Anupam- The Dreamer

When the universe started expanding after the big bang explosion about 13.8 billion years ago, expectedly there should have been an utter chaos! A small super-high density mass at one place exploded into smaller fragments (similar to a bomb explosion), yet there was a beauty in this chaos. It was not any usual explosion- it gave birth to different galaxies, solar systems, stars and planets. And one among such billions of planets is our own Earth! Would you call this freedom to expand a chaotic phenomenon? Definitely not! Rather this freedom to expand resulted in a beautiful orderliness- which gave birth to so many incredible resources on our planet like air, water, earth etc, and created a very complex life in the living organisms. So, the joy of true freedom lies in freedom of orderliness and certainly not in freedom of chaos.

Similarly, in our lives, freedom arising out of calculated and structured chaos (also known as orderliness) gives us joy. On the other hand, freedom arising out of randomness or ability to literally do anything instead of giving joy and happiness, only gives us more pain and agony. For example, the gun rights in the US are understood to be one of the greatest freedoms in one of the greatest “free” nations of the world. But, would you call this true freedom, when the gun culture has claimed thousands of innocent lives in schools, colleges and clubs? If this was true freedom, then the innocent people would not have to lose their lives. So, true freedom is not in gun culture, rather promotion of a responsible behaviour in society where there is no need of every individual carrying the guns! If in a country, the military and policing system can take care of the internal security, then do you really need a chaotic society where every single hand is wielding a gun?

Take another example- freedom of speech. If every person exercises freedom of speech in a chaotic manner, then there would be utter non-sense in the society, there would be no civility and life would be hell for everyone. There would be abuses, insinuations and allegations from one person to another. But, if this freedom is exercised in an orderly manner, by understanding one’s own duties towards the other people and adhering to the moral code of conduct, then the same freedom becomes a thing of joy. Everyone can express himself/herself with true freedom of speech, clearly expressing his/her own views while maintaining the dignity of conduct at the same time.

Somebody would argue that if there are moral restraints on the freedom, then can it be called a true freedom? I would certainly argue in favour of the quintessential question! As it is said that “You have every right to freely move your hand around in the air, but your right to wave your hand stops where my nose begins!” So, as we are living in a society of humans and other species, we must understand that this freedom is not absolute. And despite that, this sort of freedom is not only desirable but also enjoyable, as this freedom makes our lives beautiful around other people. This allows us to preserve our individuality and it also helps us socialize as a part of the larger society.

On the contrary, if you want absolute freedom to wave your hand without impunity, then you would have to go on an uninhabited island. Tell me frankly, would you enjoy that freedom? The hardliners will say, yes we will. But, frankly that sort of freedom you will enjoy for a few days, then that freedom will have no meaning, because there is no meaning of life without a society around us. We have to give up a little part of freedom to enjoy the freedom in true sense. Only when we sacrifice a little, can we enjoy the fruit. Just like the pleasure and joy that we get after donating a part of our food to the poor, and then eating the remaining part, is immeasurable. True freedom, therefore, is not in the chaos, where there are no rules. It is infact, in the orderliness that gives shape and form to the freedom and makes it enjoyable.

Just like the different types of gases and elements floating around in the universe, if they are in chaos there is no life, but if they get arranged in a particular chemical composition they give birth to beautiful life here on earth and possibly on other such “earths” that we are yet to discover. You see, we are not searching for chaos out there in the universe, we are searching only for orderliness amidst that chaos.