Freedom

Rather, they are a slave to their appetites. A young woman recognized this when she said: "I like to make sacrifices occasionally, because this makes me feel free."

No animal is free. A wild horse seems to enjoy freedom of movement, but instincts guide it inevitably. Only intelligent beings are free.

Rather, they are a slave to the environment, like a weather vane that does not move on its own but at the dictate of the wind. Something different is the person who, without betraying their ideals, knows how to manage with flexibility.

They are more indecisive. They appear to have more freedom because they have more options to choose from, not having committed to any. But in reality one is not more free by the number of options but by knowing how to discover and choose the correct ones. The newborn and the wild animal have many possibilities, but they are not free. Whoever never decides diminishes their freedom since in future occasions it will be more difficult for them to choose. On the other hand, while they do not decide they are choosing not to act and their passivity dominates them.

The merchant ship that never reaches port is useless, however much it sails. The intelligence that does not discover truths is defective, however much it thinks. Freedom without ends to pursue is a useless tool. The best freedom is that which leads to better ports.

Yes, but this does not mean it makes no difference. It is not indifferent to choose good or evil. It is not the same to obtain money through work or through robberies and murders. In both cases they are free decisions, but one is mistaken and wicked. We are responsible for our choices.

It is limited. We cannot breathe under water, nor fly, etc. We are not all-powerful, but within our limitations we can direct our life in one direction or another.

Animals and beings deprived of reason also make choices, but they are not free. (And they are not imprisoned because they are not responsible for their acts.) Freedom requires choosing intelligently.

No. No. The most free being of all is God, and He never chooses evil. Choosing evil is an error of the intelligence or of the will. It shows that there is freedom, but a defective freedom, capable of making mistakes. It is precisely from evil that one must be freed. ("Deliver us from evil.")

    In a similar way, whoever makes an erroneous argument shows that they think, but their intelligence is poor. Things are not defined by their errors: intelligence is not the faculty of failing when reasoning; a car is not a means of having accidents while traveling; freedom is not the capacity to make mistakes when choosing. It is not a matter of deliberately choosing badly but well. The best freedom is that which always recognizes and chooses good, just as the best intelligence is that which always reasons well, reaching truth.

It is a capacity proper to intelligent beings who choose using their intelligence and will.

Freedom requires: understanding (the faculty that seeks truth) and the will (the faculty that seeks good). Using both, man can determine where true good lies and choose it.

These three definitions agree:

• Capacity to choose intelligently.
• Capacity to perform deliberate actions.
• Capacity to choose the good previously known.

It can increase in the sense of acquiring greater ease in knowing and choosing good. It will improve by making good choices, since the habit of opting for good is created.

It diminishes with sins, since vices make it difficult to choose well. "Whoever sins is a slave to sin." For example, the person who allows themselves to be overcome by laziness becomes increasingly lazy and finds it harder to choose well in matters that involve effort.

Those who spread truth — "the truth will set you free" — and help in choosing good. For example, whoever invites a friend to take drugs makes freedom more difficult for them, binding them to that defect; on the other hand, whoever encourages working, praying, or behaving well facilitates the good exercise of freedom.

In heaven, where intelligence and will reach their greatest perfection, discover with complete ease where true good lies, and always choose correctly.

It depends. If they promote evil and impede good, then they make freedom more difficult. On the other hand, correct laws favor freedom in two senses:

• Freedom is the capacity to choose good. If laws make evil more difficult, then they favor correct decisions and freedom. Provided they leave room for one's own determination, not being excessively detailed norms.
• One's own freedom usually moves in friction and conflict with other freedoms. Then it is necessary to have an ordering that regulates human relations. Without this, the law of the strongest would prevail, crushing the freedom of others. In this sense, laws are indispensable for human freedom.