I am writing this from an off-grid self sufficient home called an Earthship. I am writing this post using solar power, and I don't have to pay any bills for using it. I have almost no utility bills, since my home is self sufficient for power, rainwater water harvesting, solar hot water, and I also have some food production. I managed to self build it on a small budget and so I didn't have to take a loan out to pay for it. Overall, you might say that I am pretty free! ... Or am I?
What is Freedom? That is a great question. On the surface I think most of us attribute being free to having the rights and ability to do what we want to do. That can be many things such as freedom of speech, the right to vote, freedom of movement, and so on. If we look around the world, we can see massive disparity between various countries. Many parts of the world have almost no freedom of speech. If you speak out of turn in some countries you can be put in prison, or worse! Freedom of movement is a great luxury that many in Europe and USA take for granted, and is surely a very important aspect to being free. We pride ourselves in England, many parts of Europe and America on being the land of the free. Us 'lucky ones' who live in a 'democracy' are the free'est in the world.. right!?
You see, there are many kinds of Freedom. Whilst I consider myself very free according to the democratic / capitalist viewpoint, many in countries with very few human rights might see it quite differently. Freedom is not an absolute thing. It is totally subjective, and is based almost entirely on the notion of what an individual deems to be true for them.
So what is Freedom for me?
After many years of life experience, and many lands traveled, my ideas of what it means to be free have shifted from my adolescent point of view. I have come to learn that my biggest enemy is my own mind. The thing that limits me the most in life is my fear, and more importantly, my ego. I may be free to roam the world, and see the greatest sights that this marvelous planet has to offer, but ultimately I am trapped in my own mind. Whilst my ego is the captain of the ship, I am helpless to know the most important things about the world and myself. I do not even know who I really am! My ego has hidden my very essence from myself. My ego shows me what it wants me to see, and hides the rest away. My ego is the one in the control, and most of the time, I am totally unaware of it.
To be free means to be able to be here, in the present moment. If we are stuck in the past, lost in thought, we are not free. If we are worried about the future and what will be, we are not here. If we are not here and we are not in control of our thoughts, we are not free. Our thoughts are constantly interpreting our reality through our thinking of why something happened, or why someone did this or that. Through this mental filter, we are not seeing the truth! Whilst our mind is allowed to roam rampantly, we will never be free.
Our greatest challenge in life is to remove the ego. When we learn and know what the ego is, we come to know how it has warped our vision, trodden us down, and chained us up in a never ending whirlwind of fear. How can anyone be free whilst they are ruled by their mind. What is freedom? Freedom is the person who has free'd his mind. They are free! They may be mad, they may be poor, they may be in prison for the rest of their lives... but they are free. And most likely they are happy, and in the present moment.
Life is a gift
Every moment
Is precious
It can be momentous
Or nothing at all
It is your choice
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