Celebration of freedom
- Freedom allows people to discover themselves
- It allows us to explore our creativity to discover our talents, skills, and desires.
- Freedom enables people to flower into the best versions of themselves.
- It allows people to trade the fruits of their labor for things they value.
- It’s a way for people to bring their highest and best value to the world, contributing to improving life on Earth.
- If freedom increased poverty, it would still be right never to aggress against others. That freedom actually increases prosperity is great and not surprising, given that wealth creation stems from voluntary exchange.
- Most people don’t realize they should value freedom above money. What good is all the wealth in the world without the agency (or health) to use it (or relationships with others to enjoy it with)?
- Freedom is a better deal for everyone… possibly even those who directly benefit from legalized aggressing (because of the social consequences).
The 3L path to freedom
Definition
- Like the word ‘peace’, ‘freedom’ has multiple meanings, but they can also be broadly categorized under ‘external freedom’ and ‘internal freedom’:
- External freedom: the absence of aggressing in society. This is the focus of 3L’s Legal Principle.
- Internal freedom: the absence of identification with personal problems like worries about the future, accepting the present without judgment, and not being impeded by past conditioning.
Entitlement is not compatible with freedom
- The 3L Philosophy defines freedom as the absence of aggressing, not the entitlement to things by forcing others to provide them.
- Such entitlements, known as positive rights, generally require a breach of the Legal Principle.
- Entitlement to be on an elite football team, for example, would require coercing the manager of that team to recruit you despite not having the ability (or will) required to be voluntarily accepted.
- We may well be worthy of many things, like receiving the kindness of others. But the only entitlement that is coherent in all circumstances is the right not to be aggressed against; the basis of the Legal Principle.