Restrained Freedom
Ford Boyer
As the old song states, "They go together like a horse and carriage" freedom and responsibility; freedom and thought, speech and action. There can be no true freedom without its partner responsibility. They are merged into a synthesis; one is inactive without the other.
In a recent Nova television program, Igor Novikov stated that the laws of physics restrain our free will. He did not say free will is totally nullified, just restrained. We can't flap our arms and fly free of earth's gravity, but we can board a plane and be free temporarily. Restraint is also a characteristic of freedom. We can be responsible for restraining from killing someone thus ensuring our continued freedom from prison.
Can we be responsible and restrain our thoughts so as to speak and act appropriately? Do we speak and act out of true freedom or do we speak and act according to rules, morals, laws and beliefs of family, group, state, nation?
A so-called "free" society requires that its citizens act responsibly. Thus, laws are enacted to control (that's not freedom) people. Yet, laws we must have; i.e., the greatest good for the greatest number.
We are free to drive, but within certain restraints. We are free to earn a living, but within certain restraints, such as needing a social security number. We are free to worship as we wish, but within the restraints of our particular religious beliefs. We are free to think for ourselves, but PLEASE! just think like everyone else. We are free to be an individual, but don't be different.
When we stop and ponder seriously our so-called freedoms, we may find we are being held in check – like gravity holding us to earth – by so many stated and unstated restraints. Freedom from certain of society's restraints (laws and moral codes) is not possible unless we learn to be responsible for those very laws we help enact.
There are the laws that we impose upon ourselves; psychological laws – the "shoulds" of our lives. These self-imposed laws keep us bound to the past, or future, restraining our growth to freedom in the present. To be free in the present means letting go of the hold the past and future have on us. Our future freedom is based on freedom of thought, speech and action of today and the chains that enslave us may be made of our own links of thought to thought.
If we become responsible for our own thinking, we become responsible for our own freedom, thus providing an opportunity to help others gain their freedom.
True freedom is based on responsibility that comes about through the use of the combined mind and heart. Heart and mind – compassionate understanding – frees us from self-centeredness thus filling our lives with joy, an infectious type of freedom. May we strive to be free from our self-imposed restraints.
The Bamboo Forest
Charlotte Schmid
Freedom from what, was my first reaction when presented with this topic. What are our ideas of freedom? What would we like to be free from? As often happens when we really concentrate on one specific thought, we realize that there are multiple answers. It seems as if bubbles work themselves up from some other layer.
Some of the thoughts that surfaced for me were: The freedom train; freedom fighters; freedom to ride a horse in the desert; freedom to ski down a slope of powder snow; freedom from exams and study time; freedom from financial worries; freedom felt after a negative medical test result; freedom to choose one's religion; freedom of speech; freedom from habit or addictions; freedom to just BE. The freedom to rise at any time in the morning instead of at 5:30 when the alarm goes off. However, if we have no job to go to, would we experience real freedom?
In this context, John comes to mind. He had dreamed and no longer really believed that he could experience freedom. Not until the day when the gates of the prison shut behind him. Freedom was a word which was used seldom with his buddies, but was constantly entertained in ones' alone time. For a long time John just stood there outside the prison gate; his relatives lived too far away to come and greet him on this new day of freedom. Now, John was alone and really afraid! He was all alone! Where was his dreamed-of freedom? It had all been so tempting and promising, but what now? Too young he was when first arrested, too young to figure out how it had all started. Was it because of his dysfunctional family life or the dilapidated schoolhouse where his teacher could not really teach but had to try to keep the class somewhat quiet so there would not be a major outbreak of violence? Of course this was not an event taking place in some foreign, far away country but it happened almost under our own noses. Sad to say but it happens every day. Now, that the gate had closed, there was little education John could rely on to better his life situation and hope for a future livelihood. Now, no buddies were with him to give him a pep-talk, to bridge the way out "to the world." He was alone. Very alone. And with very little money in his pocket. I often think of John and I hope somehow he found his way and is not sitting on some street corner with a sign which reads: "Stranded, please help!"
What does freedom mean? Can we go and publish our thoughts on freedom and circulate them? Of course we can; that is, if we have the money to do so but can we buy soy or corn that has not been "genetically" altered? The "of course" is no longer assured.
Where are the boundaries separating freedom from non-freedom? Often, we find that these lines are very thin and quite fragile. Freedom from one thing may not be freedom from another. Freedom from a dreaded job after retirement may mean non-freedom from boredom. What does freedom feel like and how does it look? How does it taste or smell? Perhaps we should include such pondering into our daily reflections. How are we free and what holds us bonded? Our regrets, our guilt, our attachments to more and more consumption are all burdens to not experience freedom. We need to find out what freedom really means for each of us!
My pondering on this topic sometimes brings me to the Bamboo forest in Anduzes in the South of France where ancient bamboo of many varieties swing in the breeze with a swishing sound. Swishing back and forth with time. At other moments my mind's eye travels to Asian countries where scaffolds are built out of bamboo. A western person would not dare to think that it could be strong enough to help build a ten story building. Or I see the baskets woven from bamboo which was sliced into strips of various width, scraped and made pliable until braided into a form to hold bread or other treasures. Also, flutes are carved from bamboo thus creating many beautifully haunting sounds, singing and swaying with the sound of the wind. Could this be like freedom tamed into a basket or a flute while still holding and containing the essence of that freedom of the wind rustling through the leaves? Can freedom be all that; strong, free and yet contained? The flute singing of freedom and after it stops singing, the silence reverberating that freedom? Is this the freedom from death and ultimately freedom from being reborn?
