Man’s greatest freedom!

Freedom. It’s a word which is very commonly used to describe as our ability to say and do things as we like. Freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom to choose our politicians and so on. I just started reading Man’s search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl and in the preface of the book, written by Gordon W. Allport there is a beautiful view of what is probably the last of human freedoms. Man’s Search for Meaning is the chilling yet inspirational story of Viktor Frankl’s struggle to hold on to hope during his three years as a prisoner in Nazi concentration camps.

In the concentration camp every circumstance conspires to make the prisoner lose his hold. All the familiar goals in l i f e are snatched away. What alone remains is “the last of human freedoms”—the ability to “choose one’s attitude in a given set of circumstances.” This message struck me almost immediately and having thought about it for a while, I realised that at the end of the day, all other kinds of freedom we have in this world could be taken away from us. The freedom to live where we want, eat what we want and even the freedom to live as we want. However if there is one thing that no one can take away from us is the freedom to choose our attitude towards life’s circumstances.

If this is the only true freedom that we have, why do we more often than not exercise this freedom. Why do we let circumstances take control of our lives. Many great men fought for the freedom of their country, countless social activists are on the road fighting for their freedom to speak the truth and seek justice. But when it comes to our own personal lives, we give up very easily and accept life as it is. Most of us live life by default rather than by design. When you live from the level of the unconscious, you are merely existing, however when you make active choices, you are living.

As James Allen says in his book As A Man Thinketh, circumstances don’t make a man, they simply reveal himself to him. What is important is not what happens to you. What is important is what you do with the situation. Make a decision today to choose an attitude of progress, an attitude of determination, an attitude to never give up and an attitude to Live rather than merely exist!