Maggie's Farm

Gagdad Bob's Great God Almighty, I'm Free at Last! Now, Who Stole My Chains?! connected with a topic on which I have been reflecting lately, namely, how avidly people sometimes cling to symptoms and pathologies and, indeed, can feel lost without them.

In my field of work, we have to be careful with such things, following the lines of "If you break it, you own it," and "Primum non nocere."

Also, "Never let the perfect be the enemy of the good." Or, as I usually phrase it, "the good-enough."

I was much affected by Erich Fromm's Escape from Freedom when I was in college.

People vary in how much freedom they can handle, whether from internal or external chains. I prefer the chains I deliberately select for myself.