Freedom to make mistakes. Freedom to believe in freedom. Freedom to pretend you have a choice. Freedom to waste time and money in pursuit of a false sense of happiness. Freedom to feed the greed inside that perpetuates suffering. But not really free.
What is freedom? In the US, we think it's the ability to choose our religion, to voice our opinion, and our right to bear arms. But we have forgotten about the most common oppressor. It's not the government, it's not our society, it's not our enemies, but it's our own minds. We are not free until we can find freedom from our incessant thoughts, compulsions, cravings, and delusions.
So where do we look?
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| Exsodus, freedigitalphotos.net |
Well, let's start by looking at the source of the problem. If it's the mind that's enslaving us, let's look at the mind itself. When we do, we can begin to see that our impulses to behave largely produce the corresponding behavior. If an incoming stimulus triggers a response of anger, we get angry. If an incoming stimulus triggers a response of pleasure, we feel good and we want more. It's that simple.
But doesn't this sound a bit too much like a computer? Are computers free?
On my computer, if I push a button, I can expect that it will produce the desired result. If I want to close a window, I hit the red X button on the top left hand corner (using a Mac) and it seems to follow that the window will close. So the question becomes, is the incoming stimulus controlling my life in the same way? Am I just automatically responding to my internal and external environment without realizing it?
The answer, unfortunately, is largely a yes. And that is because I am not fully aware of these internal processes and how they relate to what is being experienced. For example, how much is the voice in my head, which is another form of incoming stimuli (an internal form), affecting my actions? How much am I letting this voice control what I think, say, or do?
When I take the time to look, the first thing I notice is that this process is quite difficult. My attention-span is short and it sort of gets grey pretty quickly. When I am able to sustain my attention into this internal arena, I notice that the types of thoughts running through my head are extremely bogus and mostly random. The scary part is that most of the time I'm not aware of them at all and yet I realize how much they are infiltrating my system.
To continue watching is to open yourself up to the truth of what games are being played. And we all know the age-old Biblical adage, "the truth will set you free," but I'm here to say that this is quite misleading. The problem is that many of those who have witnessed the truth have been appalled at what they've seen and run back to unconsciousness with their tails between their legs. They don't like what they see, it scares them, and you know what, I can't say that I blame them.
The truth hurts. It's scary, and it involves having to admit that we aren't nearly as free as we believed ourselves to be. This has nothing to do with any sort of religious belief system of ancient teaching, this is the direct experience of you watching your own mind. To do so is to invite the truth into the little bubble that we call our awareness. This is a step in the right direction, but as we find, seeing the truth doesn't set us free, that is something we must do ourselves.
So how do we set ourselves free?
We have to find that moment between the impulse to behave, which is a reaction to an incoming stimulus, and the moment when an action is taken.
An action comes in two kinds:
1. Reaction. This is the normal type of action. Just like a computer, when a button is pushed, whatever response is hard-wired into the system manifests. Some things make us happy, others make us sad, defensive, hungry, lustful, annoyed, etc.
2. Response. This is the type of action that is only possible when we become aware of the impulses to behave. We can start to see the impulse arise, and then we are afforded the opportunity to follow the impulse or to choose otherwise. This is when freedom becomes possible.
Basically, we all have buttons, and the habituated way in which they are pushed and reacted to reinforces the predictability that the corresponding action will take place. If we stop reacting to the impulses, than we can become like a computer that has "a mind of its own" and we can override the stimuli.
The only way to stop this is to develop a kind curiosity towards these internal processes in order to step in and intervene on the automated reactions.
Otherwise, we will continue to live in auto-pilot, and believe that the voice in our heads is really us and that we are running the show, which is the biggest lie the world has ever known. It doesn't really matter what else we believe. If we think that something outside of ourselves is going to be responsible for our own freedom, happiness, or salvation, we are failing to recognize the habitual tendencies of our own minds. Without inviting this truth into our lives, we will never have a chance to be free.
Okay, okay, I know, maybe you are telling me that you don't care about freedom. What you want is more like love, happiness, comfort, security, and a sense of well-being. And what's wrong with that?
Nothing is wrong with that, this is all up to you. There is nothing particularly right about endeavoring to understanding your own mind in order to find freedom, either. It's just something to do. There is nothing we have to do while we are living out these short lives here on earth. The way we spend our time is up to us, or at least to this collection of inner workings and hard-wired neural pathways being governed by a mostly random and compulsive voice in our heads that we call "us." So carry on, if you will, or stand up for your right to act from a deeper place of wisdom and understanding. The choice is yours. Or is it?
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| Rejnith Krishnan, freedigitalphotos.net |
Questions to ask yourself:
What's guiding your actions?
Are you really in control of what you think, say, and do?
In what ways are you hard-wired to react to incoming stimuli?
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