Freedom and loss of freedom

True freedom lies in the ability a person has to react appropriately to any given circumstance. The perfectly free human being is a person who, no matter what he or she encounters, can act appropriately.

And what is lack of freedom? Anything which causes a blockage of this ability to react appropriately — whether it be internal obsessions or mental rigidity, or a political system, or the bars of a cage — causes loss of freedom. Lack of freedom is loss, from whatever source, internal or external, of the ability to act appropriately.

#book/The Nature of Order/1 The Phenomenon of Life/10 The impact of living structure on human life#