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(This is article 1 out of 5 about freedom.)
The 1st century Roman poet Virgil wrote Possunt quia posse videntur — which means, "They can because they think they can."
I want to look at the opposite—the self-imposed, yet non-existent boundaries that keep us from doing the things that we could do if only we just didn't think otherwise.
It's fear that keeps a friend of mine at a job that he hates, complete with a sub-par salary and an atrocious commute. He doesn't believe that he deserves better. He doesn’t believe that he deserves anything and everything that he wants.
It's a sense that she just shouldn't shine and be splendid that keeps another friend from shining and being splendid.
Why is this? Why do we limit ourselves so much?
The best explanation I know of is the following:
Think about a dog wearing a shock collar that activates whenever it walks past a certain boundary. Basic conditioning teaches it to stop walking past that point—and after some time, you can remove the shock-collar and the dog still won't venture pass where it had learned not to go.
The same is true with people—with you and me.
At some point in our explorations of life, someone (often a parent) zapped us and we internalized the notion that we shouldn't go there or do that. We learned to live inside a certain safety zone and not to venture outside the box.
We got conditioned—even without the external authority figure telling us that it was wrong—to limit ourselves.
Personally, I learned that I shouldn't relax and let others take care of me. (I'm not certain about the particulars of how I learned this, I just know that I did.) I felt that it was my job to take care of others.
But it's not my job. As real as that restriction feels, it's not real. I can relax and myself be taken care of.
(Similarly, I mis-learned that I shouldn't express my anger and that I shouldn't be straightforwardly honest if it might upset someone.)
What I'm proposing is that we recognize that some of the very "real" boundaries in our lives actually aren't really real at all.
What I'm proposing is some faith to try to free ourselves from our perceived limitations.
This might seem like a radical idea, but it’s true, you aren't limited!
(Of course there is gravity and the government has laws . . . but outside of those there isn't much stopping you from doing what or being who you want to be.)
True freedom, philosophers teach, is God. For the rest of us, we must learn to recognize our self-imposed limitations and be brave enough to venture out beyond where we thought we were safe.
Be brave.
You are safe.
As the late 16th century philosopher and priest Giordano Bruno said before he was burned at the stake as a heretic, "Out of this universe you cannot fall."
Or, in other words, the universe or God – if you imagine a notion of an external deity – isn't going to treat you the way that your parents might have when you violated a boundary. In fact, neither the universe nor God want you to be limited at all.
Spiritual-religious advice: reflect on the limitations you have set for yourself and consider setting yourself free.
