A RADICAL DEFINITION OF FREEDOM
My vision of writing about freedom was expanded when my family and I had an “adventure on horseback” a few years ago on Maui. For me, the experience was a meaningful “coincidence.” I have learned to recognize and honor such experiences. They greatly assist me in being on purpose in my life.
Adventure on Horseback is the name Frank Levinson, with his friend Amber, has given to the spiritual odysseys they lead through the backwoods of Maui. My family and I had the opportunity to spend a day on horseback with them at Frank’s beautiful little home in the backwoods.
I told Amber and Frank that I was planning to write a book about taming the ego, getting in touch with the spiritual side of ourselves and allowing that element of our humanity to rule rather than vice versa. Amber said, “Well then, you’ll be writing about freedom. Do read Florinda Donner’s book.”
She went into her bedroom and emerged with a copy of Being-in-Dreaming and insisted that I take it with me and keep it. “I’m through with it now,” she said, “and I’ve been waiting for the right person to come along to read it. I want you to have it as a gift.”
As we drove back to the other side of the island, I said to my wife, Marcelene, “I have a feeling that reading this novel is going to be a life-changing event for me.” And sure enough, it put me exactly on the path that I was seeking.
Here is Florinda Donner’s definition of freedom, in a sample of dialogue from her odyssey into the world of the spirit:
“What does freedom cost?”
“Freedom will cost you the mask you have on,” she said, “the mask that feels so comfortable and is so hard to shed off, not because it fits so well but because you have been wearing it for so long.” She stopped pacing about the room and came to stand in front of the card table.
“Do you know what freedom is?” she asked rhetorically. “Freedom is the total absence of concern about yourself,” she said, sitting beside me on the bed. “And the best way to quit being concerned with yourself is to be concerned about others.”
Can you imagine living one complete day without thinking about yourself? Nothing offending you, nothing disturbing you, nothing causing you to be angry? Is it possible to see the world the way it is? Is it possible to be unconcerned with yourself in this picture?
Would you then be able to reach out and help others, to live, work and provide, unconcerned about the returns? Just try to imagine not thinking about yourself even once all day. Not once questioning why you are not appreciated enough, not wealthy enough, not being treated fairly enough.
You notice only that others do what they do, without comparing yourself with them. You give of yourself and ask and expect nothing in return. You simply live. You are free!
Here are the final paragraphs in Donner’s marvelous book:
Florinda had told me that freedom is a total absence of concern about oneself, a lack of concern achieved when the imprisoned bulk of energy within ourselves is untied. She had said that this energy is released only when we can arrest the exalted conception we have of ourselves, of our importance, an importance we feel must not be violated or mocked…. The price of freedom is very high. Freedom can only be attained by dreaming without hope, by being willing to lose all, even the dream.
For some of us, to dream without hope, to struggle with no goal in mind, is the only way to keep up with the bird of freedom.
Freedom, if defined as the absence of literal chains, exists for many. But if freedom means the ability to leave the room of constraints of daily awareness, if freedom means having limitless vision, if freedom means creating miracles and living in a radically new spiritual dimension—then freedom exists for very few.
If you can suspend your self-importance without knocking out your self-esteem, you are choosing the kind of freedom Florinda Donner’s book helped me envision. You also will know what Janis Joplin meant when she sang, “Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.”
When you have nothing to lose, you are absolutely free, and when you are unconcerned about self-importance, you have freedom. You are on purpose, feel blissful and expect the world to be a divine place where you love others. You are actually cocreating your world with this newfound freedom. And you are not obsessed with getting the credit or looking good in the eyes of anyone.
YOUR ROLE IN THE CREATION PROCESS
Hundreds of books have been written in recent years on the mechanics of creation. My favorite is Quantum Consciousness, by Stephen Wolinsky. This book offers a readable, understandable approach to how things are created in the universe. I urge you to read Dr. Wolinsky’s book and pay particular attention to the exercises he recommends for understanding the mechanics of creation.
What follows is an elementary description of how things are created, which will be helpful information for your sacred quest.
The entire universe is made up of energy that can best be described as a wave.
We call the tiniest particles we know about subatomic particles. They are not made up of matter, though; they are wave energy.
These particles are so tiny that the only way we know they exist is by the trails they leave in particle accelerators.
Particles appear to come into existence only when we observe them. Only when a conscious decision is made to view a particle does the wave actually individualize and become a separate identity.
Our attention directed to the formless wave energy is what creates the reality that we call particle or solid, or the physical world.
Wolinsky writes: “The observer is the creator of the Part(icle)/mass aspect of the universe…. This means that how we subjectively experience events, interactions, and our inner self is observer-created…created by us.”
