Rethinking Liberty Through Moral Relationship ~ Elder Of Ziyon

Monday, July 21, 2025

Rethinking Liberty Through Moral Relationship

The United States is now in its 250th year, and this is a true milestone in human history. When we talk about America, we mean the unparalleled freedom that America represents. It represents a new way of governance and it has affected the world in uncountable positive ways.

But freedom is one of those concepts that can easily be misused and hijacked. What, exactly, does it mean in a moral system?

When we talk about freedom, we usually mean the ability to act without external restraint - to choose one's path, speak one's mind, and shape one's life without interference. In many secular ethical systems, particularly those rooted in liberal individualism, freedom is equated with autonomy: the right of the individual to determine their own values and actions. Sometimes it is framed as "freedom from" being limited in some way, sometimes as "freedom to" pursue one's goals, but either way, the concept generally assumes that liberty is defined by independence.

However, this definition misses the most fundamental fact about humans: we are part of a larger world. Unless you are a monk on a mountaintop, you are in relationship with others. This means that your decisions carry weight beyond yourself.

Choices are not made in a vacuum. In reality, we are never morally alone. Every decision we make has consequences, whether for ourselves or for others. Every value we act upon transforms the world in some way. This recognition undercuts the notion of morally neutral autonomy. If our actions always affect someone, then every choice carries ethical weight.

Once we recognize that our lives are embedded in a web of relationships, the meaning of freedom changes. Autonomy does not disappear, but it is no longer the absence of obligation. Rather, it becomes entwined with obligation. Freedom becomes the space in which we exercise our agency within relationships of consequence and care. Moral responsibility is not something externally imposed by law or religion; it is a natural consequence of being a self who acts in a world shared with others.

Even when you make a decision that seems to be about you alone, it entails responsibility. Because you are not only dealing with yourself as you are today, but the person you will be tomorrow. Just as you have responsibilities for the others in your life, you have responsibilities to your future self. Your decisions shape that person.

Moreover, you also have a responsibility to your past. Your history, your ancestors, your background helps shape who you are and unless your heritage perpetuates harm, you bear some responsibility to honor and evolve it - not by preserving it unchanged, but by carrying forward what is good. We do not only exist at this moment in time but we must maintain an awareness of how we got here and where we want to go.

Once this is recognized, freedom is not defined by the absence of rules, but by the presence of ethical purpose. To be free is not simply to choose, but to choose in a way that honors the dignity of others and sustains the moral ecosystem we inhabit. The question is not "what am I allowed to do?" but "what am I responsible for, given who I affect?"

AskHillel, the ethical system I’ve been developing based on Jewish thinking, is one of the only fully structured ethical systems built from the ground up on the truth that to be human is to be morally entangled. Responsibility and obligation is baked in; respect for the dignity of others is non-negotiable, and you have a concentric circle of obligations outbound from yourself and your family to your community, your country and the world. Relationships aren't incidental to the system - they are the very core of the system. And this reflects the way we really are, not some idealized concept of personhood.

Therefore, freedom is sacred not because it is limitless, but because it is answerable. The mature exercise of freedom means asking not only what is possible, but what is right - not from fear of consequence, but from fidelity to the relationships that give our lives meaning.

Morality isn't a restriction on freedom. It shapes what freedom itself means.