Freedom

Sometimes this world appears to be a wonderful place to me. People sometimes appear to be doing the most stupid things in the name of intelligence. People seem to be pursuing the strongest of their desires in the pursuit of being desireless. People seem to be getting into the trap of bondage in their endeavor to be free.

In fact, I was contemplating the issue of freedom. What is the meaning of being free? We all are social animals and therefore bound by the community rules. Is freedom to fulfill the individual desires, even if they deviate from the socially accepted norms, real freedom? Or is that the beginning of another cycle of bondage? Can we ever get infinite opportunities to fulfill our desires? Even if we get infinite opportunities, will these desires be ever satiated? We roam around one country and we want to visit the next. We get one property and we want to buy the next. We get one position and we aim at the next. Where is the freedom in pursuit of individual desires?

Whether somebody aims at the fulfillment of individual desires or social approval, these are just the two sides of the same coin called ignorance. While following socially accepted norms, we seek approval from society so as to feel secure. On the other hand, while pursuing individual desires, we seek to get pleasure. An insecure mind can not enjoy the pleasures. Therefore, we first aim to get social approval and once we get a certain amount of social approval, we start seeking pleasures by fulfilling individual desires.

However, none of them sets us free. Freedom is something else. Freedom is not in the domain of the mind. Freedom comes by dropping the mind. Till the mind is there, there will be both fear and desire. This is because our mind creates an illusion of the self. This illusion of self is different from the real self and creates fear as well as desires. This illusion of self wants to continue to exist and since it is just an illusion and its existence is quite fragile, it has a natural fear of dying. That fear makes us insecure and in order to feel secure, we try different ways and means and the most prominent of those is seeking social approval.

That false sense of self not only wants to continue to exist but also wants to expand. It seeks that expansion in the form of different desires. We keep fulfilling different desires and with the fulfillment of each of the desires, we feel more fearful and insecure. The more falsity we gather the more insecure we feel.

Probably, the only way to feel secure, contended, and peaceful in this world is to drop the falsity and be real. Being real does not mean shamelessly pursuing our selfish goals. That means to drop the false identity to be what we really are. That brings freedom. We no longer have the fears and desires. Life is no longer driven by desires and fears, rather it is driven by a sense of fullness that wants to express itself with feelings of gratitude and compassion. We become free to manifest the will and infinite possibilities of the divine.