Thanks for this. What comes to mind is that these days I've been thinking of freedom, true freedom, in terms of security. Financial freedom, for example, for me is not about buying whatever I want but being able to make a life of my choosing, to weather job loss, to choose to move cities, to withstand life's unexpected and still have agency of my life. In short- maybe assurance of living how and where I want to live- by minimizing debts and liabilities. Similarly, we have freedom when certain rights are secured- when they're free from danger. But in practice, as you've pointed out, securing the blessings of liberty requires us to know just exactly what blessings we are after. Declaring that we don't know exactly where our true best interest lies is a good place to start finding it. I love that. As an aside, and going back to the financial metaphor, I wonder what we would find if we ask what debt/liabilities we own that jeopardize our liberty and the blessings we seek?
Thanks, DB, for your reading and comment. I like this question - in part because, in the spirit of this piece, I have no idea how to answer it. In strict financial terms, it is clear what debt means, but what does it mean when talking about freedom generally? Could, for instance, our geographical displacement from our families, could our contemporary rootlessness and ensuing impoverished connection to our immediate community be a "debt" we owe to the modern world? It does seem to me to be an obstacle, to freedom and the blessings I think we want, but what more is added by thinking of it as a debt? If so, ultimately what are our other debts to the modern world and how can we minimize them? Or rather: ordinarily you pay debts, and if you can't, you're bankrupt, but I think we can also consider what things we are asked to pay, and judge whether or not the institution demanding them is or is not bankrupt. Looking forward to continuing this convo!
Maybe thinking of debts negatively is a little too simplistic. We will always be putting our time, money, and being somewhere- but the question of where and whether they make us richer people is maybe more of the question at hand. "Where your treasures are, there your heart will be also". The idea of debt implies that something has been lent to us and that we still owe on it. This is done in the prospect of owning something for ourselves and making the lender (at least) whole. In the blessings we pursue, what are we trying to own for ourselves? Who do we owe? What's the cost of our payments? In the example of the "rootlessness", what are we trying to own for ourselves? Are we aiming to own some kind of status, financial security, happiness, sense of home we never had with our families? In uprooting from one's family or from our community, there may be something worth owning there, but also, there may not be. What we seek to own is important, but so are the payments of our time, energy, and treasures. Some of our pursuits may not be bad pursuits, but they may cost a lot. An 80 hour work week, disconnection from family, $1,500/month in rent. But I think maybe this idea first of all of whether we are pursuing to own the right things is a good place to start. As for what other debts we owe I think we try to own comfort and pay dearly in pursuit of it. I think where we're making our payments in pursuit of comfort would definitely be in the category of "storing your treasures on earth" Jesus warned about. Ultimately a worthless institution, or at least susceptible to devastation.
Thanks for this. What comes to mind is that these days I've been thinking of freedom, true freedom, in terms of security. Financial freedom, for example, for me is not about buying whatever I want but being able to make a life of my choosing, to weather job loss, to choose to move cities, to withstand life's unexpected and still have agency of my life. In short- maybe assurance of living how and where I want to live- by minimizing debts and liabilities. Similarly, we have freedom when certain rights are secured- when they're free from danger. But in practice, as you've pointed out, securing the blessings of liberty requires us to know just exactly what blessings we are after. Declaring that we don't know exactly where our true best interest lies is a good place to start finding it. I love that. As an aside, and going back to the financial metaphor, I wonder what we would find if we ask what debt/liabilities we own that jeopardize our liberty and the blessings we seek?
Thanks, DB, for your reading and comment. I like this question - in part because, in the spirit of this piece, I have no idea how to answer it. In strict financial terms, it is clear what debt means, but what does it mean when talking about freedom generally? Could, for instance, our geographical displacement from our families, could our contemporary rootlessness and ensuing impoverished connection to our immediate community be a "debt" we owe to the modern world? It does seem to me to be an obstacle, to freedom and the blessings I think we want, but what more is added by thinking of it as a debt? If so, ultimately what are our other debts to the modern world and how can we minimize them? Or rather: ordinarily you pay debts, and if you can't, you're bankrupt, but I think we can also consider what things we are asked to pay, and judge whether or not the institution demanding them is or is not bankrupt. Looking forward to continuing this convo!
Maybe thinking of debts negatively is a little too simplistic. We will always be putting our time, money, and being somewhere- but the question of where and whether they make us richer people is maybe more of the question at hand. "Where your treasures are, there your heart will be also". The idea of debt implies that something has been lent to us and that we still owe on it. This is done in the prospect of owning something for ourselves and making the lender (at least) whole. In the blessings we pursue, what are we trying to own for ourselves? Who do we owe? What's the cost of our payments? In the example of the "rootlessness", what are we trying to own for ourselves? Are we aiming to own some kind of status, financial security, happiness, sense of home we never had with our families? In uprooting from one's family or from our community, there may be something worth owning there, but also, there may not be. What we seek to own is important, but so are the payments of our time, energy, and treasures. Some of our pursuits may not be bad pursuits, but they may cost a lot. An 80 hour work week, disconnection from family, $1,500/month in rent. But I think maybe this idea first of all of whether we are pursuing to own the right things is a good place to start. As for what other debts we owe I think we try to own comfort and pay dearly in pursuit of it. I think where we're making our payments in pursuit of comfort would definitely be in the category of "storing your treasures on earth" Jesus warned about. Ultimately a worthless institution, or at least susceptible to devastation.
To borrow a line from Moby-Dick, "There's another rendering now; but still one text." Who is Strauss? That's not a question I mean to raise or settle.