In another post a couple days back, Joseph Pearce quoted Edmund Burke: “Liberty itself must be limited in order to be possessed.”  The quote reminded me of the brief lesson I used to give my high-school students before a particular assignment. At its most basic level (for high school students) freedom is understood as freedom of movement. A volunteer consents to sit in a chair and have his hands loosely tied behind him in order to bind him to the chair.

“You’re bound. You can’t move. Your freedom has been taken away. Now, of course, you know you’re going to be untied, you know you’re going to get your freedom back—but suppose that weren’t so, suppose you were stuck here, just like this, for all eternity. It’s worth a moment’s reflection.

“Okay, there your are, untied, unbound. Your fetters are removed. But you’re still bound—bound by this classroom. In your imagination, let’s take those walls away, just as we took the bonds away from your hands and freed you from the chair. Take the entire building away.

“But you’re still bound—by the ground under your feet, by the shrub or the tree or the car or the person or whatever—that may be blocking your path, impeding your movement—your freedom. So we take it all away.

“So, here you are, represented now by this dot on the chalkboard. The chalkboard is otherwise blank; it’s open infinite space. There you are. Absolutely free, absolutely unimpeded. Let’s take a look at you. How fast are you going? In which direction are you moving now that you have nothing to hinder you? Can’t tell? Why not? Because, without boundaries, there’s nothing to measure from, no reference point. You might be moving at a rate ten times the speed of light, but how could you know? Without boundaries, your “movement” is actually paralysis. That’s worth another moment’s reflection.

So, now, in order to continue self-liberation, this impediment must also be eliminated. [An eraser comes in handy at this point.]”

The lesson lasted less than five minutes. (I admit to any accusations of over-simplifying existentialism.) Assignment: Write a letter to Byron’s “Prisoner of Chillon.” You may offer sympathy or advice, neither, or both.