Freedom
What is true freedom? What is liberty? What is that spiritual liberation that people have sought through the ages? What controls our lives, if not we ourselves?
Is it possible that we can live life in bondage, and never realize that we are not really free? As we will see, there are many forces which override our individual and collective freedom. And, the best prison is the one you don't even know you are in.
Consider the long view: you will either live forever in total love, light, peace and joy ... or not
And it really is your choice. It is the spiritual choice we make in our own heart, as to whether evil is good enough for us, lies are better for us, or darkness hides the wrong in us better than the light exposes it and frees us from it. The choice is, of course: Jesus or Satan, darkness or Light. And we all make a choice, even if we don't know it, or we just go along with how our lives are, or how the world is, without questioning it.
We might accept our lot in life, our troubles, our suffering, our bonds, without realizing there is something better, or that we can get free. Our minds are as confined and trapped as our feet are bound to the earth by gravity. And, the forces which securely bind our thinking are as subtle, omnipresent, and unseen as gravity. Sometimes we only become aware of the self-negating influences that are affecting us when they are near the point of taking over or ruling us and our lives.
Various behaviors that give us a feeling of control, actually reveal that something in our life is out of control. One example is overeating. Obesity is not being "free" to eat as much as you like; it is living in bondage to self-destructive behavior, behavior that will bring greater disease, pain, and suffering. Rationalizing or liking or accepting such self-negating behavior does not in any way save you from the consequences of your choices and actions.
Yet, people mistakenly feel "better," the more they feed their addictions, or the more self-destructive their behavior. In other words, if you feel you are free to muck around and get deeper into quicksand, are you really getting free? Not really. If you get more into what is wrong, you are not getting free from wrong, you are just drowning in it.
Think about your own life. Are you free, or are you controlled by something outside you? Some indications of loss of control are: use of drugs and alcohol, overeating, anxiety, stress, emotional reactiveness, addiction, confusion, self-deception, and depression. Popular addictions, in a society which is addictive as a whole, include: gambling, video, gaming and other media, pornography, sex, sugar, caffeine, tobacco, work, religion, shopping, violence, risk taking, food, emotion, alcohol, drugs, physical appearance, exercise, "perfection," materialism, "success," and sports.
Much of this behavior is valued or rewarded in our society. You need to ask, what is ultimately of value and what is not, what takes you higher or brings you down, what caters to illusions or brings you closer to the truth. Do you prefer your traps or addictions to the effort of getting free?
Either you are growing in control or something else is growing out of control
Something wrong, something negative. Something that is only going to hurt you. Are you trading short-term pleasure or satisfaction for long-term good — a Higher Good. When you are in a trap, which could be any of life's addictions, what is growing is your enslavement to it, not your spiritual worth, dignity, or freedom.
If you will not acknowledge what is wrong, you have little chance of realizing, accepting, or having what is right. This is how people live their lives in bondage to what is wrong. And, the more society caters to people living in denial, the less free we all truly are. What we are denying when we deny truth, light, and God's way is God, Jesus, Christ. That is what we are excluding from our life.
Consider music videos aimed at young black Americans. They are, regardless of the fact that they are produced by black Americans, enslaving young black people, in the name of "entertainment." They are mind numbing, lewd, lurid, degenerate, perverse, hellish, pornographic, and demonic. That is the godless vision of life our children are being given, to rob them of their Higher Good. Henri F. Amiel realized, "The man who has no inner life is the slave of his surroundings."
We mistake the worst wrong-mindedness and wrong behavior for "freedom." Any black man who calls all black women "'ho's" (whores) is oppressing blacks. Any black man who calls other black men "dog" has managed to do what generations of being called "the N word" by whites could never accomplish. Blacks have reduced their perception of each other to sub-human. And it is spiritual genocide. Do you think that because it is being done by blacks it is okay, or because young black males target each other in acts of violence and murder it is okay?
