As humans, most of us mistake the pursuit of physical freedom as achieving freedom, but in reality, true freedom is the unshackling of one's mind. Buddha once said, "The mind is everything. What you think you become." And so too, what you do not think will be your lost opportunities. How is our habitual scheduled lives really that different from a prisoner in jail; he has his "room", he can go to the bathroom, cafeteria, gym, even outside. Albeit, he lives in a much more dangerous environment and he has less "variety" in landscape, but nonetheless the difference is merely in one's mind. We may believe we are free to go anywhere we please, but in reality, most of us travel on very set and limited routes: home, school, work, grocery, shopping mall, kitchen, flopping down in front of your 50 inch flat screen? A prisoner is a prisoner because of his faults, while most of us are prisoners because of our habits. We are merely shuffling from one familiar room to the next in a seemingly endless cycle.
And so the value of freedom is not physical emancipation but mental. Because most of us already have physical freedom; we can climb the tallest mountains, we can sore across the skies, we can see the great oceans and the expanse of human diversity throughout the world but yet most of us do not, instead we continue to be shackled to our safe and familiar routes.
And so what is true freedom? I believe we all have an inner voice; a creative voice that yearns to be heard but yet we suppress because of our fears and insecurities, and we dull through our gluttonous consumption of aimless amusements, distractions and mundane errands. We fill our lives with distractions that we tell ourselves we have to do; "I've got to get my hair done," "I have to pick up my dry cleaning," "I have to go shopping," "I have to try out that new restaurant." We bombard our lives with a never ending string of "I have tos" without realizing that they are instead "I want to distract myself with..." Would the world truly come to a screeching halt if we simply said "no more!"
There is always something to learn, something to create, something to improve, in which these activities tap into that inner creative voice that we are all born with. But it is sometimes terrifying to hear that voice; it is almost like being naked in front of the world for all to see your many defects and flaws. But then, is it not better to express the full potential of who you can be, even with all its flaws and defects, than to never do so at all? Even so, I still struggle with hearing my inner voice and letting it be heard. I still find myself easily giving into the "clamor" of aimless activities such as surfing the Internet mindlessly, drowning my soul in food, filling my eyes with movies, allowing my mind to go numb like a blinking cursor.
But I know to achieve true freedom, I must listen to that inner creative voice. And when you do, the world will dramatically change; it will no longer be hierarchical but horizontal because you will realize that the only barrier to your freedom will be yourself. It will no longer be your boss, your job title, your station in life, your family, your friends, your misfortune of being born with an overactive hypothalamus! Instead it will only be you and your fear in listening to your inner compass. You are the only one keeping yourself from achieving your dreams.
When you achieve true freedom, i.e., freedom from your fears and insecurities, the clamor of your petty wants magically vanish to be replaced by an inner glow of your true self.
"Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you're right." -- Henry Ford
