On this national Independence Day it is appropriate for us inhabitants of the U.S.A. to reflect on the nature of freedom. Is our freedom ‘freedom from’ or ‘freedom for’? From and for. How can two prepositions so similar in orthography differ so in implication? Even so, being so different, isn’t it curious how one depends on the other for its logical completion. To move out of or from one situation is to move to or for another situation. ‘From’ gives way to ‘for’. For whatever purpose we are drawn by the latter to escape the former. ‘Freedom from’ must imply ‘freedom for’ and therefore must have purpose.
Still, many contend that ‘freedom from’ is unrelated to ‘freedom for’. This is an etiolated understanding of the precious gift we celebrate today.
For centuries immigrants have come to this country in search of freedom from oppression, poverty and persecution. But their desire to be free from these crippling circumstances is prompted by their desire to be free for the betterment of their lives, the pursuit of their happiness. To be free from stultifying limitations is to be free for liberated growth. Freedom is purposeful.
Another example would be a young adult who is ready to leave his family home and go out into the world on his own. He is freeing himself from the limitations of parental supervision for the purpose of ‘making something of himself’. This is natural. Contrarily, were he to leave the parental nest and willingly do nothing with himself, he would wither in indolence – certainly an inevitable but an unnatural outcome. There would be no ‘for’ linked to his ‘from’. Freedom without purpose is unnatural. It is false freedom. It is its proper purpose that keeps liberty from becoming libertinage.
Another question to ponder on this Independence Day is: can freedom exist without God? Those steeped in the Judeo-Christian creed would answer ‘no’ for, to be sure, nothing exists without God. More to the point, because God is the author of both freedom and nature, and because freedom is purposeful, it must be that the freedom we possess somehow relates to the purpose and nature God has ordained for creation, i.e. to natural law. While not constricted by it, freedom to be genuinely fertile must be guided by natural law.
Readers have no doubt been raised on the axiom that the prosperity we enjoy consequent to our freedom brings with it the obligation to help others less endowed. Perhaps a more appealing way of phrasing this would be that freedom comes not with the obligation but with the purpose to do so. It may be a subtle distinction, but it is one, I believe, that motivates the philanthropy of many of our donors.
On this Independence Day we would do well to consider these thoughts as we delight in tonight’s displays of pyrotechnic wizardry. As we celebrate the gift of freedom let us do so more fully by being grateful for the gift it brings with it, the gift of purpose. What will we do with such a blessing?