What does it mean to be truly free? Freedom on the “outside” and freedom on the “inside”? Both a philosophical inquiry and my embodied experience of what freedom means for me has been the topic of my contemplation this month.
In a sacred ceremony I sat in last month I could hear so clearly the words “be free”. “Aren’t I free”? I asked myself. Firstly how do I define freedom? There are so many layers. On the outside freedom for me means living in a peaceful country. It means being able to make choices. It means I have rights over my body. It means I can come and go as I please. It means there are safe spaces for me to be as a woman, as a mother, as daughter etc. There are many “freedoms” I have in my daily life. What about on the inside? What do I impose on myself that limits me in making choices? How much of my freedom do I willingly give up each time I do something I really don’t want to? How much of my freedom do I re-claim when I live a life I could never have imagined if I still lived in Iran? What is my responsibility when I am free? Does freedom mean the absence of resistance? I have more inside questions than answers it seems.
The inside contemplation of freedom really inspired me to pay attention to all the constructs, to all the impositions and limiting beliefs around what I am conditioned to feel around freedom and what is truly mine. The more I leaned into this space the more I realised that nothing is mine, my notions of freedom come from living in a society that has a perception of “freedom”. Yet to participate in this society I needed to override many of my personal beliefs, especially with COVID and the many restrictions in place for example. Yes I still made the choice, but is it really “freedom”? I suppose the question that arises: is there a notion of “absolute freedom” that can co-exist with how we imagine freedom to be? We make social contracts around what we can and can’t do and create a collective boundary around what constitutes freedom. It feels more like a continuum- a sliding scale of freedomisms. As I started peeling the layers of what society, religion, culture, family, legislation, policy and philosophy all tell me about freedom the more I understand that freedom is evolving with us as a humanity. The is a setting and re-setting of what freedom is and isn’t in time and space. Especially when we are looking at freedom from the inside.
As I stood with my community in the rally for Freedom for Iran last weekend I was so moved by the weight of this word and the promise it holds, and in contrast the suffocation of life without it. Chanting “Woman – Life – Freedom” in one voice did something transformative to me, to us all. This is the time of the sacred feminine awaking and the rising of the goddess codes. This is the time for unity and harmony for all humanity. Witnessing young and old, men and women walking together in solidarity with Iran for her freedom opened my heart so exponentially.
All women have the potential to be the portal from the spirit realm into material reality here on earth- Women are the carriers of LIFE literally. Freedom in this chant feels to me to be an awakening within the mainstream that women’s rights are human rights.
Freedom of expression, freedom over our bodies, freedom to marry, freedom to divorce, freedom to keep our children, freedom to travel, freedom to access education, freedom to live alone, freedom to attend sporting events, freedom to be financially independent, freedom to drive, freedom to sing, freedom to dance, freedom to wear the clothes we want to wear, freedom to be our true self……….. this is the freedom song I sing for my people and for all people.
Nazanin Marashian 