What does it really mean to be free?

In the modern world, freedom is the opposite of reality; but it is nevertheless his ideal.

Once upon a time there was a man who, while walking through the woods, found a young eagle. He took it to his house and put it in a chicken pen, where he soon learned to eat the same food as chickens and to behave like these.

Five years later a naturalist who was passing by asked the owner why an eagle, the king of all birds, had to remain locked in the corral with the chickens.

"As I have given him the same food as the chickens and I have taught him to be a chicken, he has never learned to fly," the owner replied. "It behaves like chicken, and therefore, it is no longer an eagle."

"However," the naturalist insisted, "he has the heart of an eagle and, surely, he can be taught how to fly."

After a brief discussion, the two men agreed to find out if it was possible for the eagle to fly. The naturalist took her gently in his arms and said with great intensity:

"Eagle, thou art an eagle; thou dost belong to the sky and not to this earth; stretch forth thy wings and fly."

The eagle, however, was confused; He did not know what it was and, seeing the chickens eating, he jumped and joined them again.

Undaunted, the next day, the naturalist took the eagle to the roof of the house and encouraged him by saying:

"Eagle, thou art an eagle; stretch forth thy wings and fly."

But the eagle was afraid of himself, and of the unknown world, so he jumped once more in search of food with the chickens.

The next morning he rose early and took the eagle outside the city, away from the houses, to the foot of a high mountain. The sun was just rising, gilding the top of the mountain with gold, and every crag was glistening in the joy of that beautiful morning. Once there, he raised the king of the birds and encouraged him by saying:

"Eagle, thou art an eagle; thou dost belong to the sky and not to this earth; stretch forth thy wings and fly!"

The eagle looked around and trembled as if new life were coming to it; but it did not fly. The naturalist then made it look straight at the sun. Suddenly it stretched out its wings and, with the screech of an eagle, it mounted higher and higher moving away in the sky.

It is possible that the eagle still remembers chickens with nostalgia; It is even possible that, from time to time, he revisits the corral. But the eagle has never lived a chicken life again. It was always an eagle, although it was kept and domesticated like a chicken.

Source: James Aggrey's Work (1875-1927)

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The eagle is the modern man, he has lost his identity and his sense of life, he lives in a corral and eats chicken food, he has betrayed his true essence and he has immersed himself in the material life of comfort and conformity. After all, it is easier to be a chicken than an eagle, the chicken has security in its corral, it has only a small space in which to live, its owner takes care of it and has its food insured, it does not have to worry about problems and needs of life. The eagle on the other hand is different, it is free and must take responsibility for itself, it must move is an infinite space for him that is impossible to travel, he must be alert not to fall into the hands of a hunter, he has to fight against loneliness and adversity, he must protect and defend his life from all those who want to subdue him, and despite all this, nothing guarantees his life, he must survive every day looking also to satisfy his most basic needs.

Freedom is about owning one's life.

Being free has never been easy, almost every time being a slave is the simplest option, often it is so simple that it becomes logical, and looking for easiness we don't realize that we are subjecting ourselves to slavery.

Modern man is a slave to many things, because being free means being able to choose between all the options, and when one of these options is blocked, unable to choose, even for ourselves, then man loses his freedom. If you are afraid to do something, and you avoid doing it with all your might, because the fear that exists inside you tells you not to do it, then you are unconscious slave of your fear, because he is conditioning your options. This does not mean that you should do something that you don't want, but on the contrary, it is precisely because of that, that you don't do it, and not because something, such as fear, limits your options or forces you to do something.

The addicts are slaves of the lowest kind, they cannot control themselves or their impulses, and because their weakness, they lose their freedom.

Freedom is not the easiest option and it never will be, it is a constant struggle against all the forces that want to subdue us, be they external or internal forces, it is always easier to be a slave. The price of freedom is eternal vigilance, and the eternal struggle to keep it alive, no doubt, is only suitable for people strong enough to give everything for it.

It is said that Diogenes once referred to Alexander the Great as "the servant of his servant", because Diogenes had conquered fear, lust, and anger; while Alexander still serves these three. Despite having conquered the outside world, he still had not dominated the inside world. This type of domain does not depend on anything or anyone other than us.

Many times we don't understand why since the beginning of our civilization, fear, lust, gluttony, greed, and many other aptitudes were seen as the lowest of a man, but it is quite simple, if you are not able to control your impulses, your fears, your temptations, then they control you, and you lose freedom with your own approval.

In the Battle of Thermopylae, for 480 BC the Greeks faced the powerful Persian Empire, the largest in extension of that time, if you have seen the movie "300" you know a little, just a little, of where the matter is going.

It is estimated that around 6,000 Greeks, among whom the 300 Spartans stand out, gave a fierce fight in a bottleneck against a superior army of 250,000 Persians. The Greeks were defeated in that battle for being betrayed by Ephialtes, and it did not mean a tactical or strategic victory. Although the Greeks ended up repelling the Persians, this battle in particular had no significant importance other than delaying the Persian offensive for two days. The real meaning of Thermopylae, does not lie in the military field, despite its tactical and strategic skills, this really is not important, the meaning that transcends beyond a simple lost battle and has lasted for two millennia, is that, Leonidas, king of the Spartans, could have surrendered easily, could capitulate or initiate a retreat, could give the offering of earth and water to the Persians and show his submission, but he did not, he preferred to fight against all odds against an army 41 times greater, just to maintain his freedom.

The 300 Spartans, who were free men, decided when, how and why to fight, they faced a Persian army that fought under the whip, with a large number of slaves in their rows. The Greeks fought to maintain their freedom and thanks to their victory today we have a clearer vision of it, it is the Greeks who started the first ideas of freedom, also those of democracy, and it was also the Greeks who created in its foundations all the western civilization.

Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end.

Freedom is a greater good and an goal in itself, but to achieve it is far from easy, it is very difficult to obtain it, you must convince yourself that you want it, and be persevering, because it is easy to acclaim your desire to be free at the same time you turn your back and unconsciously become a slave to all kinds of vices. It is not an easy task, because our masters; comfort, dependence, consumerism, materialism, fear, temptations, impulses, and others, do not let us out. It is very easy to confuse freedom with debauchery, and stop being slaves from the outside to become slaves of inside. It is a long and constant struggle, without rest, because it is not only necessary to conquer freedom but also to maintain it, it is perhaps the most difficult goal in the world, but it is not impossible.

Slavery is the worst enemy of modernity and of today's man, as well as of current societies, because ease always seems to be good, and it is much easier to be the slave of all masters, both internal (fear, gluttony, comfort, etc.) as external (welfare state, interventionism, dependence), to fight for ourselves and take responsibility for our actions, becoming truly independent people, and facing all adversities, but at the same time enjoying a life of freedom.

To conclude I will say that freedom is not a right, nor is it similar, cannot be guaranteed by any State, Leader or Constitution, not even the fact that we proclaim ourselves free does it really, freedom can only be conquered, but by nature we are free to choose whether or not we want to conquer it and to what degree.

Liberty is not one of man's inalienable rights' it is a desirable but difficult acquisition, and must be contended for constantly.

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