It is often said that thinking freely has never been easy — that one must pay a price for staying true to one’s convictions.

But free thinking is not simply about having opinions — everyone has those.

It’s about preserving the habit of giving ourselves time: to filter the slogans that surround us, to let information pass through the still of our own conscience, until it becomes something truly ours.

The opposite is to live at the mercy of what others say, think, or want us to believe.

That may be easier in the short term, but in the long run, the cost is unbearable for anyone who wishes to live with dignity and inner freedom.

So perhaps the question is not what is the price of thinking freely, but what are the costs of not doing so.

📘 From ideas explored in Think for Yourself.