How free are you, really?

Nothing is as hard to suppress as the will to be a slave to one’s own pettiness. Gallantly, ceaselessly, quietly, man must fight for inner liberty. Inner liberty depends upon being exempt from domination of things as well as from domination of people. There are many who have acquired a high degree of political and social liberty, but only very few are not enslaved to things. This is our constant problem—how to live with people and remain free, how to live with things and remain independent.—The Sabbath, p. 89

<idle musing>
To paraphrase C.S. Lewis:
I talk of freedom,
A scholar's parrot may talk Greek
But self-imprisoned
Always end where I begin

It anything shows that our culture is actually not free, it is our enslavement to our passions, especially among those we consider leaders and role models.
</idle musing>