"On Freedom" by Timothy Snyder
Wise Words on HUMAN NATURE
In my ‘Wise Words’ series here on HUMAN NATURE, I usually share one meaningful quote by a writer along with a few comments. In this essay, I’m promoting a whole book.
The world has never had a good definition of the word liberty, and the American people, just now, are much in want of one. We all declare for liberty; but in using the same word we do not all mean the same thing. — Abraham Lincoln, 1864
I have been slowly working my way through
’s latest book On Freedom (from which all his quotes below are taken). It is difficult and wise and beautiful.The author defines FREEDOM as the foundation value that enables us all to evolve and become. He conceives of freedom as a fifth dimension of how things could be (along with the other four dimensions that define how things are). It is a space in which we are able to imagine and experiment and hope.
Our universe neither makes us free nor prevents us from being free. It leaves open a realm of what should be, a law of freedom that allows us our endless combinations of virtues. Its constraints become our capacities if we understand them and apply our knowledge with a purpose. — Timothy Snyder
Snyder warns about the people who seek and use power to rob people of their freedom, and how they can and must be resisted at every turn. This builds on and extends the themes he addresses in his book On Tyranny.
Bad (people) need nothing more to compass their ends than that good (people) should look on and do nothing. -- John Stuart Mill
The condition upon which God hath given liberty to (us) is eternal vigilance. -- John Curran
To and Fro’
A central theme in On Freedom is the distinction between the freedom FROM constraints and the Freedom TO explore and create and change. As children and adolescents, we struggle with a real and imagined lack of power, and are very concerned about those things (mostly adults and their rules) that would interfere with our freedom to become ourselves. Gaining freedom FROM those various obstacles to our control and autonomy is a big part of the project of “growing up”.
As adults, we remain preoccupied with threats to our freedom from other people and rules and laws and governments. For many people, freedom FROM external interference is their full paradigm for freedom. Warning them about threats to their freedom is a foolproof way to get their attention (“THEY are coming to take your …” ) and people with a taste for power often use those threats as a means of attracting and influencing others.
If we remain fixated only on gaining freedom FROM those people and things that would limit our sphere of control, we will fail to pay adequate attention to the many people and things and institutions and values that provide us with the freedom TO do much of what we value the most.
To be truly free to explore and develop the special features of our own nature over a lifetime, we need many vital resources and environmental supports such as
food and shelter
work and money
clean air and water
energy
healthcare
roads and reliable transportation
public safety (police/military)
free/fair elections
rule of law
We can only have all these freedom-sustaining resources under what is traditionally referred to as a liberal democracy.
The struggle for freedom
As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy. — Abraham Lincoln
The secret to happiness is freedom, and the secret to freedom is courage. — Pericles
Democracy [derived from the Greek dēmokratia, from dēmos (“people”) and kratos (“rule”)] stands in opposition to the tyranny of an authoritarian dictatorship such as exists currently in Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, Afghanistan, Turkey etc. (and existed in the Soviet Union, apartheid South Africa, the Confederate States of America, the Roman and British ‘empires’ etc.).
In a democracy, ALL the people are sovereign. They voluntarily sacrifice some of their freedom in exchange for all the benefits of solidarity. They choose their own representatives in a government constituted to protect the common welfare. It is a complicated bargain to strike and maintain, but so worthwhile.
Our problem is not the world; our problem is us. And so we can solve it. We can be free, if we see what freedom is. We can see creativity in the past, possibility in the present, liberty in the future. We can recognize one another, create a good government, and make our own luck. — Timothy Snyder
Throughout history, there have been people who wanted freedom and power for themselves in order to rob others of theirs. An increasing number of liberal democracies have lately fallen prey to the siren song of various “strong men” warning about the various threats to freedom and how only they can keep their people safe from those dangers. Timothy Snyder’s book On Freedom shines the light of history and evolution and morality on the vitally important matter of our freedom and its many requirements and vulnerabilities, so we can see it clearly and work together to preserve it.
The space between what is and what ought to be is where we roam as free people, extending the borderland of the unpredictable. We decide which values to affirm, in what combination, for what reasons, and at what time. Then we try again. With practice, we attain our own human form of grace … It is when we accept the tensions and clashes, and navigate courageously among them, that we become free people and help others to become so. -- Timothy Snyder
You can begin to explore
’s important writing on his excellent publication Thinking About.If you’re interested, I have written about the To/From of freedom, why freedom is frightening, and the disturbing collapse of freedom and democracy around the world.
I have lived my whole life in Canada and the US, about half in each, and can honestly say that the idea of freedom never arose in my thoughts or in my conversations with anyone in either country. Of course, like many others, I have lived a privileged life and have not had to worry about my freedom. Perhaps that is the best definition of freedom - to live our lives without thinking about it.
So glad you are reading books like this and then condensing for us... I am most grateful.