#somethingmorethanfree

There comes a point in our unfolding where release overpowers comfort, and all that we know, and barely know, comes into question. The purge of distraction remains almost an inevitability in the human journey, in many cases being the only way out of our self-induced sickness in pride and prejudice. After the rough and tumble, where the lucky few of us retire to loving homes at heart, clarity, providing more than renewal, inspires action and response.

This process shines forth in Jason Isbell’s latest release Something More than Free. He begs a distinct comfort in saying goodbye to old ways, split rules, and local conventions, while bringing out the best of what we once wished to be, in ourselves and as a people. There are new paths that must be taken, and a new spirit that burns their trails. Isbell reminds us that love doesn’t always mean sticking around, and peace cannot be obtained from any creature or creation in this world, but only from within, and from being one with the identity we feel and seek. This identity is rooted in the truest form of freedom: as our neighbor’s keeper, and beloved lover.

In this light, freedom is not solitude, nor a solo endeavor. Our pseudo-endgame in this diseased existence, commonly cloaked under the Western guise of individuality, has supplied the driving force of separation between north and south / drunk and stoned / atheist and spiritualist, throughout the better part of “Good vs. Evil” Christendom, and it plays a formidable role in our life-plots. Yet the truth of freedom’s place in our daily lives may only be observed above and beyond the dichotomy of freedom “from,” and freedom “for” - that which is exemplified in our beliefs and transactions. The Western notion of freedom = aloneness continues to perpetuate the gravest sins of our collective ancestry, simultaneously downplaying the reality of humanity as a pluralistic entity, as well as the reality of cultural heritage in light of evil cultural practices. There is something more than freedom (as individuality) in our purpose here.

Too long has separation plagued our search for identity.