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What is Freedom?

 

Introduction: Freedom can mean so many different things to different people. Freedom from: – unpleasant situations or people – physical pain – unwanted or painful emotions – guilt – blaming and hating – the need to work – physical, mental or spiritual disabilities or limitations – limiting beliefs – government structures, requirements or prohibitions – moral obligations – fixed ideas – being seen (low self esteem) Freedom to: – travel – speak – write – question authority – wear or not wear what one chooses – choose and express emotions – move the body as one chooses – buy things – own things – sell things – gather in groups – question beliefs or ideas – have and create our own ideas – imagine – travel outside the body Then, there are freedoms that might be considered negative, such as freedom to cause harm to others, restrict other people’s freedom or freedom from consequences of our actions. Those are the favorites of most of our current politicians. Our concepts of freedom can be very different depending on how we perceive ourselves. If the perception of self is as just a physical body, governed purely by the laws of physics, then one’s freedom can seem very limited. However if one perceives oneself as a non-physical consciousness, residing in the body for just this lifetime, then one can choose how much of one’s attention is placed on the desires and perceptions of the body, and how much is focused on the awareness and goals of that pure consciousness (dare I use the word “spirit”?) The ultimate freedom is the freedom from fixed identity (self definition). We can play with identities, and use them to achieve goals or complete projects. But to the degree that we define ourselves, we are limited. To control where we place our attention, is a valuable skill to master, to increase our freedom. I’ll address the many ways that people think they are not free, or do not have a choice. We’ll explore patterns of thought that humanity seems locked into, including some that may not have been examined by you, the reader. We’ll look at the ways people may think they are free, simply because they have never known about other possible choices. A bird with clipped wings, who has never seen daylight, may be unable to imagine any other form of behavior than to walk and climb around its cage. The door may be open and its feathers regrown, but it needs to be shown what is possible. The intent of this book is to bring clarity to the concepts of freedom. The reader may decisively break loose from attitudes, beliefs and little boxes of expected behavior that society’s “group think” uses to make us “normal”. The person who is truly free knows who he or she is. He or she decides what to do at any moment, not based on habitual ways or on what is expected, but by listening to the highest part of him/herself that knows what is right and appropriate. He/she has original thoughts and can  create goals. Areas of life will be addressed which few people have considered in relation to freedom; but they all contain set ways of being, which can limit our range of choices. I wish you happy hunting through these pages, and may your world of possibilities be ever expanding.

Table of Contents

Freedom to explore other viewpoints:

It is a tendency in our nature to believe that our viewpoint is the only one that is valid.

An important part of our freedom comes from an ability to question our beliefs and objectively explore (or even seek out) other ways of perceiving existence.

Fixed ideas can prevent us from even HEARING what other people say, when their ideas just don’t fit our picture of reality. Somehow, we tend to think that we must reconcile what THEY say with the way WE perceive the world.

So here is an interesting exercise to do. The next time you have an impulse to tune someone out because what they say makes absolutely no sense: Put aside your own beliefs and just listen – with the intent of hearing what they say and, as much as possible, understanding and experiencing how they perceive life and the world they live in.

This can be such a surprising GIFT! You may still think that their beliefs are all hogwash, but you have just opened up a whole universe to experience that was previously closed off. You might even find reason to re-evaluate some of your own beliefs – a major step in personal growth.

You can do this over and over, and discover an amazing diversity of experience, that you had never even imagined. You may find yourself seeking out weird or unusual people, just to explore worlds that few ever get to see.

Sometimes it will even expand and enrich the world YOU live in. This is the freedom to travel in a new and different way.

 

Suspension of disbelief:

Sometimes we may have ideas presented to us that do not relate to anything in our experience, or seem illogical. In our “normal” every day state of beta consciousness, those ideas seem unreal; but, with deep meditation or other ways of expanding consciousness, those ideas can begin to make sense:

– A sense of oneness with all existence

– Feeling unconditional love without judgement

– Being pure consciousness, not the mind or the body

– Vivid recollection of past lives

– Discovery of one’s own existence simultaneously in another form and place.

So many insights and breakthroughs will occur along the path of self discovery.

The ability to perceive other “dimensions” of experience is an expansion of freedom. As long as we are limited by physical form, there seems to be no such thing as “absolute freedom”.

 

The Law:

So many people think and act as if their freedoms are defined and restricted by THE LAW!

Laws are arbitrary rules made by a group of people, or even an appointed committee who do not necessarily have your best interests at heart. I’ll never forget being required to pour a bottle of Kahlua down the sink at a California customs station – just to protect the local liquor industry. Did I have a choice? Of course I did, but I did not choose the alternative.

Lysander Spooner, well known freedom lawyer in the 1800’s, indicated that the people who masqueraded as the so-called “government” could be more accurately described as fraudulent impostors or a “secret band of thieves, robbers and murderers”. Could those who would take your property without your consent (when you have done no harm) be fairly described as human predators?

If the speed limit is unrealistically low, you can safely drive 20 miles over and it endangers no-one, is it wrong to do so? Well, you may endanger yourself if there is a uniformed predator lying in wait, but where does right and wrong enter into this equation? Why feel guilty?

Whether or not we agree with a law, we always have the freedom to comply or not. That freedom is meaningful when we can fully know the consequences of our choices. Knowledge does provide greater freedom.

That leads to the next strange idea:

 

The eBook is now complete (about 86 pages), and will be available for purchase in the future.

 

A free copy of the book is available now: Click Here.