Your Freedom is Yours

Nobody can give it to you or take it away.

Nobody can give it to you or take it away. They can suppress it, they can obstruct it, they can restrain it, but they cannot take it away. Only you can give it away, surrender it, renounce it.

You give away your freedom by suppressing yourself, by doing what deep inside you feel is not right, something you do not want to do, you will sense it.

As such, nobody can give it back to you. It does not belong to you.

I remember reading a letter of an American marine that he wrote from prison after refusing to go back to Iraq for the 3^rd time. After coming back for the first time, he no longer believed it was the right thing to do and did not want to go back there, but he gave in to the pressure, to the fear of going to prison, being judged as a coward and so on. The next time he was told to go, he stayed true to himself; he refused to go back and ended up in prison. I never forget the last words in his letter. “It is strange, I am sitting here, writing a letter from a prison cell, but never in my life I have felt so free.

Freedom is a sense of internal peace. It is a mindset, listening to your conscience, to your most inner voice. Even if you are physically constrained like the marine, you can still be free.

We need to honour our inner, emotional, spiritual selves. We cannot deny its existence. We all feel it, especially in the time we feel fully alive.

Such moments can be expressed as being one with God.

Talking about God, we say she is omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscience. If this is true, then God is within everyone and everything; it is within you. Listen to your inner voice expressed by emotions, sensations, and feelings. This is how your God is communicating with you.

Let’s think about the first commandment: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me”.

If God is everywhere, so within you as well, following orders against your conscience (your inner voice of God) is putting the ones giving orders before God.

By surrendering our freedom, our free will, giving someone authority over ourselves (and the God within us), we are putting them before God.

Old recorded wisdom included in Judaism, Christianity, Islam warns us about such behaviours.

Do we need charities?

I receive a lot of letters from Charities asking for donations. Today I received 5 letters from different charities asking for donations. They were full of marketing materials, heart breaking stories, gifts and so on. and I thought: if all this Charities used their marketing budgets to lobby the government and promote a caring, compassionate society we would not need all these charities we would solve the problems that they say they want to address.

It reminded me the story of a tribe living alongside a river. Every day they were saving people coming from upstream and drowning in the river. They were so busy and tiered. One day one of them just stopped got out of the water and started walking up the stream. Others started shouting: “Where are you going? We need to save all these people and you are just walking away! He replied: “I am going upstream to find out why are they falling into the river.”

Isn’t it time, we ask ourselves: “Why there is so much issues in the world that charities are required? Why did we create a need for them?

Let’s realise that the ways we are now, our economic, political, social system is created by us – the people. We created it by actively implementing the model and only we can change it. It is up to us to create a world we want to live in. Every time you say, this is just the way it is, you are supporting what is happening and because you acquiescence to it, it remains this way.

We are all a part of the system which is like in a net. Each of us being one of the nodes. We tell ourselves: it is not me; it is the other, we are the ones holding the net. Only we, each of us, can break it by saying: I am not doing it anymore, I am not holding to this net, I do not want to be part of it. If enough nodes let go the net will fall apart.

Can anyone tell me how come in this world that claims to be built on Christian values we have poverty?

Doesn’t the bible say feed the hungry yet over 6 million people die each year from hunger (that is 3 times more than from COVID over 1.5 years) and it is not a news item, Why?

Doesn’t the Bible say provide shelter, yet so many people are homeless while there are houses standing empty. I read that there are more empty houses, than homeless people. Why?

Our Civilisation v 7 Deadly Sins

I keep on hearing that our civilisation and its social/political/economic system is built on Christian values, but what does it mean? what values? They are not mentioned.

What I remember from my religious educations was that it is about loving each other and caring for each other, love your neighbour, do not judge, forgive.

I checked some quotes:

“For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’ Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? And the King will tell them, ‘I assure you, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’”
Matthew 25:31-40 NLT

“You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbour as yourself: I am the Lord.”
Leviticus 19:18

I could not see these behaviours being prominent or promoted by our current systems.

So, I thought of the 7 virtues, how is this civilisation and systems tracking against them.

