man is free to become himself or hide behind a façade, to move forward or backward, to behave as a pernicious destroyer of himself and others, or to make himself and others stronger - literally, he is free to live or die." (K. Rogers) Great words! Each person is free to choose his own path in life, because it is not in vain that the Lord gave us this freedom. One thing is often forgotten. Responsibility for the choice is always on the person himself! We ourselves choose our partners in life, wives and husbands, and the person himself makes the choice to continue living with the one who beats and scoffs or to leave. Often treated with the problem of loneliness. “Only married people are drawn to me,” I hear from clients .. Or maybe, unconsciously, of course, the woman herself makes a choice in favor of just such a relationship? It's so easy and there is no responsibility! And the task is to "realize" your unconscious choice and make another, conscious one! I always tell my clients: nothing will happen until you yourself want it." And this is also about freedom. The freedom to be yourself, the freedom to be happy. How I want to live my life, who I want to be with, what I I want from life! A person is free to choose.. The main thing is not to forget about the price.. ..and in conclusion I want to quote one of my favorite poems. It seems to me that it is about freedom:

Everyone chooses for himself a woman, a religion, a road.
Serve the devil or the prophet - everyone chooses for himself.
Everyone chooses for himself a word for love and for prayer.
A sword for a duel, a sword for battle, everyone chooses for himself.
Everyone chooses for themselves.
Shield and armor, staff and patches,
Everyone chooses the measure of final reckoning for himself.
Everyone chooses for himself. I also choose as best I can.
I have no complaints against anyone.
Everyone chooses for himself.

An interesting question: are you a free person? Someone will say... yes, I'm free. But if you think about it, you will understand if I'm really free. More specifically, what is freedom? Freedom is when a person is not attached to anything, and at any moment has the opportunity to do as he wants. But is this really so, and thinking about it, everyone will probably say no. No person on earth is absolutely free, we depend on family, work, environment. But if we speak in a high sense of the meaning of the word, then freedom is what you have inside, how you feel yourself. That is, if you feel free, then you will bring this feeling into your life. Human freedom is a philosophical question, everyone will answer in their own way! As the song says, I'm free, like a bird in the sky, I'm free, I forgot what fear means! Can everyone say that? Question and ellipsis.......

Due to the fact that this is still a psychological portal, I think that it is necessary to separate the concept of socio-political rights and freedoms from the psychological category of Freedom. These are somewhat different things. As you know, the concept of Freedom is one of the key concepts in existential psychology and psychotherapy. And includes:

First of all, the freedom of man to create his own life path ,

- human freedom to will, choose and act ;

And most importantly, from the point of view of psychotherapy, change .

In this sense, we are simply doomed to Be Free. And Freedom is inseparable from Responsibility. Responsibility actually means authorship.

To be aware of one's responsibility means be aware of the creation by oneself of one's "I", one's destiny, one's life's troubles, one's feelings, as well as one's suffering, if any. But at the same time, we are responsible not only for actions, but also for our inaction, for the refusal of choices, of the opportunities that our Life offers us.

But often, instead of accepting this responsibility, a person gives up his freedom, replacing it with the desire to persistently blame other people or forces for his failures. And this search for the perpetrators often drags on for many years.

And this is just the case of a child's idea of ​​Freedom, the motto of which is the following: "It's not me like this, it's Life like this"..." It's them: parents, educators, teachers, bosses, the world is guilty of the fact that I'm like that" ...

"Freedom comes through choice" - this is the main thesis, in my opinion. I can have an almost limitless potential, theoretically master a lot of professions, visit a lot of places, but if I do not choose which of all this wealth I realize at the moment, no movement will happen.

Freedom in this case will remain imaginary, it will be rather thoughts and talk about freedom, and not freedom itself. In this sense, make a choice - and there is my responsibility, my way to realize my freedom in real life .

