I

March   4th

AWARENESS   IS  FREEDOM

“The    person  is  free    who lives   as  they    wish,   neither compelled,  nor hindered,   nor limited—whose

choices aren’t  hampered,   whose   desires succeed,    and who don’t   fall    into    what    repels  them.   Who

wishes  to  live    in  deception—tripped   up, mistaken,   undisciplined,  complaining,    in  a   rut?    No  one.

These   are base    people  who don’t   live    as  they    wish;   and so, no  base    person  is  free.”

—EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 4.1.1–3a

t is sad to consider how much time many people spend in the course of a day doing things they “have”
to do—not necessary obligations like work or family, but the obligations we needlessly accept out of
vanity or ignorance. Consider the actions we take in order to impress other people or the lengths we’ll go
to fulfill urges or sate desires we don’t even question. In one of his famous letters, Seneca observes how
often powerful people are slaves to their money, to their positions, to their mistresses, even—as was
legal in Rome—to their slaves. “No slavery is more disgraceful,” he quipped, “than one which is self-
imposed.”
We see this slavery all the time—a codependent person who can’t help but clean up after a
dysfunctional friend, a boss who micromanages employees and sweats every penny. The countless causes,
events, and get-togethers we’re too busy to attend but agree to anyway.
Take an inventory of your obligations from time to time. How many of these are self-imposed? How
many of them are truly necessary? Are you as free as you think?