Monday, February 8, 2016
FREEDOM...JUST ANOTHER WORD FOR NOTHING LEFT TO LOSE
I wonder if you think of yourself as being free. I mean really free. For a long while now I have considered myself free. But here lately I've had to take a long hard look just to see if I have been living a lie. Once again I am trying my best to taker an honest look at that path which leads back to myself. I admit that this path I speak of is one that I detest at times. Seems as if this life is much easier if I continue to live the lie instead of being totally honest with myself. But a small still voice whispers to me both day and night. I hear this voice whether I am awake, asleep, or anything in between. And it says, no rather demands, that I once again need to be honest with myself. As I try my best to turn a deaf ear to the voice it just will not let up. It continues to beckon me into the still of the moment where my true identity lies. Knowing this voice is my key to being really free, still I try to ignore it. But as it keeps calling I can no longer spin that lie that seems to make for an easier existence as a human being. I am reluctant yet compelled to take heed and listen. I fight back my little Ego Self and I do listen. The voice says to me....Can't you see that the verse from the song Me and Bobby McGee says it all. Remember the words? Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose, and nothing ain't worth nothing but its free..... Those words ring loudly in both my mind and my heart. Have I really been free any of tis time? So many things take our freedom from us bit by bit. Will money set you free? I don't think so but I do know how it can cause you to not be free. Can any material things make you free/ I don't think so. If anything they just add another link in the chain that keeps one from being free. Do you ever worry about someone breaking in your house? Taking all the great stuff you have acquired over the years. Do you ever feel like something bad is going to happen to your IRA account? That maybe someone will steal your identity and run up big debts? That the bank will fail and close its doors leaving you without any money. Do you ever worry that your wife or husband will be taken from you? I could go on but the point I am making is that to be truly free I think one must learn to be content in this One Eternal Moment. Just imagine for a minute that you wake up tomorrow and have nothing in this world except the clothes you are in. That's right, no house, no car, no money, no one to stand beside you. Only you and the world around you. Do you think you could be happy at that moment? I wonder, I really do. I am sure that if that was to happen to me I would at first be terrified. But maybe, just maybe, I would be able to just take it all in and see the beauty in everything. I'm sure it would take me a time to get to that point and I even doubt my ability to do so. I like to think I could but I also know it would be such a great task to overcome that I may not ever get there. I recall a story from the Bible about Jesus and his ministry. In the story he was greeted by a very wealthy man who came to Jesus wanting to know what he must do to follow his teachings. The man was blessed with all the material assets one could have hoped for. But the answer he received from Jesus was that if he truly wanted to follow the doctrines of the ministry he should give away all his money, his estates, and all material wealth. Then he would be free to follow the path of freedom. When he heard this he was saddened and walked away from Jesus because he could not give up his possessions. This story could be symbolic for many of us. Not to follow Jesus or any creed but to find true freedom. Maybe the only way to become truly free is to have nothing else to lose. So do you consider yourself free? As for me I am still working on that. Luckily I suppose, I don't have much left to lose these days. And as I ponder these feelings about being free I do think I am on the right path. My hope for all of you is that you do find yourself "free". I imagine that being free or how one defines freedom will be different for each of us. I don't expect anyone to give up all their possessions to find freedom. And I don't intend to get to the point where I have only the clothes I'm wearing but it could happen. Of that I am sure. When I was around 10 years old I did experience that situation firsthand. One night I had stayed at my sister and brother-in-laws house. The next morning when they drove me home we were greeted with a sight that shook my soul. Where our modest home had stood there were now only a big pile of ashes. The house had caught fire in the middle of the night and burned to the ground. Fortunately my mom and my stepdad had awoken and gotten out safely. No one was injured but everything we had was destroyed. At 10 years of age I was faced with the fact that the only thing I owned was the clothes I was wearing. Of course it was very traumatic but I am sure I probably handled that better then than I would have handled it say when I was in my 30's. I do remember though the outpouring of love and generosity of the community who rushed to our family's aid. Back in those days people always helped others. I remember seeing my stepdad taking some money from one of our neighbors outstretched hand with tears in his eyes. I was so touched even at this early age at the power of love. Within days I had more clothes than I had before the fire. Our community's outpouring of unconditional love in supplying us food clothes and money settled down deep in my soul even though I did not realize it then. And for a fleeting moment, as I got out of the car and walked toward the pile of ashes on the day of the fire I was free. It sure didn't feel like I was free, but looking back now I see what real freedom means. My dream is that one day soon the whole world will get back to being filled with people such as those generous neighbors of ours! If you will, take a quick moment and do a little something nice for someone. And as you do this I think you will have a small taste of being free! Much love to all of you
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6 comments:
I think one must learn to be content in this One Eternal Moment.
