The Concept of Freedom
Recently, Animal Welfare Trust Ekarma or AWTE, the animal shelter I volunteer at, inaugurated their aviary. With the help of local police and the leadership of Purabi di, AWTE had busted an illegal tropical birds breeding and smuggling group last December. After that, they decided to build an aviary to give the rescued birds more freedom than tiny congested cages… The project was finally completed this February and watching the birds’ transition from living in tiny cages to a much larger one made me contemplate the concept of “freedom”.
The birds in focus are budgerigars, cocktails and love birds. They are three common subspecies of parrots and three of the most common pet birds in India. They are generally bred inside cages and most of them spend their entire lives in them. Studies show that living as pets for generations make them quite inept at surviving on their own in the wild. So, in their case, the cost of complete freedom is a very short miserable life of uncertainty. Now, they are a niche case but even on the broader spectrum, freedom is quite expensive. It generally comes at the cost of losing certainty and dependence. This is quite evident from the term “independence” itself. Comparing this to us humans, there are two main modes of sustaining oneself financially — jobs and entrepreneurship. Although job security is a myth, a regular monthly income to depend on ain’t. While entrepreneurship gives you more freedom you lose the safety of a salary to fall back to.
Another case is that of a cat and her kittens bound inside a cage while their fellows roam free. Here the family is caged because they were being attacked by other cats and dogs. The well-wishers snatched their freedom against their will to ensure genuine safety till they become capable of defending themselves. Although sometimes genuine, this is often used by dictators, colonials etc. as an excuse to fool subjects out of their freedom. The British were protecting Indians from neighbouring kingdoms and foreign invasions, Stalin was protecting the comrades from the bourgeois, African dictators are protecting the countrymen from pirates, the slave masters were protecting the blacks from starvation, the brahmins were protecting the dalits from god’s anger and so on… But irrespective of the cost, freedom has a seduction. The seduction of the possibilities, the seduction of the unknown and of course, the envy of the free…
A quick update on the kittens. I visited the shelter again recently and they are roaming free now…
But what’s stronger than the emotions of seduction, envy and curiosity is the emotion of fear. The fear of the unknown, the fear of losing the life one has gotten comfortable with. Hence, someone who is habituated with living under shackles is often found to be completely confused about what to do with the newfound freedom when given one. Even if it is something they have been craving for, birds living in a cage are often too afraid to accept it, too afraid to make the first flight out of the cage. The birds were so afraid of losing their comfort zones that the animal lovers had to pretty much scare them out of it towards their freedom. This reminded me of a famous saying by Alejandro Jodorowsky, “Birds born in a cage think flying is an illness.”
“Birds born in a cage think flying is an illness.”
- Alejandro Jodorowsky
We see this everywhere in our “civilized” society. The first ones to object to the demand or acceptance of some new form of liberty, no matter how basic of a right that is, are not the oppressors but the ones who have grown too habituated with the oppression. It’s because the oppressed often accept the oppression as their identity. And the fear of losing one’s identity is one of the greatest fears a conscious being has…
Then again, as the famous saying goes, “fortune favours the brave” the one who makes the first move taking the greatest risk is often the one who benefits the most. The pioneers of new unexplored areas, the discovers of new lands, the firsts are always celebrated the most and benefit the most. Trying to befriend the ones you are afraid will harm you, the ones you fear as your illwishers, the ones you are afraid of because they are stronger than you does have the risk of your fears coming true. But the benefits are worth the risk. Freedom is a much better experience when shared with friends uplifting each other than when surrounded by enemies living under the constant fear of unforeseen attacks…
Another dilemma about freedom is — how much freedom is too much freedom? Going by the teachings of Buddha, a balance is important. A balance between authority and freedom is important because just like too much authority can lead to suppression of fundamental rights, too much freedom can lead to anarchy. And both are bad for society…
Assuming we are aiming for the maximum freedom attainable without breaking the delicate balance, how much freedom is attainable in the mortal world for us mortal beings? Even if we free ourselves from the shackles of a job aren’t we bounding ourselves to the needs of the business we are developing instead? Now that the budgerigars, cocktails and lovebirds are free from the bounds of tiny cages, aren’t they still bound by a larger cage now?
Watch the Cinematic Video essay here: https://youtu.be/4DGDLb-mrNI