What does it mean to be free?

    For the majority of my life I thought the answer was:  being able to say and do what you want. But after reading "This is Water," I now understand that the word freedom can have multiple definitions. Wallace argued that being free is having ,"attention, awareness." At first this quote didn't make an impact, until I remembered one of my favorite quotes.

"The aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware, joyously, drunkenly, serenely aware,"

~Henry Miller

The reason this quote is so powerful is because it states a simple fact that is assumed to be general knowledge. "The aim of life is to live." Stating this seems redundant since most people know that the point of life is to live it. People won't argue that isn't true. But the part that makes this quote controversial is that it suggests that living is being aware; just as Wallace stated. Miller suggested that to live you must be aware. Wallace suggested that to be free you must be aware. Many people would say that freedom is a necessity to living an enjoyable life. Therefore being aware is essential in life. Now another controversial aspect of this quote is the meaning of the word aware. Like the word freedom, the word aware can have many definitions. Dictionary.com defines aware as: "having knowledge; conscious; cognizant." But for Wallace, being aware is understanding and caring for others. He also stated that to be truly aware you must care about things going on with others, rather than just noticing that they are there. "This is Water," prompted me to question what freedom really means. I still haven't come to a solid conclusion, but through the readings in class I have come to understand that freedom can mean one thing to one person, and the complete opposite to another. It all depends on what you believe being free really means.