For Sartre, as for Augustine, freedom is not about the kinds of options we have and make in life or even our very ability to choose what options to take. We do not become free because of the sheer number of alternatives we are given or because of the choices we make in life. Rather, freedom pertains to how one pursues meaning in life: it is not about what we are or what choices we make but how we make them and how we live our lives.

Sartre and Augustine struggled with freedom, and so do I.