Freedom is Personal, Political and Essential
Questions as the Path to True Liberty
Hi, friend,
I'm writing this a day before the Holiday of Passover, just after I finished taking out all the Passover dishes, taking stock of what's missing (apparently I invited 8 people for the Seder meal when I only had 5 water glasses and 2 wine glasses - but that's fixed now) and planning the meal as well as the theme for tomorrow night's discussion.
Freedom has been on my mind lately. It's the holiday, for sure - with its narrative of liberty, redemption and freedom so much at the core of how we think about these ideas in our world. It's also the terrible war: 59 hostages still being held, suppression and suffering from any angle the eye can perceive, horrors we can't process yet can't look away from. It's also the earthly, personal and professional lives of me and many people around me.
Setting the Table for Transformation
Here are a few ideas I keep going back to:
There are so many synonyms for freedom
Looking at the Passover Haggadah alone, there are so many references to the idea of freedom. There are also 5 different expressions of redemption, signifying the promise for liberation. And digging around a bit - that seems to be a phenomenon in other languages and cultures as well (the French "Liberté, égalité, fraternité" was the first example that popped to my mind). What does that expansive variety tell us about human nature?
Being factually liberated is only the beginning
A little over 14 months ago I got my divorce after a long and treacherous journey. The road there was pure suffering, and the minute it was done, I felt liberated. I could breathe again. It was an incredible relief. What I wasn't yet - was free. For the next year (and still sometimes, even though they are now fewer and farther in between) I'd find myself in situations where I had a choice - and yet I didn't feel like I had a choice. Again and again the word that would come up would be "trapped" or "caged".
It always reminds me of the skeptical dwarves in the end of The Last Battle (the ultimate and extremely Christian book in CS Lewis' Narnia series), who even when they're free think they are still in the dark cave:
"Their prison is only in their own minds, yet they are in that prison; and are so afraid of being taken in that they cannot be taken out." (The Last Battle, 185-6).
Putting aside the very specific agenda of this book, I couldn't help but ask myself: Now that I'm factually free, what's holding me back from freedom?
It's the journey that counts (well, not only, but it's important)
Going back to the previous thought, I was reminded today of something I learned as a child. The bible says that the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, making him resistant to letting the Israelites go. And then as a punishment, the Egyptians were afflicted with the 10 plagues. Putting aside the question of how this is fair (it's probably not fair to anyone involved), I remember my father asking, simply: Why?
The answer he gave (and I'm sorry for not remembering who to credit for it) was that the Israelites were so used to being enslaved, that was their identity. They couldn't imagine themselves as free - and you can't manifest what you can't imagine (here I'm already quoting my Satya Method coach, some 3500-ish years later). The plagues gave them a way to visualize Pharaoh as a non-omnipotent presence and get used to the idea of freedom, and the next 40 years in the desert go very much into questioning whether they were free only in status or also in mind.
Questions as the Ultimate Liberation
It's all about the questions (sorry for being a broken record but duh)
Passover is not only the holiday of liberty, the Seder is also THE night of questions, with a special song of questions + a few random customs that were created exactly for the purpose of being weird enough that they push children (oh yeah, it's also THE kids' holiday) to ask what the heck is going on. And this, this does not feel random. Because there is no liberty without asking. There is no redemption without challenging. There is no freedom without constant and incessant questioning.
And this year, I'd like for us to question the idea of war. Of ego. Of victory. Let's use a soft lens and explore how questions can save the world, or at least unfuck it.
Voices of Freedom: Questioning Our Way to Liberty
And with that, here are two snippets from Looks Like Work that exemplify freedom in different ways:
Natalie Rozenboim on what to do when you've worked hard for your dream [work/life/lifestyle] and it doesn't serve you anymore - do you have enough freedom to question what would serve you better?
(Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Podbean)
Or Alterman Barnea on reclaiming the theater and culture world by making it accessible to neurodivergent audiences - and the freedom that comes from questioning how "things have always been done"
(Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Podbean)
This Week at Consider
Last week I told you a little bit about my Curiosity Sessions. This week saw the completion of 5 beta sessions with: a VP getting ready for a strategic meeting, a CMO who’s getting into public speaking, a startup CEO launching a new offering, a coach creating a new course, and a newly self employed expert optimizing client comms. I’m working on a launching Curiosity Sessions soon, let me know if you’d like to be on the waitlist.
A Question for Your Holiday
As we celebrate this season of liberation, I invite you to consider: Where in your life might you be factually free but still mentally caged? What question might be your gateway to true freedom?
Call to Action
I invite you to share your own "freedom questions" - the inquiries that have helped you break free from limiting patterns. Feel free to respond to this email or comment on Substack with yours.
Happy Passover to those who celebrate, happy Friday to all, and may we celebrate soon without the shackles of war, captivity, and human suffering.
Yours, Chedva