Internal Freedom: The Fox and the Hedgehog

Being free and feeling free are not the same thing. What is the point of freedom to supposedly do whatever you like, if you cannot recognize the opportunity or feel overwhelmed by it? Conversely, the ways in which people can maintain their internal freedom, while external restrictions and constraints seem to be impeding it, are well established. Internal and external freedom cannot simply be equated, so anyone who thinks or writes about the shifting concept of freedom, or even makes economic or political decisions “in the name of freedom,” must not forget that freedom is essentially an individual experience that can easily elude the externally applied attributes of “free” and “unfree.”
The statement “I feel free” is highly subjective and full of assumptions to an extent that we ourselves often hardly appreciate. Anyone who dares to venture into the vast sphere of freedom can quickly get into trouble when it comes to generally applied determinations and evaluations of what can be considered “free,” what freedom should be measured against, or who makes the decisions.