I have been rereading the book “How I Found Freedom In An Unfree World“ by Harry Browne. It was written 49 years ago but I’m finding that the ideas and way of life he proposes applies as much today as the they did when he wrote the book in 1973.
I won’t do a book review here because there are many thorough reviews online. Instead I want to write about how this book has affected me.
The first time I read this book was about 10 years ago. I was married, working a lot in a stressful but rewarding sales management job near the peak of my career and a few years into my transformation from a conventional life to a more minimalistic, frugal and intentional one.
Back then, some of his ideas made a lot of sense based on my experiences and observations:
- Government is not here not help you – it reallocates money from some people to others in an inefficient manner that cannot be best for everyone.
- You are responsible for your actions and your results.
Other ideas I found distasteful:
- Every man should make decisions based upon his best interests, what serves him and what will make him happy.
- Every person makes decisions in this selfish, self serving way.
- Taking an action in order to “serve others” or be altruistic is a false premise and foolhardy.
- Making choices because of societal norms, marriage vows, moral stances, government proclamation etc. will result in the wrong choices.
Still others I found appalling:
- No one should be married because a “contract” doesn’t ensure love, security or true partnership.
- He wrote a lot about giving freedom to your partner – sexual freedom, time freedom, financial freedom and more. I have always been a strong proponent of monogamy.
In reading this today, I’m finding that nothing he writes is distasteful or appalling. Instead, it all seems to make a lot of sense to me.
I have a hard time imagining what life would be like in a long term relationship where both partners are completely free to live as individuals.
My wife and I were partners. We shared everything. We made compromises. Both of us accepted things and did things to accommodate the other person’s best interests.
We had what I considered a good marriage.
But today, I wonder if it would have been better if we’d followed some of Harry’s principles. I’ll never know.
What I do know is that I have no interest in every marrying again. I have my doubts that I’ll ever be in a committed long term relationship with someone again.
I’m not even sure about monogamy anymore – even though it is the only thing I’ve ever known.
A common thread throughout the book is to do what serves yourself best while not trying to change society, the system, government , convention or the “rules”.
He speaks about staying under the radar by simply living your life the way you see fit and not making a lot of noise or taking a public stance.
I could have written entire sections of this book myself. I agree with him that actions like protesting, voting, writing letters to congress and teaming up with others to “make changes” is at best an inefficient way to make changes and at worst, completely ineffective.
I’d recommend this book to anyone who lives unconventionally or who wants to.
For me, it’s been quite revealing to realize that many of the choices I’ve made to live the way I do are not so strange after all.
If anything, they seem to be the perfect choices – for me. Today.
Not for anyone else.