I guess if you asked just anybody whether they’d love to be free or more free than they feel right now they’d say yes. But what does “being free” actually mean?
In my perception “being free” is almost always a “being free” FROM something. That’s also very logica as you can only be free if there’s also a state of not being free. So if you desire to be (more) free from something that something is the thing that’s keeping you from being free.
What could that thing be? Is it your job or your partner or are your kids the reason why you feel not free? Are you lacking money? Is your health the reason why you feel not free? If only things were different, THEN you’d be free, right?
That makes the desire to be free a conditional desire. IF this condition is fulfilled THEN I’ll be (more) free. Okay, let’s assume that at one point we have gotten rid of all those things that keep us from being or better feeling free and you actually will have achieved total freedom. What will your life look like then? You don’t know? But how will you then know when you have achieved your final state of being free?
I tell you what total conditional freedom feels like: it’s death. The end of what you consider your self. Well, at least that’s as far as I can see. Maybe there’s another kind of conditional freedom in the afterlife but how would I know? I’m not dead yet. Or am I? 😉
And is more (!) freedome really a goal worth striving for? I mean less shit is still shit, right? It might smell less and attract fewer flies, okay. But still, I wouldn’t like to have it under my shoes (I live in Berlin, just FYI). Relatives like better / worse or more / less are always a trap. It’s easy to be more free or less selfish but it’s simply impossible to be completely free or absolutely non-selfish. And that’s neither my opinion nor my believe. It’s mere logic. How can you who is a self ever be non-self-ish without being dead and not being you anymore?
But back to freedom. If you ask me conditional freedom might seem like a worthwhile pursuit and there are gains and losses that come with this fight for it but it’s a fight that never ends as there’s no such thing as absolute conditional freedom. It’s basically a kind of spiritual rat race.
What’s more interesting for me is unconditional freedom. And that’s already “here” because it’s unconditional meaning it doesn’t depend on anything that needs to happen or to be done or to be believed. Even God – may he rest in peace – didn’t “create” unconditional freedom. It was already “there”.
So, how does freedom feel to you here and now? Do you think I’m wrong with my observation?
Can you maybe show me the road to absolute conditional freedom? I couldn’t show you. Not even the Gathering can achieve this. At least you wouldn’t be able to talk about it when you come back from your journey into non-self as there was no self to perceive the unconditional freedom which always “was”.
