Wanting Freedom

Part 4 of 11 in the series Types of Bliss

Do you want to be free?
“The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud.”
Coco Chanel
To be free means you get to choose, but choice always means working out what is best within your own moral framework. So it requires consideration, and that can be challenging.
If I want to be free to do what I want I am selecting a path that allows me to go either the way of my soul/spirit, (which will involve thinking about the good of others), OR I can just go down the path that requires no consideration, just reaction.That path seems free, but in fact it is not really choice so much as programming.
Such pre-programmed ‘choices’ diverge typically into either ego based pleasure of self, (this feels easy/good now) or the pattern of obedience to what others have embedded in your Xconscious; (If I follow what I am told I will be affirmed/accepted).These last choices are easy because you are following without having to put much effort into the choice. However freedom is about choice, right?

So running on a pattern (I will take another addictive step with alcohol/food etc) leads away from the true freedom of choice that brings ongoing peace and joy (such as adhering to the AA 12 step program) even though it is hard.

In summary, freedom of choice, or free will, is not taking the easy road, it is considering your true self, your spirit, and in love (for yourself and/or others) weighing up the effects of each choice.

“I am free, no matter what rules surround me.
If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them.
I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do.”
Robert A. Heinlein

The definition of freedom that leads you to think that it is making an easy choice is actually slavery.
Think about the example of your work, and what you would really love to do. If you are not already in the occupation you love, then you are facing a tough choice to get to that freedom.

Such a choice involves really opening yourself to what you truly want, considering finances, changes to commitments and contracts, maybe being poor for a while, maybe new study, a crisis of self-confidence, threats from the opinions of others etc. Each aspect is difficult, yet is leading you towards your own desire for meaning.

Such a choice is uplifting to your spirit, but is difficult, because it is valuable. Like choosing a partner, the choices of freedom require listening to your heart, and overcoming the desire to take the easy short term option. Freedom requires you to love yourself first, then in that strength to spread that love.

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