It's so simple, yet so elusive.
I agree Alice! Thank you for stopping by and sharing your thoughts with us. Hope you have a great day!
As is so often t he case, Your thoughts touch the very core of what I'm experiencing. I have been pondering the whole concept of freedom for about a month, and I haven't discovered any solid answers. I don't believe, in this matrix that we're in, we can experience total freedom, because we are always in need, and that need must be purchased with freedom. i.e......work. We need to have clothing and shelter. The only true freedom I believe we can have is spiritual.
I agree Chris. Our ego selves have been duped into thinking we need so many things to be free. On the other hand our Higher Selves know and accept that we are already free! The trick I think is to take care of our ego self which is illusionary the best we can while not allowing it to dominate our thoughts and actions. Very tricky indeed but it is possible. Thanks for stopping Chris. Have a good one friend!
Namaste brother Ron, another fine post. Perhaps freedom Ron is less a function of abandoning material wealth as it is a process of abandoning illusion. During my adult life, there have been three instances where I have lost everything I owned. As a result many possessions I very much valued were taken from my reality. Photos, life's little bits of valuable memorabilia. Things like tools, albums, anything one can purchase are really no loss at all. However, the loss of mementos I still feel to this day.
In losing my material possessions Ron, I did not feel more free. If anything, I felt less free, as bits of loving memories were taken out of my life. We do tend to see material wealth as an obstacle, truly it can represent a lack of freedom, if we have earnestly attached the value of possessions to an inherent value of how we perceive ourselves.
Speaking to the parable of Jesus and the rich man. I believe Jesus was trying to express the fact the rich man's wealth was a burden to him as he identified wealth with his identity. In failing to abandon wealth, the rich man had, by extension, tied his possessions to his image of self. Self has nothing whatsoever to do with ones value. Yet a man can be free whilst owning a great deal of possessions, equally, I believe a poor, destitute, man can be completely enslaved if he feels his lack of wealth means he is less a man of worth.
The lesson to be learned is simply, your true assets are love not material possessions. Additionally, another biblical quote asks us to remember, "It is much harder for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven (freedom of the soul) than it is for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle."
The key to the lesson is merely in how it is much harder, not stating it is impossible. We are urged to remember wealth, in itself is not a bad thing. It only represents a temptation to lose sight of our true self.
Freedom, my dear brother, to me is all about knowledge. We can never be free when blinded by the illusions of EgoSelf. If we see separation, division, judgment, time, space, death, birth, righ/wrong. good/bad, then we are not free. Yet if we see beyond the filter of EgoSelf, then choose to embrace our true self, unconditional love, unity, singularity, compassion, we truly are free. Freedom is all about being free from fear, ignorance, illusion.
Poor or rich, this is irrelevant, excepting the fact it is much harder for the rich man to escape Ego Self. Pain, suffering, poverty, these are the grains of sand which most often make to pearl come to life. Which is probably why we often confuse wealth with an inability to capture freedom.
Love and warm wishes brother,
in Lak' ech, dear brother Ron, prosper with freedom... live beyond illusion...
Hey Christopher. I agree with everything you say! That was the point I was trying to make...that freedom doesn't have anything to do with material possessions. I totally agree that a rich man can have everything and still be free as you stated. Ditto for the "poor" man. I wasn't trying to say that one must surrender all their possessions to find freedom. But I do think many of us allow our desires for material wealth to keep us chained to a life of not being free. Thanks again my friend for following up my thoughts with the way you view them. You and I think a lot alike but you seem to be able to express things in a better light than I can. So I respect your input very much so. Enjoy this moment!
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