Also, in order to be fully free, paradoxically, it is important to understand the real limits of my personal freedom:

1.Temporary boundaries . There are 24 hours in a day, and no matter how much I want, they will not become 48 or 72. I can fill them with anything, but from this it is already clear that there is no smell of infinity here - there is a finite number of activities that I can do for this time. But the content of my day is already a matter of my responsibility.

2. Spatial boundaries are closely related to the first point. I can't be in two places at the same time. I choose where I am and what I do.

3. Relationship boundaries - the most controversial point. Here the range of opinions is the widest, from limitless possibilities to the acceptance of everything and everything. In my mind, my "freedom ends where the freedom of another begins" - there is no longer any arbitrariness, there is only dialogue and mutual agreements.

I can fall in love with a girl and make every effort to achieve her favor - this is my zone of freedom and responsibility. But I can not force to love herself is already a question of her freedom. With all my efforts, I may not receive reciprocal love.

And here lies a great danger - a person with ideas of unlimited freedom often begins to look for flaws in himself in such cases - after all, he is responsible for everything! Means always should get the result that was aimed at, otherwise something is wrong in it. Such ideas in cognitive psychotherapy are called irrational - for their unrealism and dogmatism.

If I am aware of the real limits of my freedom and responsibility - I understand that I am not obliged to please everyone, but at the same time I realize that there is an area of ​​\u200b\u200bmy real possibilities - and within this area I make every effort to achieve my dream.

And finally, to the question of "does it mean that a free person should not be responsible for his freedom?" - in my opinion, a free person cannot but bear responsibility for his choice, at least in the form of readiness to receive the consequences of this choice. If this is not so, there is no freedom either, a person simply avoids situations that have significant consequences for him, is busy with self-restraint and, of course, is not free.

The question, it seems to me, has another facet - is it necessary for a person to experience a sense of guilt if he did not get the result he wanted. And here the answer is different - no, not necessarily. The feeling of guilt arises rather with a lack of understanding of one's real boundaries and the presence of ideas of omnipotence. If I am aware of the scope of my real, and not imaginary, possibilities, having received an undesirable result, I simply carry out "work on mistakes", clarifying my personal contribution to the situation. The tools here can be very diverse - independent analysis, psychological counseling, personal psychotherapy, supervision and many others.

In this way, we move away from the simple dichotomy "I am free - I am not free" and get a real idea of ​​\u200b\u200bour capabilities.

To feel like a free person, the most important prerequisite is living together with people who love life. It is transmitted without any words or explanations and, of course, without any preaching about the need to love life. Freedom finds its expression in behavior rather than in ideas, in tone of voice rather than in words. It is felt in the general atmosphere of a person or group, and not in certain principles and rules by which they arrange their lives. Among the warm, loving contact with people during childhood; freedom and absence of threats, teaching principles that lead to inner spiritual strength, and more by example than by moralizing; introduction to the "art of living"; lively exchange with other people and the arrangement of life, determined by genuine interests.

Freedom can be physical and spiritual (or psychological). Physical freedom from bondage and "golden" cells. Psychological freedom is independence in one's feelings, desires, in one's goals and expectations.

You can raise an independent person. To do this, parents must maintain adequate self-esteem for the child, trust the child and give him maximum independence. An independent (free) person is responsible for his own life, for his choices, for his deeds.

In freedom, strength, and flight of fantasies,
Space for thoughts, creativity of the soul ...
She does not tolerate frank relationships,
Her chamber is in the rapturous wilderness!
But there is no freedom if fear is in power.
She is a mirage under the wing of fear!
Such "freedom" is not familiar with happiness
In a crystal clear blue sky.
Freedom is vulnerable and vulnerable
And it's hard to be free
'Cause life often passes by
You look, and loneliness has come ...
In great love, its mighty source,
As God's Gift in our fussy age...
Let not always and not in everything lucky,
But only in freedom is a person happy!

Kuvaev Sergey

When a person is in harmony with happiness and unhappiness, with innocence and guilt, with health and disease, with life and death, new possibilities open up to him. Thanks to this consent, he receives knowledge and power, he receives freedom.

