With much of my recent posts on freedom, I found the following from Tim Keller’s book, The Reason for God, very helpful. On page 46, he writes:

In many areas of life, freedom is not so much the absence of restrictions as finding the right ones, the liberating restrictions. Those that fit with the reality of our nature and the world produce greater power and scope for our abilities and a deeper joy and fulfillment

Keller goes on to say that the ultimate liberating restriction is the love of God. Having that placed before and around us allows us to live as we should- fully human.

This makes total sense to me as a musician, as placing a certain amount of restrictions, be it key or tempo or mood or timbre, really allows one the freedom to create music. I need to think about this.