What is freedom? (brainstorming session over the course of several months)

Below my answer to the question: “What is freedom? ” over the course of several months.

Write whatever you wish about this subject.

2011.05.18: Freedom in a concise way, is the ability to whatever you wish, without affecting others;
2011.05.21 Freedom is having the ability of choosing to do the things you don’t want to do;
2011.05.24: Freedom is the thing which is worth losing every liberty of movement for (dying, that is);
2011.05.26: Freedom is knowing you can say everything and not do it;
2011.05.30: Freedom is when you can do what you dream;
2011.06.02: Why should I answer the question about freedom? Am I forced to?
2011.06.08: It’s funny you ask this; yesterday I corrected a person saying something wrong on the Internet (oh, no, the horror! someone is wrong on the Internet); yet I didn’t study the situation enough, I based it on my memories, and was a bit aggressive; not in a specific point, not by saying something impolite, or bad, or rude, but by insisting I was right; I apologized later, but I feel I did something rather non-OK;
2011.06.11: Freedom? Why do you force me to write about it? Did you first ask? Did you ask for the permission to ask? Even if I asked for it, your answer (any – yes, no, ignoring) is affecting my liberty somehow; so, who are you to ask me about the freedom?
2011.06.14: Freedom has its limits; you can’t affect the freedom of others;
2011.06.15: Winston CHURCHILL (I only found the quote in Romanian, sorry if it’s not 100% true / accurate):
“I am right and you aren’t. And for your right of being wrong I am ready to die.”;
“Eu am dreptate şi tu n-ai. Iar pentru dreptul tău de a nu avea dreptate eu sunt gata să mor.”;
2011.06.17: Your freedom is below others’ freedom;
2011.06.23: Freedom is love for expression and not-expression; thus, sometimes only love; (Isn’t that cute?)
2011.06.26: Freedom is when you get to decide what to do with your life;
2011.06.29: Freedom is forgetting you have rules; they are there, you just forget about them;
2011.07.02: Freedom is …
2011.07.05: Nobody is 100% free;
2011.07.08: Freedom is when you can forget about the past, not worry about the future and ignore the present; you’re not in any timeframe;
2011.07.11: I like a lot a blog post by soirs (my favorite blogger); in this blog post, he says something like this:
“If we could be unique, if we could be different… All we do is confirm ourselves, hug ourselves in the mirror, be the same and more of the same”;
So, what is freedom? One can try to be free, by in a context of imposed things which will most likely make him/her be rather not free; the context of freedom in a modern society is very limited; this is not necessarily bad, it’s surely more safe, but freedom is actually not that free;
2011.07.20: Freedom is a gift, you can take it or not;
2011.07.23: Soren KIERKEGAARD: “The opposite of sin is not virtue, the opposite of sin is freedom”; I wish I could be free;
2011.07.26: Freedom is when you know your path and at least try to take it;
2011.07.29: One has freedom when he/she can understand it first;
2011.08.01: I think freedom is not to do whatever you wish, but in a sense, it is this way; we live in a society, and can’t do that; but in a way, this is freedom;
2011.08.04: You are free when you feel free;
2011.08.07: Freedom has nothing to do with social norms, everything seems crammed in society;
2011.08.10: Freedom!
2011.08.13: .
2011.08.19:
2011.08.22: Freedom is picking the road that you wish to choose, no matter the marketing, signs, beaten paths, lengths;
2011.08.25: Freedom is picking your rules; rules should exist;
2011.08.28: You are free when you set your mind free, when you move freely in the set of directions which you have chosen, when you feel free;
2011.08.31: Free you can become if you choose so, plan so, and act so;
2011.09.03: Freedom requires some laws which set you free, some wish for joy and a lust for human rights;
2011.09.06: Having no rules may be freedom, but freedom generally requires rules; like answering the question in a rather formal way, not: freedom is pink, blue and rainbow with dots; actually, freedom is ifweiofwfejiofjiowe#$%^&*; yet again, freedom is 87655+3=877-2; you can’t do that;
2011.09.09: Freedom requires a lot of strength;
2011.09.12: Freedom is when you are forced to do something you chose to do; and you are free when you respect other people’s freedom; and freedom is hard work;
2011.09.18: Being free requires you know what to do with your freedom, how to use it, what to learn out of it;
2011.09.21: You are free when you act normally, within the normality you choose to do; freedom is not chaos (although it may well be), and it’s also not wildness (although it may be);
2011.09.24: You are free when you have the courage to be free, to act freely, to express yourself;
2011.09.27: Freedom is travel, outside, or body, in you, or mind, even deeper than you;
2011.09.30: You can have no body and still be free; sometimes the borders in the mind are greater than the borders outside;
Also, a dog can be free or he can be happy with a family;
A person in space is free, but what can he/she do with that freedom?
2011.10.03: You are free when you can choose your actions; freedom requires space, both externally and internally; if you choose to limit the space, then you can be free within little space, internally and externally;
2011.10.06: Steve JOBS seemed to know what freedom is; I think freedom is expressing yourself; you are also free when you can afford stuff;
2011.10.09: If you can do what you want to do, no matter the consequences, you are free; freedom requires effort; freedom is hard work;
2011.10.12: If one is free, he/she can do a lot of things; stand-up comedians are sort of free; monks are also sort of free; and the difference between the two is big;
2011.10.15: Freedom requires virtue; you can’t have one without the other; also, self-control; also, ability to do the things you want;
2011.10.18: Freedom is best presented by heroes; heroes are free; do something out of this world; heroes break social norms; mad men are free, but not sane; heroes are both sane and free; miracles are also free, they change the physical part of the world; I wish there was something to change the thoughts; how can one be free from thoughts? What’s a word free of anything? Any word anyone says has a lot of limitations, how can these be broken? They can’t; words are not free, by their very nature they are bond; swearing may be free; silence may be free; hostility or pity are free; too many emotions or too few; a very well demonstrated sentence or one without any argument; but free words? They don’t exist by themselves;
2011.10.21: Freedom is doing the right things, if you think they are right; and accepting the consequences; and, despite all, integrating into a system;
2011.10.24: You are free only when you do what you intend to do; that’s it; this is freedom; and, may I add, total freedom; if you wish little, do little; you wish a lot? Do a lot; then you are free; also, your freedom should not interfere with other’s; monks are free; beggars are free; martyrs are free; heroes are free; brave firemen and policemen are free; brave soldiers are free;
2011.10.27: Freedom requires effort; Ryan GOSLING (played by Jacob PALMER) was free in “Crazy, Stupid, Love.” (2011); a stray dog is free;
2011.10.30: You can work in a cubicle and be free (“Julie & Julia” – 2009 – anyone?); but it’s better if you move around the world; and if you have an open mind;
2011.11.02: Freedom is the ability not to write anything here; and still writing it, for the pleasure; and the freedom of pleasure itself;