I got on a site that listed 7 deadly sins and corresponding 7 virtues. Here they are:

Pride Humility
Greed Charity
Lust Chasity
Envy Gratitude
Gluttony Temperance
Anger Patience
Sloth Diligence

This was scary, let’s look at it

Seven deadly sins and our current system:

Pride – Competition is the base of our economy. And what is competition, other than a way to show “I am better than you”. Isn’t this a form of Pride. Our political system is the same; elections are all about look at me, look how good I am. Winning is everything. We need to show we are better than others. And right now it is actually showing that they are worse than me.
Greed – there is even a saying “Greed is good”? In a Christian country greed is good? One of the seven deadly sins is considered good? The whole system is built on greed. We want more, more, more for me. In do not want to share, I do not want to support less fortunate. We destroy the environment on which we depend so we can have more.
Lust – strong craving and desire extensively used in marketing which playing on our emotions is persuading us we need this or that often using sexual images. Again this is to support economy which needs to grow continuously by its design.
Envy – again popular saying “keep up with Jones”, we compare ourselves with others, are they more successful? Envy is used to do more so we can have at least what others have.
Gluttony – we produce enough food to feed everyone on the Earth and yet over 6 million die from hunger and it is the Christian part of the world that wastes the food allowing poorer nation (or now even people in our own country in case of Australia) to go hungry while food is being thrown away. I would also extend this into overconsumption in general.
Anger – divide and rule, blame and hate the “other” refugee, old, sick, unemployed colour, gay, Muslim, Jew, black, Chinese, viruses, travellers, the list is endless as long as we have someone or something to hate.
Sloth – (comes from without care) do we care about others or environment? Wouldn’t we all like to live of investments, so we do not have to do anything and pay someone to do it for us.

Judgement

I learned so much from talking with Aboriginal Elders. Many of my insights were inspired by such conversation.

When talking about stories, how were they used to convey the message, the laws, the history, I said that were I come from stories are something you say to entertain people and if you wanted to learn something you took a textbook. I still remember is surprised and sadden face of the Elder. I also asked why did the Aboriginal stories change, as some people say that they heard different stories or different versions of the stories.

The response I got was: No, the stories are the same; we only add more details depending on initiation of the listener.

I contemplated this answer, and the story of Adam and Eve came to mind. I used to get upset why did the story change, why was I not told the full story from the beginning.

First time I heard it I was about 7 years old. And in summary it went like this:

“God created Adam and Eve and this beautiful place for them called Eden. They could live there forever in happiness and fulfilment; it provided them with what they needed, they could do whatever they wanted, except for eating a fruit from the forbidden tree. However, they did not listen and ate one fruit. God got very angry and threw them out of Eden.

I must admit when I heard this story, I felt so reliefed that my parents were not like God. I just ate a cookie before dinner (and they told me not to do it). The thought that if they were like God they would threw me out of the house was terrifying. I could not understand why God that was supposed to be all loving and all mighty, could be so cruel. If he did not want Adam and Eve to eat that fruit, why did he put it in Eden?

I understood the message as: You should listen to you parents, as the consequences could be terrifying.

Next time I heard this story a detail was added. This was the tree of knowledge. Again, I could not understand why God did not want people to be knowledgeable. It came clearer when I heard the song Epitaph by King Crimson with the words: “Knowledge is a deadly friend when no one sets the rules”. That was my new understanding of the same story.

The third version of the story of Adam and Eve added the final detail, it was the tree of knowledge of good and evil and thought that God just did not want them to know it, he wanted to be superior.

It is after the conversation with Aboriginal Elders, I got it, like a breakthrough, I reconciled the story with the concept of a loving, forgiving God.

Eating the fruit from the tree of Good and Evil made Adam and Eve started to pass judgements on themselves and everything around the. Separating everything into good and bad, right and wrong, unable to see the wholeness. At that moment they could not stay in a place of happiness and fulfilment.

God did not throw them out, they just could not stay. Once you separate things and pass judgments you create suffering and you destroy your Eden.

This story warns people that by passing judgment they are destroying their Eden their place of happiness.

And it is not the only place in the bible that tells us not to judge.

Let me just quote one. Form Luke 6:37

“Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.”

Just imagine what a beautiful world we would live in if most people would follow the teaching from the Bible. Why with so many Christians and most powerful governments claiming they are based on Christian values these values are not upheld. On the contrary judgement, condemnation and no forgiveness is the common position.

So Sad

New Story – Old Story

We are all Connected we are All One

I keep on hearing about a New story; a story of oneness, a story of interconnectedness, of inter-being as Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh nicely puts it.

The old story is supposed to be a “story of separation”, but I always seen, felt that everything is connected. When something is obvious to you it is hard to explain why. It feels like trying to explain to someone who is colour-blind why this is red and this is green. It is obvious for me that they are different, but it is equally obvious that they are the same for colour blind person (well I assume this based on their reaction

Well I will give it my best shot.