Think about this as you consider your sacred quest. Whatever you have your attention centered on is what you will create in your physical world. I cannot fathom how these invisible particles function at the quantum level. But I do feel that this scientific evidence offers us strong clues about the effect and power of our consciously directed attention.
Consciously embracing the fullness of God in all that you see and do, and placing your attention on what it is that you want to manifest, is the secret of the mechanics of creation.
When you are operating from your highest self you are in charge of what you choose to create. You become a cocreator with God of everything in your life. It works at the tiniest level and is scientifically documented. This means it works at your human level as well.
In The Tao of Physics, Fritjof Capra writes: “If the preparation of the measurement is modified, the properties of the particle will change.” This means that when you place your attention on something and become the observer, the act of observing affects the creation. But, if you change your observation and remove your attention, the creation will also be affected.
Creation of anything in the physical universe is determined by what kind of attention you place on it. Remove the observer (attention) and you alter the creation. The way that a wave becomes solid and independent is through the conscious attention of the observer.
This is the value of learning to face inward and focus your attention on what you want to create. The subatomic particles spring into existence and disappear depending on the observer.
The inner experience of keeping your higher self focused on the object of your desire is the creation process for your life. Or, as Gary Zukav described it in The Dancing Wu Li Masters, “What is out there apparently depends, in a rigorous mathematical sense, as well as a philosophical one, upon what we decide in here. The new physics tells us that an observer cannot observe without altering what he sees.”
You can decide what is in here by facing in a new direction. Know that what you are observing and placing your attention upon inside will affect what goes on outside. You will cocreate a world of bliss and spiritual consciousness if that is where you choose to place your attention.
This is science talking now, letting you know
that the mechanics of the universe and your sacred quest are the same process.
Up to now, I have described the sacred quest and how it will feel when you turn around your life. The following section offers suggestions for daily practice. These exercises will help you with the about-face process.
SUGGESTIONS FOR MEETING THE CHALLENGE OF FREEDOM
Each day make an attempt to serve others in some small way and do not tell anyone. Slowly, the questions about your own value and why you are here will evaporate. Just one small extension of help or love to another, with no thought of what is owed back to you, will put you on the path of higher awareness.
Copy this ancient truth and reread it daily: “When you seek happiness for yourself it will always elude you. When you seek happiness for others you will find it yourself.”
Practice making meaningful coincidences. Get a clear picture in your mind of something that you would like to see happen in your life. A job opportunity, meeting your perfect partner, quitting an addictive behavior. Keep your inner focus on this picture and extend love outwardly as frequently as possible, with this picture in mind.
As you get proficient at keeping your inner energy on what it is that you would like to manifest, and you remain loving, you will attract the coincidences that fit your desire perfectly. This is called managing your coincidences, and it is something that I practice daily. It works.
Keep yourself appraised of the inner world where you do all of your living. Begin to notice your thoughts and remind yourself that the simple act of thinking is evidence that there is an invisible energy that flows through you at all times.
Become aware of the thinker of the thoughts—that is, the invisible you behind the actual thought. Practice knowing the knower, the invisible intelligence behind what we call knowledge. The known is always on the move; it changes and has no particular dwelling place. The knower is that which is changeless and eternal.
With this awareness you will begin to know your divinity. Out of this awareness you will be able to cocreate the world that you desire.
Have conversations with God in private and important moments. In these conversations, rather than ask for special favors, affirm your willingness to use all of your inner strength to create solutions. Ask for the strength and be willing to do what is necessary.
To know that you are able to access divine guidance takes more than Sunday morning practice. Such experiences of knowing come from within and can never be doubted or shaken because these moments translate to how you lead your life.
Take time to appreciate beauty. As you contemplate a bird, a flower, a sunset, a mother and her nursing infant, an aged man or a school bus full of children, open your heart to them. Allow the love to circulate from you to them and feel it being returned. The more you practice receiving love from your surroundings, the more energized you will become.
There is energy in everything and everyone. The way that you receive this invisible energy is through the actual appreciation of the beauty and wonder of our universe.
With practice, you will be able to send out the love that you are receiving through the simple act of beauty appreciation. Try it!
Attempt to remove all enemies from your thoughts. The same intelligence that flows through you, flows through all other human beings. Forget about what nationalist interests want you to believe. We are all one, each of us a single cell in this body called humanity.
When you have this global mentality you are freed from the disempowering hatred that divides humanity and you are unable to participate in violence. The act of hurting another, with words or weapons, is an act of separateness.
When you know you are connected to all, you cannot fathom striking out at others, let alone feeling hatred for your assigned enemies. The answer to our problems of violence in the world is located in the spiritual realm.
Think of yourself as limitless as you make a new agreement with reality. Picture yourself able to accomplish anything your mind can envision.
