freedom - n. the power or condition of acting without compulsion
syn - liberty, license
ant - necessity

This defintion of freedom is one of many that connotes the idea of expression without limit. In this sense the acts of 9/11 were truly free!

What? How can such atrocity be an act of freedom?

Freedom carries no moral value to its actions. Whether a person freely does good or evil (relative terms at best) doesn't matter to freedom. Simply being able to express oneself without restraint is freedom.

However, these same individuals might have felt compelled to act for other reasons - perhaps training, ideology, being brainwashed, financial reward, etc. There are many possible motivations for the so called 'terrrorist' acts of 9/11. However, it seems one man's act of freedom can potentially be another's tragedy.

What about Western freedom? The freedom to live and work in a consumer society serving the society we live in by working to supply our lifestyles (and families) with the things we think they need - is this truly freedom or another and perhaps more subtle compulsion from training, ideology, being brainwashed, financial reward, etc.?

What if our Western freedom and the 'terrorist' freedom are actually identical freedoms expressed in different ways? What if these so called freedoms are actually acts of necessity - the opposite of freedom - and therefore both our cultures are compelled to act as we do - what happens to freedom?

When a person desires something or feels they need something, they can (living in a free society) choose to procure that something or find a way to procure it. However, how much true freedom do they have if they have been conditioned to desire or feel the need for something? Obviously the choice no longer is truly free since their conditioned state demands (or compels) to be satisfied.

Whether the 9/11 attacks were good or evil doesn't really matter - what matters is that these people for whatever reason felt compelled to exercise their freedom - the same type of compulsions we feel to exercise our freedoms(?) in this consumer based society.

Our expression of freedom may seem far less harmful to others than the 'terrorists' - however the insidiousness of enslavement to any conditioning program is that all are slaves and none are truly free. Perhaps these 'terrorists' felt terrorized by the Western freedoms encroaching on their freedoms - maybe we are the terrorists (although more subtle and patient!).

Maybe we are all 'terrorists' - conditioned to be so by our respective cultures and blind to the truth that the freedom we protect is another person's potential prison. A truly free person (or culture) has no desire or need to guarantee the freedom of others - others' freedom is guaranteed by faith in Jesus - however that person can (with God's help) love others' in their distressed and afflicted conditions.

What about future freedom?

The society we live in has felt compelled to increase its surveillance activities towards its citizens. How is this affecting our freedom? If someone watched your every move and monitored your every word how would that change the way you express yourself?

Would you restrain yourself or lie out loud? Would your behaviour in public become muted or more conformist? In private would your rage or sense of security increase?

The true test of a civilization is how they behave in captivity. As we move through this next period of great tribulation I am sure the freedom we all thought we had will be exposed for what it really was - the expression of unbridled lust and greed at the expense of others' freedom on this planet.

Balance must be restored and the 'terrorist' acts we have felt are the instruments for that restoration. What goes around comes around for we reap what we sow - whether we understand that principle or not!