A parable that explains the principle of such consent.

The student asked the wise man, "Tell me, what is freedom?"
“What freedom? the sage replied. - Freedom is different.

First freedom- stupidity. She is like a horse that, rearing up, throws off its rider. Because of this, the horse will later have to feel the firm hand of the rider on itself more strongly.

Second freedom- remorse. It is like a helmsman who stays on a sinking ship instead of getting into a lifeboat.

And third freedom- knowledge. She comes to us after stupidity and remorse. She is like a stalk that sways in the wind, but does not break, because it is flexible.

"And it's all?" the student was surprised.

Then the sage answered him: “Some believe that it is they themselves who are looking for the truth in their souls. But it is the Big Soul who thinks and searches through them.Like nature, she can afford to err; it constantly and effortlessly replaces bad players with new ones. To the same person who allows her to think, she provides some freedom of action and, like a swimmer who allows himself to be carried by the river, brings him to the shore with a common effort.

Good day to all!

Very interesting topic - freedom! Yes, of course, this is a whole philosophy: you can argue for a long time and ornately. I would like to talk about the origins of that very inner freedom, which, in my opinion, makes a person happy and self-sufficient. Now the baby is born and as it grows, it increasingly has the opportunity to take some kind of action of its choice. And then ... the adult next to him determines what and how the child needs to be done for his own good. Of course, you need to take into account the aspect of security and try to create the safest possible environment in advance, and then give the little personality the opportunity to determine and choose the area of ​​​​research. At this stage, it is very important for adults to be patient and add responsibility without comment to the possibility of choice (well, I told you, well, what did you get, etc.).

I would not like to talk about freedom as a social, philosophical category. The word "spirituality" will also not be introduced into this topic, since its meaning is not very clear to me.

I would like to talk about freedom as a basic value in the direction of psychotherapy in which I work.

I am sure that we can live only when we choose. Otherwise, the retained energy from the lack of freedom of choice makes our life dead. In this case, I do not consider choice as an evaluation and rational approach to different alternatives. I consider choice as a mental act, absolutely integral, not proceeding from any grounds.

Such an act is necessarily accompanied by anxiety. And freedom just consists in not avoiding this anxiety, but experiencing it, having the courage to remain in it, to manage your life in it. It is at the very moment when we begin to justify and evaluate our choice that we lose our freedom.

The position of Anastasia Vladimirovna Sapozhnikova resonates with me, who asks the question “How does a person make himself unfree and for what?”. It is a question both human and professional. And it seems to me that an attempt to rationalize, to philosophize about one's choice is one of the ways to avoid anxiety, a way not to experience one's choice, which means not to be free.

As for responsibility, here, in our time, a person does not have any freedom. From early childhood, we are all told about responsibility, and society has long made a choice for us in this sense: responsibility is an obligation in relation to one's life. It is cruel to appeal to the responsibility of people who are already obliged to bear this responsibility on the basis of education, the requirements of society, and laws. Where is the choice here, where is the freedom? I'm not surprised that so many people try to avoid this responsibility.

Freedom can appear only when responsibility is not a duty, but a right. What is most interesting, as soon as a person realizes responsibility as a right (the public is in a panic, this is a duty!!!), a person begins to feel his own internal ethical code, trust in which is the main regulator of relations.

Freedom is not expressed in responsibility as a duty, it is expressed in responsibility as an opportunity and a right.

Regarding this, the parable about stupidity, repentance and knowledge, told by Beshiga Alena Valentinovna, responds to me. Yes, nature can afford to err, it tries, it searches, it lives. We are left with only two paths. We trust her, and live our lives with existential anxiety, but staying true to ourselves. Or we run away from this anxiety, and lose our freedom to live, hiding behind masks and defending ourselves with all sorts of concepts about ourselves, others and the world in general.

