There are two more days to enter FreedomChallenge #1!
I want to share a few thoughts about freedom in response to the prompt: What does freedom mean to you? (This is just for fun; I am declaring myself ineligible to enter the contest :)
This is not about political, financial, physical or spiritual freedom. It is about freedom in my mind.
# What does freedom mean to me?
"Our desires blindly blind our eyes, so we mistakenly identify their fulfillment with our freedom. Unfortunately, modern spirituality increases that burden effectively by putting a seal on the trap we are already in. The quest for illusion is great, and spiritual authorities are fulfilling their "solutions". I will use some quotes from famous authors. Otherwise I respect them, and I live in the hope of knowing more and better than the isolated sentences show. That is why I will not use their names.
For example: "Freedom means that no one prevents you from living a life you chose. Less of it is the form of slavery. "
It is a confirmation of the usual ideas of freedom. "Living as we choose" is very appealing to everyone who feels limited to something, and that means most people. The promise of removing these limitations by "spiritual awakening" sounds good, because we can not escape from them. However, the ability to fulfill that promise is a completely different story. Still, the biggest problem in "choosing"
Here is another sentence of a popular author of spiritual success stories: "Absolute Freedom does not exist. There is the freedom to choose whatever we want, and then to dedicate that decision. "
What do we want? So, if we dedicate ourselves to passing through the red light when driving a car, should we achieve that high goal? I suppose this statement is not written with that intent, but it sounds like if you read what it says. He probably did not even think pedophile was free to choose whatever he wanted and dedicate himself to that decision. But that sentence means exactly that.
Again, the problem is in the process of choosing, not in "what we want" or in dedicating it to. "What we want" is the direct result of captivity; a solid chain around our door - though, as Gibran says, "his loops glitter in the sun and blind our eyes." The key question is "why we want what we want". Unfortunately, most of the spiritual authors do not ask this today. I can not be sure whether it's true for their readers, but since such books are well sold ... the conclusion is obvious.
I will use Walt Whitman's quote again: "Not only is it true that most people misunderstand the freedom, but sometimes I do not seem to meet anyone who understands it properly."
Maybe I had more happiness than Whitman. Here and there I meet some who understand, but the quest was long and during that time I had to adjust my bullshit detector well enough to become sensitive to the finest weave of illusion and save me from the traps of sweet spiritual promises. In turn, it has allowed me to find something that does not look so sweet at first glance, but, oh!, So sloppy for longer stripes. "