Freedom in Restrictions: A lesson from the movie “The Legend of 1900.”
In the Legend of 1900 Tim Roth plays a man that has never been off the ship on which he was born. He has an amazing gift for music. Toward the end of the movie there is an opportunity for him to get off the ship and onto dry land. The ship was so limited, the world before him so free. And yet, at the time of decision, he refuses to leave the ship. When asked why, he talks about the piano.
1900: Take piano: keys begin, keys end. You know there are 88 of them. Nobody can tell you any different. They are not infinite. You’re infinite… And on those keys, the music that you can make… is infinite. I like that. That I can live by… You rolled out in front of me a keyboard of millions of keys, millions and billions of keys that never end. And that’s the truth Max, that they never end. That keyboard is infinite… and if that keyboard is infinite, then on that keyboard there is no music you can play. You’re sitting on the wrong bench… That is God’s piano.
1900 found freedom in the limitations. We often look at limitations and restrictions as inhibiting our creativity. According to 1900, that just isn’t the case. Look at all the music that has been created on a piano, with only 88 keys. Beethoven, Mozart, Bach, Debussy, to name only four have created breath taking beauty with only 88 keys.
Maybe 1900 has a point. What if freedom is found in limits? We are free to drive on the roads because there are limits to how we drive on those roads. We are free to travel because of the laws and restrictions to our driving. The alcoholic finds freedom by not drinking. We don’t find freedom by engaging our every desire, but restricting our desires.
Imagine for a moment that we eliminated gravity. It is our ‘bondage’ to gravity that gives us the freedom to move. If it were eliminated, we would be free, but unable to move. In order to move, we would have to invent ways that would allow us to live without drifting aimlessly into space.
What would happen if you and I looked at God’s limitations differently? What if we decided to look at them like 1900 looked at a piano’s keys? Would we still feel that God is limiting our freedom because God’s one desire is to make sure we have little of no fun? I think 1900 might teach us that God is showing us how to have an abundant, beautiful, and creative life.