What Is Freedom?

Questions (and Answers) About Freedom

Why would anybody be interested in answering the question, ‘what is freedom’?

Hmm, honestly, I have absolutely no idea. (The words just came.) Maybe you might be curious about ‘truth’, or ‘understanding’. You could simply be interested in ’emancipation from mental slavery’. Or you could see it as way of getting a ‘nicer life’. Guess ‘freedom’ leads to all of these things, and more. Let’s find out, eh!…

 

Introduction

I had a familiarly unpleasant interaction with myself, t’other day. Some thoughts in my head that I really didn’t care for. A family affair: “She should do this”, “It must mean that”, “How can I make them all see?…” Etc.

But instead of reaching the usual negative conclusions – instead of my feeling unloved, misunderstood and abandoned (again!) – I felt an unusual ease, became aware of a chink of freeing light, and could taste the delightful possibility of an immediate ‘freedom’.

A freedom from the tyranny of MY THINKING, no less.

Which got me to thinking (in a good way – hah!), and to wondering, and to questioning. And these are the words that came (more or less)…

 

Some Questions About Freedom

What is freedom?

Is it having peace of mind? Is it peace on this planet? Can it only occur when there is no more cruelty to animals, say, and everyone’s eating Vegan?

Will it only happen when there are no more hate crimes, or inequalities, and prejudice and discrimination against… [insert your cautionary cause here] is no more?

Does freedom come from understanding, from finally ‘getting it’, or from spiritual enlightenment? Does freedom come from stillness, presence, and the awareness that we are all one? Or is it as mundane as, say, personal recognition? (Fame, fortune, and all the sexiness you could ever want – hah, I’ve said too much!)

What is freedom, then?

Some more questions…

• Could it be wanting what life wants? (Thank you, Guy Finley.)
• Could it be doing (and finishing) ‘The Work’? (Thank you, Byron Katie)
• Could it even be summed up by the inspirational words below? (Thank you, Sydney Banks.)
  “If the only thing people learned was not to be afraid of their experience, that alone would change the world.”

 

Can words ever sum up what freedom truly is?

Maybe freedom’s just a feeling, then?

Or maybe it needs people to behave in a certain way? They must appreciate and ‘get’ you, for example? They have to do what you want, see things the way you see them, and have the very same values as you.

Maybe that’s the rock that freedom hides behind?

Or maybe it’s you. Maybe ‘freedom’ needs you to be different? Maybe it depends on your past? Or it’s waiting for you, idly, in the future?

Or how about this one: can you be free whilst in prison?

Can you want things to change, and still be free?

Does freedom come from people pleasing, maybe, or rather being freed from people pleasing? What does freedom make of all your other flaws and frailties? Does freedom even care about you, and your behaviour and concerns, at all?

Is freedom just a “head job”, then? “Emancipate yourself from mental slavery”, and all that. (Thank you, Bob Marley)

 

More ‘What Is Freedom?’ Questions…

What is freedom?

Is it about happiness, achievements, or being part of a loving community?

Is this it?…

• Freedom: getting what you want or rather wanting what you get?
• Freedom: innate, and the default setting, but for your thinking otherwise?
• Freedom: a.k.a. faith, trust, truth, freedom, god, light  or love?

Is freedom having no problems, or having no problem in having problems?

Can freedom be given to you, can it be taken away?

Can freedom come from the mere noticing that you’ve forgotten that you’re free? (Feel that tension!)

Do you have to ‘get’ the words being written here for freedom to be yours?

Does freedom come from answering silly questions, like this? Or do you have to come up with your own silly questions, to be free? Or maybe freedom requires a definitive list of questions about what freedom isn’t?

What is freedom?

Can freedom be compared, contrasted or calculated?

Is freedom thinking of yourself less, say? (Or is it simply about less thinking?)

Is it getting the job, the one, the baby?

Does freedom EVER come from ‘getting’? Does it ever require an outcome, a solution, a certain circumstance? Does it require an intention, an action, a prayer? Does it ever require another? Does freedom ever require anything whatsoever?

Are you even interested in what freedom is?…

 

What Is Freedom – The Answer, Maybe?

It’s hard to articulate what freedom IS, to be sure. Or why at all it even matters. I just felt it, momentarily, t’other day. And the words they just came…

But I do know this.

• Freedom isn’t what you think it is.
• Freedom isn’t ‘out there’, and
• Freedom isn’t about having all the answers, either, because
• Freedom is yours for the taking, yours for the receiving, yours for the noticing
• Freedom is Your True Nature.

Yes, freedom is YOURS. Freedom is NOW. Freedom is HERE. Because you are freedom, and freedom is you. Not the you that you think that you are, mind. (Oh no.) But The One You That You Truly Are. (Oh yes.)

“Life without liberty is like a body without spirit.”
– Kahlil Gibran

“Tension is who you think you should be, relaxation is who you are.”
– Chinese Proverb

“What you seek is seeking you.”
– Rumi