What self-isolation can teach us about the deeper purpose of freedom.

Quick exercise: open a new window in your browser and Google the word “freedom”. Now click on the “Images” tab. What do you see? Chains being broken, birds flying out of cages, retirees riding motorcycles on open roads, silhouettes jumping on mountaintops. Not a wall in sight, right? You can scroll as far down as you’d like, but you probably won’t find a single image of empty stadiums, vacant restaurants, unemployment forms, people working from home in their sweats, or teenagers bored on their couches scrolling through TikTok while small kids climb on the dining table.

Freedom is now, more than in any time in recent memory, being deeply re-understood. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, most governments have asked their population for at least some sort of social distancing, self-isolation or shelter-in-place. So here we are…at home, in groups of 10 or far less, wondering if we are at all, free.

If you asked me if I still felt free even a few days ago, my answered would have been ‘yes’. Sure, my children’s school closed and my employer asked us to work from home. But, as a family we were still “freely” choosing to social distance and self-isolate. It was the obvious decision for the common good. Flatten the curve baby! And it was still our decision. Things changed quickly when Michigan’s Governor Whitmer signed a “Stay Home, Stay Safe” Executive Order that began on Monday, March 23rd. The weight of the moment didn’t quite hit me until Sunday night when we all simultaneously received the chilling notification on our phones so many in other states and countries had already received: “stay home".

That did it. “Freedom” now felt like grains of sand slipping through the cracks of my frail grip. I really cannot freely do what I please? Here’s what that moment and a week and a half in self-isolation has shown me: there's more to freedom than I realized. There's more to freedom than simply being unrestrained.

Maybe you’ll relate to this. My freedom, as I understood it until now, was, well, for me. Who else would it be for, right? Being free meant to choose whatever I want to do, whenever I want to do it, wherever I want to do it. But now I was being asked to freely choose…for others? That confused me.

There is a truth about freedom that seems to be forgotten. It's a truth that I certainly didn't quite grasp. Here it is: freedom is not self-sufficient. Freedom needs some help to survive and its most important ally is none other than “unity”. Freedom needs unity. It cannot exist without it. Imagine a scenario where every person saw freedom as the right to always choose whatever is best for themselves no matter what the consequences for others were. Inescapably, conflicting personal preferences would forcefully collide. That’s where unity shows up as a peace-maker and freedom-healer. Unity is the best concept to help us understand what freedom is because is shows us what freedom is for. When I look at freedom through the lens of unity, I can see that my freedom is not just for me. My freedom is for us.

I relentlessly searched my mind for the right words to describe this paradigm, only to find that Saul of Tarsus had already been given the perfect imagery. In a letter he wrote to his friends in Galatia (in now modern-day Turkey), Saul re-defines freedom, not as a go-your-separate ways compromise, but as a draw-closer-together antidote to local church disputes.

“Brothers and sisters, God has called you to freedom! Hear the call, and do not spoil this gift by using your liberty to engage in what your flesh desires; instead, use it to serve each other as Jesus taught through love. For the whole law comes down to this one instruction: “Love your neighbor as yourself,” so why all this vicious gnawing on each other? If you are not careful, you will find you’ve eaten each other alive!” - Saul of Tarsus (Galatians 5:13-15)

You read that right. Saul of Tarsus basically said: use your freedom to serve one another or prepare for the zombie apocalypse. He proposed a profound redefinition of freedom, disconnecting it from self-pleasure and instead linking it to the loving words and actions of Jesus. Keep choosing only what pleases and protects you, and you will destroy yourselves. Think of what others need, and you’ll flourish. You are free to do what you want, but you're only free and alive if you choose others first.

Coronavirus might have forced us apart but it doesn’t have to force us against each other. We are free to choose how to carry on. Yes, you are free to still defy all experts and continue to leave your house at your own leisure, buy up all the groceries and health care supplies inventory you can store, and crowd parks and beaches for the sake of your own fun. But if enough of us make those exact choices the result would be a broken down culture that is even further divided and deeply uncaring. When we only look at our own needs, we devour one other. Let’s use our freedom to make the right choices.

We are still free. Free to serve. Free to mail letters to the elderly in nursing homes. Free to buy groceries for the less fortunate. Free to speak up against injustice. Free to ask for help. Free to think of creative ways to innovate, create and give. Free to pray. Free to be yourself and include others. Free to self-isolate, stay-home, save lives and fight together for a brighter future we can all share.

If all of our choices are based on self-preservation, then we aren’t truly free. That's not freedom; it's paranoia. Be free. Be free of the look-out-for-yourself attitude. Free of selfishness. Choose love and you'll encounter a deeper freedom you may have never known before.

Freedom, Unity & Pandemic

What self-isolation can teach us about the deeper purpose of freedom.