Liberating restrictions

Summer theologist Pyry Puurunen:

Absolute freedom has become our most sacred value and any constraint on it the greatest of sins. What freedom means to us is removal of all restrictions. The less constraint on our desires, choices and actions, the freer we are. But such freedom doesn’t exist, it’s an illusion. Freedom experienced in real life is not so simple.

If a fresh retiree wants to retain the freedom to move about independently for the next couple decades, they have to let go of some freedoms and commit to regular strength training. They choose to let go of the lesser freedom of being a couch potato to gain the greater freedom of living a longer and healthier life.

So freedom is not simply life without restrictions, but finding the right kind of restrictions that create freedom. We decide to suffer lesser losses of freedom to gain greater freedom.

Letting go of smaller freedoms in our lifestyle to reach a different kind of freedom is not the only area where this principle applies. When employees follow a good boss or athletes obey a good coach they are more successful and can reach their full potential.

On a societal level it’s not only our laws that create liberty through constraint but also our cultural norms. The same way gravity gives us the freedom to walk, the rules we have in common create more possibilities than they remove.

Accepting the right kind of rules creates great freedom.

The message of the Bible bothers us because we are used to absolute freedom but the model it provides for our lives, with its restrictions, enables much more freedom. Its commandments and God’s guidance offer the greatest freedom we can find.

At its worst absolute freedom can be disastrous. As one father advised his child: “You can do whatever you like, but you can’t undo whatever you like”.

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