Allow yourself the freedom to dream of flying, shape-shifting, practicing bilocation, disappearing and reappearing, and anything else that appeals to you that you are able to do each night in your dreams. Make your own agreement with reality that is dependent solely on what you want it to be.
Let go of everything that you have been told is impossible or unrealistic and allow yourself the freedom to make your own contract with God about what is possible for you. Examine all of the doubts that you have about miracles and miracle workers and replace those doubts with openness.
Your goal is to have your very own agreement with reality.
Surrender! This involves an act of the heart. The act of surrendering takes place in a moment. Let go of your conflict with what is and what can be, and surrender. Stop asking, “Why me?”
Accept the fact that your body will die and that you are eternal. Surrender to this fact when someone dies and stop telling yourself that their death shouldn’t have happened the way it did. You can surrender and accept, and you can grieve.
Notice any repetitious inner dialogue about the horrors and tragedies of the world. Surrender and let go(d). This doesn’t mean you will rejoice in the suffering of others. It means you will not focus your inner divine energy on suffering. You will be freer to help eliminate suffering.
Millions of people die every day, and millions more show up here on our planet. It is a play of continuous entrances and exits. All of your opinions about how that should be taking place are nothing more than notions that you have of how God should be orchestrating this play.
But it is all perfect; even the part that you dislike or judge as bad. Surrender and know that you too are one of those characters who made an entrance and will experience an exit. But also know that your soul is eternal, and that is who you truly are.
Surrender now! It only takes an instant.
Dream awake! That’s right. Remind yourself that you do not have to go to sleep in order to dream. Give yourself free moments to dream without the luxury of sleeping.
Allow your mind to create all that you can create in your sleeping dreams. By practicing this exercise you will someday be unable to distinguish between your waking dream and your sleeping dream. This is an exquisite place, because it gives you the opportunity to mentally create the backdrop for your total life experience.
Dreaming awake can make you feel limitless. You did it as a child and were labeled as a day dreamer. But those were exquisite moments.
When you free yourself from the self-imposed limits that you experience in waking consciousness, you are entering the world of spirit. It is here that you get to know your higher self, to directly experience God. It is here that you can have inner conversations with those important people in your life who have died. It is here that you can receive guidance and assurance of your immortality.
Give yourself time each day for silence. It may be a form of meditation, but if that is not your choice, then simply allow yourself some silent moments. Experience your silence for at least thirty minutes each day.
When we are in love, we say we are speechless. You are searching for that divine quality of love within you as part of your sacred quest. So give yourself time to be speechless, to be quiet.
When we are in awe of something we say, “Words fail me.” This is an indication of the value of silence. You will find God when you allow the spiritual part of your consciousness to dominate your life. Leave the noise and hustle and bustle of your life for just thirty minutes a day, and it will become a time that you treasure.
Imagine a spiritual solution to your problem. Think of the most serious problem that you are facing today. Write it down so that it can stare back at you. Now go through all of the past attempts to resolve this difficulty. You will see that virtually all of your efforts to correct this problem were centered in the outer world.
Now try a totally new approach:
First notice the emotional part of the problem that is troubling you—the sadness, the anger, th
e pain, the fear. Then make a decision that this emotion is bad and unwanted in your life. Now notice how this inner experience feels.
You are focusing your inner awareness on the badness of the emotion that surrounds your problem. Just notice. Now, remove the label of bad from the emotion and just accept it for what it is—neither bad nor good, just an emotion. Instead of labeling it, view it as energy and observe it.
This is a spiritual approach to the resolution of your problem. You have become the observer. You are viewing the emotions concerning the problem simply as energy. Before long, you will see the emotions disappearing. Your feelings of sadness and anxiety and fear will dissipate, just through the act of observing.
As you become less and less attached emotionally, the problem slowly disappears as the solution appears. A spiritual solution is one in which you detach yourself personally from the outcome and see the energy as flowing through you. By observing that energy, you make yourself separate from the pain. The act of compassionate observation releases the problem.
Lighten your load beginning today. Go through all of the possessions that you no longer use, and share them with others. You can do this with everything you own.
The less you hold onto and store away, the freer you are. The act of sharing your possessions is an act of heightened awareness. Ultimately you will be able to give away the things that you are still using, and then you will be able to give your money away too. You will know that all that you give will be returned tenfold.
Recall the maxim: “Plenty of people despise money, but few know how to give it away.”
As you lighten your material load, less energy is spent hoarding, insuring, moving, worrying, polishing and so on. The less attached you are to all of your possessions, and the more you are able to share them with others unconditionally, the more peaceful your life will be.
Work at being content with who you are rather than pleasing others by being inauthentic. Say to yourself, “I am what I am and it is okay as long as I am not hurting anyone else in the process.”
Your Sacred Self Page 3
