On Freedom, Sebastian Junger

Freedom is the absence of lies and dissonance.

“Once I felt so weak that the only thing I could think to do was start running.” Sebastian Junger

All of the following lines are from Freedom by Sebastian Junger, until I indicate otherwise.

We walked around four hundred miles and most nights we were the only people who knew where we were. There are many definitions of freedom but surely that is one of them.

Lots of things that look like freedom when you’re with other people are just a form of exile when you’re alone. (page 17)

The freedom that comes from being feared is tempting for people who have suffered that fear themselves.

Dominant men take up as much room as possible. They have significantly higher testosterone levels than nondominant men, and much lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol - both associated with disease resistance and leadership. Testosterone is correlated so strongly with both aggression and wide facial structures in men that it’s possible to predict roughly how much time a hockey player will spend in the penalt…