Some Kind Of Freedom

Fundamentally we like to have freedom only to ourselves but not to the others.

We live behind bars of responsibility and conformity. We make a big issue of individual rights, privacy, the right to bear arms, and free speech, but we don’t want to live next door to a terrorist. When it comes to others, we want to impose a few rules. If the others are totally free, you may not get everything you want. Their freedom could limit your freedom. When trains are blown up in Madrid and buildings in New York are reduced to rubble, we blame the CIA for letting terrorists roam freely. We think it’s the government’s job to protect us from bullies. But the bullies and the terrorists see themselves as freedom fighters. Meanwhile, we want to be politically correct and holders of justice, so if our ethnic-looking neighbour is nabbed by the federal agents, we may protest. It is especially easy to be politically correct about issues that are far removed from us. Either way there is a risk of becoming the victims of our own political correctness.


What Make You Not A Buddhist, Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse; Shambhala Publications, 2007.