The illusion is that people are "free" to express themselves the way they want, while they remain enslaved to a greater wrong.
Freedom is a spiritual quality. There was a time when Good beings sought the highest spiritual principles of Life and Liberty, hoping to hand them down for future generations. Today, people feel that if they can get a super-sized double cheeseburger at McDonald's, they are free and life is good.
The latest generations feel free to reject the principles and truths of previous ones. As if they are more free by rejecting God's spiritual freedom in favor of Satan's social agenda. It is the same evil, backwards, wrong thinking we see, over and over: war creates peace, illegality is the means to justice, lies are better than the truth.
Your leaders don't really care what you think. They'd rather tell you what to think. And, they know it has been working quite well. The Church does this. The State does this. They know that, having dismissed or squashed any free thinking, people really are just sheep. The Church is proud to call you its sheep, its flock. The State is also happy to call you a "good American" if your mind is closed and you question nothing.
Whatever increases their control decreases your freedom
People would rather choose or accept what is wrong, because it is easier. They mistake closed-mindedness for wisdom, and mistake the ease of expressing evilness for true freedom, true awareness, or good. As Wittgenstein said, "A man will be imprisoned in a room with a door that's unlocked and opens inwards; as long as it does not occur to him to pull rather than push."
If Truth sets you free, that what does untruth do to you?
Welcome the Light that reveals the darkness for what it is, so you can avoid traps, pitfalls, and suffering yet to come. Live in Truth. This is the basis of true hope, based in doing what is right, good, and true in this world, regardless of the forces that might prefer you not to. This is our true hope, to see, seek, and gain a world of Light, and to dwell there forever, never knowing suffering again. To be with Christ, Jesus, God, and be free.
For so long this world has not been free of evil, and evil has come to be accepted as a sort of normal part of things. The same is the case for all of the conditions that result from evil, deception, ignorance, greed, exploitation, and wrongdoing. Where would we be without suffering, sickness, war, death, lust, obscenity, corruption, crime, insanity, disinformation, illiteracy, poverty, economic exploitation, sexual perversion, abuse, cruelty, jealousy, injustice, slavery, violence, and hunger? What would a world be like without deception, fraud, falsehood, and pretense? What if no one were to have any impulse to take advantage of any other living being? What if there were no selfishness, no egotism, no hate, no fear, no worry, no guilt, no jealousy, no sadness, no pain, no sense of defeat at the hands of unfair, unjust, or oppressive forces? What if there were no lying, thieving, murdering, raping, abusing, and exploiting evil beings? What if there really were only Good?
You have to cast your vision beyond the world of problems, and see a larger truth
A greater possibility, a truer way of living. This means finding your spiritual vision. Hope in things of the world, or material things, is groundless. You have to be able to see beyond this world. There is a True God of Love, Peace, and Good, and there is a true Divine realm where there is no suffering, no death, no pain, no abuse, no exploitation, no evil. That is where our inspiration comes from. That is where the hope that sustains us comes from.
There is a Dimension of life infinitely greater than the one we find ourselves in here, which consists of Joy, Beauty, Peace, Love, and every Good. If you welcome this place, this spiritual home, then know that that is where you come from, and that is where you are going. Holding to the Light, Truth, and Way, forsaking all evil, you will dwell there forever. Is this not what you had always hoped for, the solution to every problem? The worse things are, the more we need this genuine hope and promise of Jesus.
Understand your own true purpose in living, seek spiritual freedom, and reject whatever is self-destructive and self-negating. Deep within us, no matter how much this world tries to put out our Light or suppress the Truth or deny it, we know there is a True God who asks us to persevere, to keep going, to reject evil, to go beyond the lies and deception, to come closer to the Truth. The Truth will set us free. First find Jesus in your heart. Afterwards, some creative changes may be needed, within you and in your behavior. Hold a vision of getting free, spiritually, from what oppresses you. And God will make a Way.
