"What's the cost of freedom?"

That's the question I asked yesterday on X.

I asked because I suddenly had a strange feeling of understanding that this was the most important question that man can ask himself, and that I might be close to finding the answer, or at least an answer that is satisfactory for me.

Rewind back 20 years. Then I was 31. I read several books by Ayn Rand, including two of her masterpieces, "Atlas Shrugged" and "The Fountainhead". It was then that I understood what freedom meant to me.

It had taken 31 years of my life to find this out.

31 years.

That's a long time of living without knowing what freedom means to you, isn't it?

I realized that, at least to me, freedom meant:

"Absence of coercion."

And it would take a total of 51 years 3 months and 3 days of living until I yesterday realized that the most important question to me is:

"What's the cost of freedom?"

To be more specific, it took me 51 years of reading, reflecting, discussing, completing the writing of three books, coming very close to completing my fourt book (Arrow of Truth) and an invitation to speak at a major conference before I yesterday understood that this question was the most important one.

51 years plus before I understood which question that was most important to me.

That's a loooong time.

Furthermore, it took one additional night with little sleep, waking up at 5 AM this morning, and then enduring one hour with ideas, memories, impressions, arguments and reflections erratically flickering behind my eyelids, before I this morning realized that the answer had been in front of me for almost 15 years.

It has been there - stuck into my face for friggin 15 years as if it was written in large caps on a sheet of paper glued to the tip of my nose - since 2008, before I finally understood 90 minutes ago what my answer to this overwhelmingly important question was.

It has been too close to me, of course, so close that I haven't been able to see it.

And then - boom!

This type of eureka moment has only happened to me very few times before.

I'm not yet going to disclose it all yet, but parts of the answer to the question "What is the cost of freedom" is that:

"It depends."

I guess that not telling you more than this part of my answer will make some of you freak out a little bit, and that's ok, I can live with that.

But I promise, I will share it with all of you in due time.

First I'm going to spell it out as clearly as I can when I go about and complete Arrow.

In the meantime, I hope more of you guys ask yourself the same question.

Have a nice and philosophical day :-)