In which moments do you feel freedom the most?
Love and Freedom.
The more conditions are tied to each, the harder it becomes to feel it. While you can not force either of them to be there or show up or stay. Holding on doesn’t keep it there.
Anywhere I am, I can feel that freedom. As much as I can construct a prison around myself in the most beautiful places on earth.
The rainfall came unexpected. My white shirt is drenched within seconds, I didn’t dress up for a summer storm. Gray clouds, almost black, thunder is growling. A few things I have to do, prepare my work place for the next few weeks, talk to a few people, I am in the City I know best, because I grew up in here. Most corners are familiar. The activities I am about to undergo aren’t exactly of intrinsic value. Even though I enjoy the work I do a lot. The rain falls heavy just when I have to cycle back these few kilometres, not many, but enough to feel the uncomfortable wet and cold of heavens water.
All of it doesn’t get to me. The rain in my face, I open my eyes and see all that sky before me. The green hills transforming into an almost mountain as I cross the bridge over the motorway. So much beauty in that place I have seen a million times. A big smile across my face, I couldn’t hide, even if I wanted to. In that moment I know, I can do any thing with this life, I only have one. Where will I be at the end of this year? I have no idea, everything is possible, again.
That wave of freedom is strong enough to sweep away all the Gray faces, all the sombre memories of these places. And I can feel it, I feel it here in the familiar, in the middle of the rain, as much as I felt it in the Desert or in the Turkish mountains: Free and alive every inch of my body.
For so long I tied that freedom onto outer circumstances. Where I was, with who… and mainly on how many kilometres separated me from my place of birth.
It is like my freedom became subject to a condition measured in numbers, measured in kilometres.
It’s a feeling, it comes from within. When you think about it, really, there should be no situation you couldn’t feel free in.
Still we associate freedom with outer circumstances. On a journey, out in the world with no ties to any place or responsibility. On a mountain peak or in the middle of nowhere.
But really it is only about yourself.
Being squished into a full Bus at 6am on the way to work or hiking through the Himalayas, it is the same.
In which moments do you feel freedom the most?
Cheers for stopping by, have a great week!
All photos and words are owned by ©kesityu taken and written by myself.
Definitely feel that. I love this. Freedom is a choice <3 Thank you for reminding me that while this isn't the place I'd choose to be, I am still free, and that is the only essential.
❤️
I do not know why, but when I read your posts, especially ones like this one, I am reminded by the words of Albert Camus. Obviously, in some sense, freedom was also an issue for him, albeit a bit different. But your words remind me of the same feeling I had when I read (and still read) the Outsider and the Myth of Sisyphus. I cannot find it now, but there is a line in the latter that reads something like "humans find meaning in their routine" and that "the true absurd hero should fight this urge to find meaning in the mundane". And I think this post speaks to that, freedom is a choice, an inner decision.
Anyways, sorry for the long comment about something so strange! I hope it makes sense. Keep well.
Don't be sorry for your comment, I love to read what you associate with! I wouldn't have thought of Camus, and now I notice that I can barely remember his writings even though I used to be really into it , when I read him. (Maybe I'll dig the books back out...)
What I remember is that I read him in a time, where I was actually in this same City I am now, but desperately looking for that freedom which then I couldn't find. So in one way your comment is actually very relevant, kind of closing the circle. Thank you for that!
Oh wow, that is awesome really! What are the chances? In my home language we say “toevallig” or something like “casual or accidental” in English, but it sounds something like “toe val die lig daarop” or directly translated “the light was shining on it”. Meaning that something accidental or per chance opens up new meaning which is not so accidental or by chance. It kind of links with the African philosophical notion that “everything is a missing link in an interconnected world”. Long story short, that was an awesome revelation! Thanks for sharing it. I hope that you find that freedom and that you read Camus again.
That's beautiful, I just had to write it down!
(I love how expressions in different languages make you discover feelings/expressions you knew or sensed and then suddenly you have a specific word for it. Beautiful!)
Language is beautiful and so many hidden truths reside in it! A local language here, isiXhosa and isiZulu both, if I remember correctly, in their way of greeting, which translates to "hallo", but directly translates to "where are you standing", implying that to greet someone is to ask them where their family is, how they are related, and so on. It is very interesting stuff really!
Now replace the word freedom by happiness and it works too ;<)
I am reading a book called Healing and Recovery and it talks about exactly that, among many other things.
Sending a big hug 🤗
Indeed! ...or love
A very big hug back to you🌻
Love is a good one too ♥️
Sending Love and Ecency Vote!
Thank you:)