Are You Giving Up Freedom for Security, Status, & Comfort?

"Those who surrender freedom
for security will not have,
nor do they deserve, either one."
— Thomas Jefferson

I think there are a lot of people out there who would nod their heads in agreement with this quote if we were having a political discussion about the Bush administration and our post 9/11 American culture.

But how many of those same people could see that it applies to their own, daily, mundane lives?

As soon as we start dissecting how we all gladly hand over freedom for security and status and comfort, our defenses go up. We start making excuses. We fall back on old ways of thinking. We crawl into our little boxes and pull the lids over our heads.

For fear.

Fear is a powerful motivator, and the current culture in which we live is all about selling you a product based on your most basic fears.

The most subtle selling is all about the kind of life you live. We are sold marriage/children/house/two cars/life insurance/health insurance/retirement fund from the time we are quite small. By the time we are in college, most of us cannot see past this paradigm.

Then quite suddenly, we are in our late twenties or thirties wondering how the hell we became so unhappy, so burdened by obligations and responsibilities, so very far from our dreams and heart's desires.

The defenses go back up and we cower from the sun-intense light that our true dreams shine into the shadows of our Quiet Desperation sorts of lives.

There's a reason the tag line for this site is Be Brave; Choose Bliss. This is hard stuff. It's much easier to crawl back into that box.

But for some of us, our dreams will poke and prod and create a hunger that is so intense that the box simply falls apart.

For the lucky among us.

Perhaps my question yesterday made you uncomfortable? Then perhaps your box is starting to crumble, cave, warp -- letting in some of that light.

You are, perhaps, starting to think that security and status are not...fun. There must be more to life than the chase.

"Security" and "status" and "comfort" come in all sorts of disguises. It is not necessarily a giant bank account.

If you got that giant bank account absolutely doing what you love than you have not given up your freedom.

To start dissecting if you have given up your Freedom, here are some questions to ponder. Watch out for "excuse making." Try to dive beyond the excuse and see if it is real or something you've been told about life that no longer works for you.

And let me note: Sometimes we are caught in choices we made earlier in life. That is how it is. Consequences for choices made in less than full consciousness can go on for a very long time. There is no simple solution, no happy thought that will get you out of these. Usually only time and hard work will do that.

Do you work at a job solely for money? (REFER BACK TO PURPLE NOTE DIRECTLY ABOVE if you immediately launch into "But I have children..." or any such statement.)

Do you work a soul-killing job because you like the "perks?"

Do you work for a second car? Do you work for more square footage? Do you work for expensive clothes, shoes, accessories?

Does your work in any way limit your time with the people you love? Why are you allowing this?

Do you work for titles?

Do you do work for ego fulfillment? Do you work so other people will see you as a "good person?"

Do you work for a retirement that may never come?

Are you postponing your life until a certain age?

Do you label things as "necessity" that are really Luxury?


Whether you believe in reincarnation or not, this is the only life you know you get. Live it well. Live it brave. You must be yourself and not someone else's version of you.

For what have you exchanged your freedom?

Were the rates good enough?


(Photo Credit: Christine C. Reed, Heirloom rose, 2009)