Is there a difference between being a Free or an Independent person?

Question

Mental problem I have been working on.

To me a free person maintains there freedom by ensuring the freedom of those around them. While an independent person maintains there independence by passively controling those around them..

I am not sure if that is accurate and would like to hear other's opinion.

Answer 1

I am not a free person, my love and concerns towards my dear and near binds me.

I am an indpendant person, I am not depandant on any person for a livelyhood or physical or mental support.  None of my near and dear has an ultimate say on my decision making.  They do influence, only because I let them.

Answer 2

Free woman: In Afghanistan when the American troops ran off the Taliban a woman took off her burqa and looked to an American journalist and said, "Look at me! Look at me! I'm free!" Can she get a job? No probably because she was not allowed any kind of formal education. Can she buy a house or car? Probably not. But can she voice her opinion, yes. does her future seem brighter? Yes.

Independent Woman: Can be freely educated without the risk of being beaten. Can wear a bikini with out worrying about getting raped. Can get a job and support herself. Dose not rely on any one be that husband, mom, older sister/brother, or father.

Answer 3

I think of free and independent as ways you see yourself, rather than how you maintain those states.

Being free simply means that you have choices about how to live your life, whereas independence is much more specific. Independence means that you have the knowledge and resources to support yourself, and that you don't have to rely on others for your basic needs.

For many people, independence is included in their choices, but it doesn't have to be. A person can freely choose to depend on somebody else, if that's what they're happy with.

I think your definitions are also true... there's a difference in how we become free and independent too - we can be born free, independence is learned.

Hope that helps!

Answer 4

"Passive control" is an oxymoron, for starters.

A free person is someone who is free.

An independent person is someone who is independent.

There's a difference between the definitions of the words. Free means having rights and exercising those rights when one sees fit. Independent means not needing support from others. The two aren't mutually exclusive.

Answer 5

The book "Aloneness" by Osho was written on this. Good read.

Answer 6

We are all free to be independent and can be if we work at it.

Answer 7

I wouldnt have started from there -

it seems you might need to start with your definition of unfreedom.

to contextualize your thoughts are we talking about mind freedom or slavery.

my thought on these definition are that an independent person may still have an unfree mental headset but they are not sharing that misery around,

No one can free another unless it is from  physical chains or locks - we all have to find out own way out  - If you think of the myth of the cave-plato - it is our own fears of freedom and life that we need to address.

Answer 8

Well the truest form of freedom is to have freedom for excellence. This is the freedom of the enlightened person, who pursues things not because of brief satisfaction, but because of a need to improve themselves as human persons.

A good example is the difference between he person at a bar looking to hook up that night, and a person working to develop and mature a healthy, loving relationship with another. The latter person, in the end, will be much happier and that happiness will permeate his or her being, not simply a brief moment of time.

Answer 9

we are never free, we are bound by the rules of man and nature. our very existence causes a ripple effect beyond comprehension and understanding.

to be free is to embrace death, death will be our accession to true freedom, from the boundaries of mans inconsistencies....