I mean, in working terms:

• Free from addiction

• Free from debt … those two are easy and obvious.

• Free from worry … a much more nebulous thing.

• Free from illusion, particularly about the immortality of my own ego or work–a working copy of what the Zen Buddhists mean, I think.

Note that so far, we’re talking about what the philosophers call negative freedoms.

Negative freedom is freedom from external interference that prevents you from doing what you want, when you want to do it. These restrictions are placed on you by other people. The more negative freedom you have, the less obstacles that exist between you and doing whatever it is you desire.
The concept of negative freedom can be summed up as: “I am a slave to no man.”

But there are also positive freedoms, to eventually consider.

Positive freedom is the freedom to control and direct one’s own life. Positive freedom allows a man to consciously make his own choices, create his own purpose, and shape his own life; he acts instead of being acted upon.
The concept of positive freedom can be summed up as: “I am my own master.”

The above blockquotes are shamelessly ripped off, because I’m sort of in a hurry to get this down. There are better sources.

But there are also positive freedoms, to eventually consider.

We drove across the eight last night and she noted that after today, we’ll be free from needing a sense of yuma.

We had coffee this morning and she brought up my soliloquy from last week about LukeSmith’s dictum to always make the choice that grants more independence and less dependence. Also why roads suck. So I played those for her.

That got me thinking, about moving forward from the vague concept of dying free.

Moving forward is what this post is about.