The notion of ‘being free’ appears widely understood – many will recall Freddie Mercury’s plaintive call in the middle of the song “I want to break free”.
“…When I walk out that door
Oh how I want to be free, baby
Oh how I want to be free
Oh how I want to break free”
Judging by the massive success of the song it clearly reflected popular sentiment!
But then it went on …
“…But life still goes on
I can’t get used to living without, living without
Living without you by my side
I don’t want to live alone, hey”
So you might conclude that the song appears to promote a paradox – wanting to be free of relationship but not alone.
At Change Made Real we’ve thought about this. A lot!
As social animals humans have learned that working together is really effective – you can achieve much more than on your own. As such, we value connection. Similarly, we find that we each have our own unique wants and needs – which often puts us in conflict with the wants and needs of others – hence our desire to be ‘free’ to do what we like. So we value freedom, too.
The problem is that these two valuable ‘human’ conditions appear to be irreconcilable.
However, appearances can be deceptive!
Malcolm Duffield
