Are Birds That Fly in the Sky Truly Free? A Perspective on Human Ways of Living

Have you ever thought about wanting to be free?

I am currently living a second life after retiring, wanting to live freely and without constraints. What is freedom? Today, I will think about the definition of freedom.

Are company employees not free?

I used to be a company employee. While I was given a lot of discretion, I spent my days following organizational logic and time constraints. I could hardly call it free, and to be honest, it was "unfree."

However, on the other hand, it could be said that I had also gained a "foundation for freedom," such as a stable income, social credibility, and collaboration with colleagues.

I think I continued to be a company employee for a long time because I understood this trade-off.

Quoting from a note article “To feel happy, increase your own discretionary power,” people feel truly free when they have the sense that they can "choose for themselves and decide for themselves." Even within an organization, those who have room for self-discretion can be said to have their own kind of freedom.

Is a bird flying gracefully in the sky free?

When it comes to a "symbol of freedom," many people probably think of a "bird flying in the sky." Its figure dancing in the vast sky looks as if it is released from constraints and living as it pleases.

The other day, I went on a trip to an island in the Seto Inland Sea. While watching a bird flying in the sky during my trip, I looked at it from a car ferry and thought, "That looks nice, it looks free."

But, are birds really free?

To fly, they must search for food, protect their nests, and defend themselves from natural enemies. For them, living within the laws of nature, "living" must not be easy at all.

Maybe birds think they aren't free either

I suddenly thought. Perhaps birds might also be thinking, "I want to be freer."

Even though they have wings that humans don't have, birds have their own constraints. For example, "freedom" for a migratory bird might not be moving, but rather "an environment where they can live with peace of mind without having to move."

Small birds might be targeted by large hawks or the like. Large birds might have the danger of being sucked into airplanes, and they might not be as free as one might think.

Birds cannot run on land, and they cannot eat delicious steaks or hamburgers.

From this perspective, my feeling that "whether or not one is free" depends not on appearance or environment, but on how one feels, has become stronger.

From a human perspective, perhaps only the act of flying looks like freedom. It might just be that having an environment where you can do things that others cannot seems like freedom.

It is you who decides whether you are free or not.

Ultimately, what determines whether you are 'free' is not other people, systems, or your environment, but yourself. Whether your heart can truly feel that 'this is the path I chose.' That is where true freedom resides.

I am currently enjoying my second life freely, but I have actually met people in similar circumstances who say they are not free. Even though they have money to spare and time to use as they please, they cannot do what they want. That is quite a luxurious problem to have.

When I listen closely, it seems these are people who live by comparing themselves to others. Compared to people who live even more freely, they feel unfree.

You aren't comparing yourself to a bird, are you? It's only natural that we can't fly. We don't have wings, after all. But it seems the grass always looks greener on the other side. Your own grass should be green enough, too.

I believe that an environment where you can make your own decisions—in other words, having a self-centered axis—is the source of happiness and freedom. If you live by standards set by someone else or by comparing yourself to others, you end up living by an 'other-centered' axis. Only by deciding things with your own will can you continue to feel a sense of satisfaction in life.

After early retirement, I started my own company. I was living a free second life, and while entrepreneurship has its own constraints and responsibilities, I don't feel unfree because I have the satisfaction of knowing that 'I chose this.' Rather, I feel as though small freedoms are accumulating in my daily life.

Freedom is not something given to you, but something you reach out and grab for yourself.
And because you decide for yourself, even if it is imperfect, meaning is born from that choice.

If you feel 'unfree' right now, it might not be because of your environment, but simply because you have 'convinced yourself' that you are. With just a change in mindset, the world should start to change little by little.

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I have written and published a book about the process of quitting my job in search of freedom and my second life. You can read it for free on Amazon Unlimited. Click it, and you will be able to grasp your own self-centered axis!

Thank you for reading.
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