The Freedom Equation

The newborn baby enters this world naked, helpless, and essentially without any freedom or independence; its ability to choose comes from instinct instead of intellectual processing, and it is entirely dependent on others for its survival. As the child grows, and the ability to make choices increases, the battle for independence begins; for good and for bad, older caretakers restrict many choices that could otherwise be made. During the teenage years, the battle for independence becomes a full-fledged war; the teenager is still mostly dependent on others for meeting basics needs, but now his or her wants have become insatiable, especially the want for complete, unrestricted, freedom of choice, and quite immaturely, freedom from consequence. Adulthood begins when the consequences of choices are understood and accepted, some level of independence is realized by choosing to provide for one’s self, and the ability to consider the interests of others is greater than the focus on self. Unfortunately, many teenagers reach adult age, but never reach adulthood.

Considering the realities of these different stages in life, freedom is a summation of the ability to choose, the opportunity to choose, the level of independence earned, and the restricting consequences resulting from choices made by self and others, and is represented mathmatically:

aoi - r = f

a = ability to choose = the natural and the personally acquired intellectual, physical, emotional, and spiritual capability to make decisions
o = opportunity to choose = the degree to which others are not limiting the choices that could otherwise be made
i = independence earned = the degree to which dependency has been reduced through the use of choice to provide for one’s self
r = restricting consequences = the limitations naturally and unnaturally placed upon an individual according to certain choices that have been made by self and others
f = freedom = the summation of choice, action, and consequence

Often the word freedom is ignorantly used to describe a false freedom: the idea that one should be able to do whatever they want whenever they want without any consequence, or in other words, eliminating "r" from the equation. True freedom is the result of maximizing "a" "o" and "i," and minimizing "r" through making good choices.

The ironic truth about true freedom is that higher levels are only approached when the ability to choose the interest of others is greater than the interest in self.