If you want change in your life, there is one necessary energy or force in the universe you must understand. It will change everything for you. What is necessary to grasp prior to any change in oneself is an energy or force of freedom.
Why is it important to point to and understand freedom? What benefit or value would grasping freedom give to the average person seeking self-awareness which will result in the possibility to change oneself? Without an awareness and understanding of the force of freedom, change and self-awareness is impossible. So, really the benefit is the greatest and most profound. Allow me to break this down.
First, consider what freedom is not. Freedom is not a quality or property of people. It is not a cultural, economic, political, or religious freedom. By adopting or believing in a certain political system or inhabiting a particular culture, it follows that certain truths must be accepted and particular actions are obligatory or forbidden. The belief system adopted (consciously and unconsciously) is like a pair of glasses used to make sense of our experiences, thoughts, and the world. The principles that constitute a particular economic theory, political system, religion, or culture determine what is true, right, good, fair or just and their antinomies. This is not freedom since all actions, thoughts and the world are already established based on the belief system endorsed.
To truly understand freedom, consider this personal experience that changed my life. As a sexual abuse survivor, over time I came to recognize that what I believe or endorse is what determines the outcomes. I believed in an affiliation (not always consciously) with a culture of victimization because of my experience. The culture of victimization is defined by certain cultural, political and religious systems. My actions and thoughts became grounded in these affiliations. For instance, there were times where I could not function in society, even hold down a job. The belief that I was a victim defined me. What changed everything for me was a genuine acceptance that my inability to function in society was a direct result of accepting this culture of victimization and its affiliations. I began to understand how these affiliations justified what occurred, whether it was negative or positive. These affiliations with belief systems became a prison. After removing the shackles of these affiliations, I was able to grasp the role I had in the rape and realize that I chose to adopt these affiliations. Given this revelation, an energy or force of freedom emerged. In other words, by understanding that being affiliated with any belief system is a choice, catching a glimpse of what is necessary for change, healing, and self-awareness becomes possible. It is no longer about obligations and taboos because of an affiliation and endorsement of some economic system, political system, religion or culture. It is about believing in what is and acting; not believing in what there is and reacting.
A person’s specific actions are the expression of freedom. When one acts it is from or with the energy or force of freedom; whereas when one reacts it is not from the energy of freedom. Are you an actor or a reactor?
Freedom is expressed in acts. When people recognize that they institute the meaning of what it is to be, their lives change. Each person realizes that they are responsible. People are capable of shedding affiliations without regret or remorse and through the removal of those shackles they grasp the energy of freedom through action. These actions reveal who each is (including affiliations they endorse) and what they do. Since people are free, they are responsible. Given their recognition of this responsibility, their life changes and possibilities and opportunities appear everywhere. What would you do with endless possibilities and opportunities?
Freedom is a force similar to causality; without either, change and understanding is impossible.
The reason pointing to and grasping freedom is necessary is by denying freedom, one cannot become self-aware nor change.
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