The question of freedom is eternally open, not completely defined - it will be significant at all times for a person who is able to realize, desire, achieve goals, defend his individuality. And the deeper he realizes himself as a person, internally free, independently thinking, responsible for his actions, included in the culture of a person, the more acutely he experiences the contradiction between “I am free” and “I am not free”.
Freedom is the spiritual air of man. Culture without freedom is an imaginary culture. An uncultured person usually perceives it as a call to arbitrariness, permissiveness.

Previously, the word freedom was considered as the right to control one's destiny and was a legal concept. It originally referred to a person born to free parents, not from slaves. But to be born free does not mean to remain so. To stay, you need to know yourself, learn to control yourself, manage your habits (including bad ones). After all, it is freedom that distinguishes a person from an animal. A person is able to break the rigid chain "stimulus - reaction" that fetters animals. The stimulus may be hunger, sexual desire, etc. If a predator is hungry, then we can say that hunger is a predator. Predator is attraction itself. But it's impossible to talk about a person like that. Man is a being who can always say "no" to his instincts and should not always say "yes" to them, unless, of course, a healthy psyche.
A person can increase the degree of his freedom. The more mentally healthy he becomes, the higher his ability to build his life constructively, the better he is able to manage the potential of freedom he has. So when the therapist helps the client overcome his personal difficulties, he is actually helping him gain greater freedom.

The theme of freedom is very important in therapy, because everyone has their own understanding of freedom and their relationship with the world, very individual. In the deepest experiences of this concept lies both a huge life potential and inexhaustible anxiety and tension. Freedom is always an opportunity - to want, choose and act. And all together means the opportunity to change, which is the goal of our work with clients. It is freedom that provides the necessary strength for change in life.
“The apostle said: “Everything is allowed to me, but not everything is useful ... I can possess everything, but not everything should possess me.” Freedom is limited by the external world, freedom is limited by the inner world of a person, freedom is limited by the person himself. Freedom is not captured, it is not won, it is not obtained as a gift, for nothing. Freedom is born in accordance with our internal processes of the soul... You have to pay for everything: for your freedom, for the freedom of others, for safety.
Free is the one who has power over his choice, who is aware of the consequences of the choice and does not look for the guilty when something goes wrong, who is able to bear responsibility for all his decisions. Those. freedom is the state of an adult, mature, cultured personality.

Freedom, if we consider it in a specific psychological, and not in a general philosophical sense, is a deeply subjective phenomenon, and this was noted by all the colleagues who spoke.

In the practice of psychological counseling, the question of freedom arises primarily in connection with three themes:

Release from various kinds of dependencies;

Overcoming codependency;

- depression after a divorce/breakup with a loved one.

In each of these cases, behind the uniqueness of the ways in which work with a particular person is going on, the leitmotif is the discovery by a person of his own unique path to liberation. And in each such work, the turning point is when a person realizes that his path to freedom begins not with a change in circumstances or the attitude of other people towards him, but with a change in his attitude to the circumstances and to other people. This moment is, in fact, the discovery of what V. Frankl in his extraordinary book "Man's Search for Meaning" called "the last freedom of man", which no one and nothing can take away from him.

This "last" freedom, recognized by both the ancient Stoics and modern existentialists, is revealed in Frankl's narrative through the extremely dramatic content of his autobiographical experience of being in a German concentration camp during the 2nd World War, "where every detail of camp life was aimed at to deprive the prisoner of the slightest support.

The prisoners were just average, ordinary people, but some of them proved that a person is able to rise above his external destiny. Frankl writes that those who were more physically strong and healthy were more likely to survive in these superhuman efforts, but those who had a very strong human sense in order to survive. It could be the meaning of finding someone who stayed outside the camp, completing the work of a lifetime, participating in underground anti-fascist work, or helping fellow prisoners.

To help a person discover his “last”, or rather the first, basic, initial human freedom, which is the strongest, and sometimes the only support in solving the problem of coping with a difficult life situation - this is by and large the main psychotherapeutic task.