more than a feeling

via: oh hello friend

Tonight I contemplate what it means to be free.
Some feel the most free in the arms of someone they love... committed, content.
Some feel free without the burdens of close relationships, rental contracts, children, or employment.
I once heard that a significant amount of homeless people prefer to be homeless. They refuse aid or shelter in order to maintain the freedom to wander from place to place.

I think in order to truly be free, you must determine the priorities of the soul. What, or who are the things you cannot live without? What makes you feel the most alive? When do you feel pure joy? Is it wandering through a foreign place, with no return date or direction? Just absorbing the smells, the culture, the unfamiliar air. Or is it in the simplicity of a seemingly mundane life? Could there be freedom in the comforts of home, in the smiling faces that greet you predictably?

I have determined nothing, other than the fact that I cannot, and will not know what it means to be free until I answer these questions for myself.