Freedom
Lisa M. Payne
Love and peace are ideals that are constantly pursued. But it is the ideal of freedom that perhaps is touted even more. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness still seem to elude most of the world's population. Freedom to pursue a proper quality of life has its own imprisonments. Freedom, after all, is a choice; a choice for which we would always opt.
Freedom of speech entails words chosen carefully, not hurtfully. Beyond that, it is a voice given to those who cannot speak for themselves. It is a free voice that needs to express outrage as Ethiopia invades Eritrea. Their freedom usurped and a multitude of lives taken. Did you choose to use you freedom of speech then?
Freedom to live entails basic rights such as food, clothing and shelter. Beyond that is a life that is disease free. Yet what life can there be when you are born to die of AIDS? The continent of Africa's populace infected with little or no medicine. Did we choose collectively and silently to let it happen to their freedom to life?
Freedom to pursue happiness entails knowledge and cultural enrichment. Beyond that is the right to be a child. Born to poverty, hunger and war, there is little time for play. Their childhood taken when they must take up a gun or put on a uniform; no freedom to pursue happiness, no choice but to survive. Did we choose this way for the children who we say we value so much?
The entire continent of Africa exemplifies a total lack of freedom. This antithesis of freedom is of the world's creation. As the mother continent goes, the cradle of civilization, so too the rest of the world. There is no loud voice for freedom resounding, only a vague whimper. There is no freedom of choice for Africa much less a proper quality of life unless the world uses its freedom to assist in her life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.
Notes on Freedom
Nancy M. Davison
One day I asked my chiropractor to explain the work she does. She answered, "There's a misconception that something, some vertebra or joint pops out of alignment, and we pop it back in. In reality, the muscles around those areas get tense and things get stuck in the wrong place, causing pain. We release them, we free them up."
We learn about human freedom in much the same way. Our physical, emotional and mental muscles get stuck in place, and we find ourselves in pain, afraid to move one way or the other, like Brer Rabbit, stuck to the old tar baby of our preconceived ideals. Eric Fromm explored this concept in his book, Fear of Freedom; if we're free, then what are our limits, who will tell us what to do and when to do it? Who will take care of us, who will be our shepherd? For many lifetimes we are very like sheep, terrified of freedom, longing for someone to lead us, following the strongest, the fiercest, the smoothest talker, the one who will get us what we want. Eventually, however, the disciple learns to eschew sheepness and becomes the mountain goat, free to move ever higher on the mountain of initiation, free to adjust to the rhythms and cycles of evolution, but always as a member of the group, and not of a herd.
The capitalist entrepreneur is one who steps off the beaten path, develops a better mousetrap, sticks her neck out, does a thousand things that the ordinary person is afraid to do. S/he tests the waters of her economic freedom, hoping to make a killing in the marketplace. The entrepreneurial disciple, like the Fool in the Tarot, steps off the cliff of faith with the fixed intention to live in the spiritual world and bring the highest concepts of freedom into the daily life. S/he hopes to bring living to new points of excellence.
True freedom connects us to others, makes us put aside our own little wants and desires in the interests of the greater whole. I remember a man with whom I worked in South America telling me there was no such thing as free will because there were laws to keep him from doing everything he wanted. This is a common misconception, that freedom means license, and many live their lives irritated and frustrated because, even though they may have power over others, even though they may be able to buy anything they desire, true happiness eludes them. The pursuit of power and personal satisfaction is like an addictive drug, and eventually one either overdoses or kicks the habit. In this light, it is interesting that many extremely wealthy individuals are making large donations to institutions which espouse social causes. Notwithstanding the fact that large donations bring lovely tax breaks, I think a search for happiness is behind this trend. Since happiness is not found through acquisition, these people are seeking it through giving. A good start!
In January, 1941, Franklin D. Roosevelt, characterized by Djwhal Kuhl as "that great first ray disciple", proposed the following Four Freedoms "everywhere in the world." Roosevelt said:
The first is freedom of speech and expression.
The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way.
The third is freedom from want.
The fourth is freedom from fear.
Further back in time, in the year 1215, at a meadow called Runnymede in medieval England, King John signed the Magna Carta, the first document we know of that diminished the absolute freedom of the king to do whatever he wanted, and distributed some of that power to the barons. Not that the little people benefitted much from this action, but the stage was set for the establishment of parliamentary rule; for the American and French Revolutions of the 18th century, and the Communist revolution of this century. Revolution is a tool that releases humanity from bondage to an outmoded idealism, and these three revolutions were the result of long repression by the monarchy which upheld and practiced the "divine right of kings".
True freedom really exists only in the freedom to choose to serve. The expression of such freedom tends toward the liberation of consciousness (soul) from the bondage of matter. All movements toward human freedom, defined beautifully in the Four Freedoms, direct humanity toward an ever-deepening understanding of our true existence. We know, on the deepest levels, that we are not these bodies in which we temporarily live, and we know, also, that we are not separated from each other, that there is something which binds us together in profound communion. Some scientists are openly admitting that consciousness survives "death, and that brain and mind are not synonymous. Such a pronouncement from the scientific community puts us at the very brink of the most riveting revelation of all time; humanity itself will recognize the existence of the soul, the mediating aspect between spirit and matter, and then we will have true freedom, for we will know ourselves as we are, and we will know that true freedom involves the individual in and as the whole.
Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.
Mahatma Gandhi