FREEDOM

It is a gorgeous day and promises to get better and better. I don't know what to blog about. Inspiration seems to evade me. I know I wrote FREEDOM in the title space. I don't know that I can handle that. I don' know what I was thinking. It would take several blogs just to define the word.

Should I just erase it and start over or should I take a stab at it? Perhaps it is easier to look at how we are not free. We are held by our culture, our beliefs, our concepts, dogmas, prejudices, preconceived notions, family rules, etc. That is just a few things in our heads. Outside, we have laws, governments, corporations, workplace rules; our food and entertainment is pretty much defined by others. Our station in life decides many things like travel, luxury, clothing choices etc.

Paradoxically, we can acknowledge all that and still feel free. We may not want to do anything that is not in concert with custom, culture or law so we don't even notice the limitation.

To cut to the chase, so to speak, I think the only meaningful limitation we have is how we think. Especially, in areas of how we see ourselves. How we think about ourselves. How we value ourselves. From the time we were born we were taught limitation by our parents, teachers, ministers, priests and society in general. We were carefully taught that we did not want/deserve freedom. We were taught not even to question, if we really had it. Those individuals who challenge the system are dealt with. Periods of societal rebellion, like the sixties, come and go; then a period of regrouping and repression follows.

Do we want to be free? Do we want every individual be as free as he chooses as long as he doesn't impinge on others' freedom? That concept has been brought up in every generation for the last few thousand years. There are forces that don't want us to look at the concept of freedom with our eyes open. The concept is only brought up with flag waving and violent intent. Those same forces use the concept of freedom to further our slavery.

As the reader knows, I believe we are moving out of the age of domination. I think we can no longer be controlled by those who relish power. So............ are we ready to be free? Are we ready to grant our neighbor the right to believe, think and do what ever they want as long as it doesn't impinge on anybody else's freedom?

Most of us would like to say, yes. I am not sure we can be sure how we think and feel about it until we look at our own 'stuff'. By stuff, I mean all the things we believe and act upon without even knowing it. We have dogmas, tenets, customs etc, that we have absorbed and they have become part of us. The most important of these is, how we feel about ourselves. Many of us were taught we don't deserve anything. We never even stopped to consider if we felt free. Our religion taught us we were bad and even needed saving. Our cultural surroundings didn't belie that belief. Wow! How do you feel free with that load of crap?

Even the best of us have psychological limitations to deal with. How are we to understand what freedom is? What is free will?

Can we decide that all the limiting crap we absorbed is not true? Can we stand on Earth like newborns and see with clarity? Can we see everything with new eyes? Can we see the Earth is our loving Mother who gives us everything our bodies need? Can we accept that the Universe might be Love? If we shed our crap, will we fall in love with ourselves? Will we see that everyone else is somebody to love, too?

Hey! We believed a lot of crap in our lives. Let's believe something that might help. Let's believe in Love. Let's believe we were just wearing disguises and we are really loving beings of light.

Free will- that is the freedom to choose love over all limitation. With love we will know freedom.

Love and Peace,  Gregg