A couple of days ago, we celebrated the Fourth of July or Independence Day. In the United States, the concept of freedom is important and celebrated. If you ask some people what freedom means exactly, you might receive a few different answers, but I imagine that most of them would focus on the idea of being able to do what you want to do as long as it doesn’t hurt someone else.

The problem with this definition is that it focuses on being free to choose our circumstances, and often our choices are driven by what will bring us pleasure or help us avoid pain. By tying our freedom to attaining pleasure or avoiding pain, we aren’t really free. And if we’re trying to escape what is happening at this moment, whether it is pleasurable or painful, we are not free.

We understand that we live in a world where “beautiful and terrible things will happen.” Our real freedom lies in being able to choose our response, not our circumstances. Only then can we really be free, able to exercise our “independence” from the uncertainty that comes from living in this beautiful and terrible world.

Photo courtesy of Kuhlens Photography