Psychological Freedom Essay

Nelson Mandela once said, “For to be free is not merely to cast off one 's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.” (“Biography of Nelson Mandela” 3) In life, people can either have a physical definition of freedom or a psychological and emotional definition of freedom. There are two types of physical freedoms, pleasurable freedom, such as having a car or lots of money and a serious freedom, such as when a person gets released from jail. However, psychological freedom is having positive emotions, a clear conscience, and self-confidence. There are many different types of psychological freedom, but these three seem very important.

Psychological freedom is not found in things, but rather in positive emotions.

If someone broke the moral law, then they would not have a clear conscience. After someone breaks moral laws, his or her conscience eats away at him or her. For instance, someone who broke the law was Johnny in The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton when Johnny kills Bob from a different gang. Johnny realizes what he has done, then soon after the fact the narrator states, “He was a strange greenish-white, and his eyes were huger than I’d ever seen them (Outsiders, 56). This depiction portrays the fact that Johnny is emotionally distraught and will never be free until he identifies his moral failure. He finally identifies his moral failure when he is in the hospital and is about to die and says, “useless… fighting’s no good” (Outsiders, 148). Similarly, another way to have a clear conscience is to forgive and not get revenge. For example, Nelson Mandela did not get revenge for being put into prison. Mandela was put into prison because of an unjust reason; he was in prison because he was accused of trying to sabotage the white government in South Africa, but was actually trying to end the apartheid in South Africa. Instead of getting revenge, he used the rest of his life for the benefit of others. He became the President of South Africa and established the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. His idea of forgiveness is expressed when he says, “Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your

When someone is self-confident they are typically joyful; Jordan Sonnenblick depicts this idea, in Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie, when Annette always wore odd clothes that looked like they were from the seventies, which made her content with her life. In addition, somebody can show moral confidence when disobeying an order. In the military if that person were told to do something such as killing all the women and children, but they thought that it was wrong, then they should speak up because people should live by their own moral rules. For instance, in the Vietnam War, during the battle of My Lai veteran Harry Stanley refused to murder unarmed civilians. Because of his morals he received the Medal of Honor. Stanly stated,“ I didn’t kill anyone that day. I felt good about it” (Orlando, Herald). Because of his morals he realized that even in war, killing innocent people was not right. He was able to connect with his positive emotions and become psychologically free. Events such as these show lots of self-confidence, and self-confidence is one of the many things that allow someone to be