By Farzad Roohi

What is freedom? Is freedom an abstract notion or a tangible reality of human existence? How about liberty? Do you place both liberty and freedom in the same category of synonymous jargons? To me, liberty and freedom are two separate observable existential realities with two distinct but completely related denotations where one makes up for the other. The practical meanings of these two phenomena are uniquely intertwined in which one existential singularity cannot exist without the acknowledgement of the other.

Liberty is freedom from both physical and mental restraints. We should be meticulous when it comes to the phenomenon of freedom. The concept of freedom has a broad range of application with different notions. To me, freedom is a state of intelligent life in which one can exercise his or her will to explore the universe either with mind or body. Nevertheless, to be completely free, you need to have liberty. And liberty is the quality or state of being free from any arbitrary or despotic internal (mental) or external (physical) control.

You can have physical freedom (freedom of body) where you can promenade the world without any physical restraint. Imagine that you could travel anywhere you wish. This means that you are physically free to move around and experience our physical world if not the universe. With the same token, you can have mental freedom (freedom of mind) in which you can meander your mind into any intellectual concept of existence without any mental restraint.

You can claim that you have liberty when you have both, physical and mental freedom. Freedom of mind is the dignity of human liberty. Without a doubt, you can have physical freedom while being a prisoner of your own or other people’s minds (mental restraint) or you can be in a prison (a physical restraint) while your mind is free from any mental restraint. In either case, you don’t have liberty; you are just partially free.

As you know, freedom of mind is when you are free from any arbitrary or despotic internal or external control. For instance, you can be the slave of your own lack of knowledge and wisdom in which you believe in some sort of controlling supernatural force upon you so as to dominate and control your entire life. Or else, you can be the slave of other people’s minds’ coercion in which you become the puppet of their mental hallucination. This is where religion comes into action to its all intents and purposes.

The idea of God is a strong mental restraint which takes away one’s mental freedom. The concept of God as the almighty is the ultimate prison of human mind. Those who faithfully believe in God (a nonexistent entity) as an omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent supernatural force, leave no room in their minds to speculate and marvel our existing universe. Faith is a powerful blocking mental force in which a nonexistent notion such as God impedes an actual existing experience of human mind and body called liberty.

Accordingly, liberty consists of two equal elements of freedom –one is the freedom of mind and the other is the freedom of body. Undoubtedly, the idea of God carries away the element of mental freedom from human mind. In other words, believing in God, indeed, cuts dignity off human liberty.

After all, do you think that you have liberty?