I am not in debt, however I do have debt. One of my top goals is to pay off my remaining student loans in two years or less. This year I have reduced my student loans by 35% and my total debts by around 45%. There is something I really hate about owing someone else money and paying them interest on top of it. Granted, my student loan interest rates are pretty low but I still hate it. It makes me feel like I have leeches I have to feed out of what little I make. (Interesting reading on The Mandrake Mechanism)
Despite any philosophical arguments about existence and freedom, in practical everyday terms money is security. Having it provides you with a certain amount of security and not having it puts you at a certain amount of risk. To my mind, debt is equivalent to giving a certain degree of control to your creditors. Not only that but it forces you to live within that context of debtor and creditor versus the context of living in terms of what you can afford or not afford. The latter context is preferable as it frees you from entanglement with other entities and from a situation of control. To a certain extent, when you have debt and especially when you are in debt, you live at the mercy and whim of those you owe money to. It is conceivable that your wages could be garnished and your property confiscated to pay outstanding debts. You can, of course, seek protection via bankruptcy law, however this effectively banishes you to the outskirts our economic system for seven years. Declaring bankruptcy is the scarlet letter of the day.