Restrict to free

Freedom can be realized through constraints. Like when the bodybuilder uses blood flow restriction training to achieve a greater muscle pump and hypertrophy (increase in muscle size) over the long term. Or when the monk spends 5 years in a small space, isolated and in silence for most of the time, to glimpse deeply into the nature of the mind and human nature. This constrained method is the mechanism through which freedom unfolds itself.

Freedom is a choice that unfolds itself when there is a cage that constrains all other possible choices. We think freedom is the abundance of optionality—and it is, at first sight. After a certain point, we may understand that freedom only exists because its opposite does.

To be free is the realization that despite all the possible options available, this is it. And it’s not unspoiled, perfect, free from riddles—far from it. That may be the enjoyable part of the journey - to experience all those seeming bugs in the system, and continue exploring.

Freedom is this, as deep and profound as you want it to be, taking a lifetime to explore and unfold with curiosity, despite all the other possible options.