We breath the same air, what was in your lungs, will be in mine and vice versa; it has been in lungs of many animals, it was breathed out by trees.

We drink the water that has been recycled by nature so many times: ocean, clouds, rain, rivers, inside the bodies of living creature, soil, it is hard to find something on Earth that does not have water in it. We breath it, we drink it we perspire, we urinate. I read somewhere that with probability of 100% everyone of us drunk at least one drop of water that went through a urinary track of a dinosaur.

We eat, digest, and absorb elements from the food we eat to build our bodies. Those formed part of another living organism before we ate it. This is the cycle of life.

Or body is a collection of cells. We have more bacteria in us then we have our own cells (that was an WOW moment for me, when I heard this) and without these bacteria our body cannot function. We are so connected to these bacteria that when we kill them, we get sick and to get better, we have to reintroduce then into our body. How dumb is our war on germs, without which we will die.

And so on. Anything that exists – co-exists. Nothing can survive in isolation.

I remember a guy who made a statement “I did not get onto the top of food chain to give up meat”. My reply was: “well this is what you bed bug thinks as well.

Another analogy for oneness.

People say how can we be one; we are obviously separate. I am different form you, from others.

I look at my hand and see 5 fingers: each one obviously separate, different form each other, there is no way I could get them mixed up, yet they form one hand. I am aware of all the organs that form my one body. There are many of them; there is a clear difference between them: brain, heart, skin, kidneys, to name a few. We can easily separate them. Yet they form one body.

Life is a gift

The world and everything in it is a gift.

We did not earn this world.

We did not earn our lives.

We did not earn the sun; it is not thanks to our hard efforts that the sun shines.

We did not earn the ability of plants to grow.

We did not earn water.

We did not earn our conception; we did not earn our birth.

Our hearts beat and our livers metabolize all on their own.

Life is a gift and that’s just fundamental.

In fact, even the things that did come to you through hard effort, those are a gift too.

Maybe you worked hard for your money or for your status, your healthy body?

OK, but from where did that ability to work hard come from?

Did you earn that or did that come as a gift too?

Where does that come from, your creativity, your strength, your intelligence?

Did you earn these?

All beings including human beings have an unquenchable desire to pour forth their gifts.

It’s not just you, all beings are like this and that is why we should be living in a world of incredible abundance.

All these givers who desire to express their magnificence.

The fact that modern society has constructed conditions of such pervasive scarcity is an impressive achievement. All that suppression, how did we do that? So much talent, such a ich world,

How is it, that so many lives are spent in insecurity, anxiety and deprivation?

It’s not just the economically poor who suffer a kind of a deprivation, it’s the wealthy too.

The scarcity and the struggle are very much artificial and systemic. They have a systemic dimension and an internal dimension creating additional struggle that’s not even built into the system and not built into the course of a normal life.

Excerpts from Charles Eisenstein course Living in a Gift

Positive and negative thinking

There is no positive or negative thinking. There is only thinking. Engaging in only positive or only negative thinking is just half thinking. It is a judgement placed on your thinking.

Everything just IS, whether it is positive or negative depends on our perspective, the meaning we give it, emotions that it brings in us. Also, on what we think it should be, what we want it to be, or our preference.

For a holiday maker thinking that it is going to rain tomorrow is negative, however for a farmer it could be very positive.

I could never understand why saying “the glass is half full” is optimistic (positive) and “the glass is half empty” is pessimistic (negative). What is in the glass? Do I want it to be full or empty?

If it is medication for a child and they need to drink it; wouldn’t a statement, “the glass is half empty” be more optimistic. What if it has some sticky gunk in it that I am trying to get out? Is it still optimistic to say it is half full?

Yet, people make this judgement without really thinking about it. They must be using the unexamined assumption that more is better. This is assumption is so imbedded in our psyche that we subconsciously perceive and judge “more”, “full” as better. It one of the most powerful assumptions that drives our consumption

Everything in life depends on duality; without positive and negative there will be no electricity, no magnets. What you consider negative may be positive for someone else. Rejecting what you do not like or consider not favourable and labelling it as negative, stops you from thinking about it.

Because you do not want to be negative, you make a judgment without thinking.

However, would you cross the road without looking if there is a car coming and label the thought about checking it as negative. I do not think so.

Happiness

It never stops to amaze me how people spend their time pursuing happiness. The rights of the citizens of the most powerful country that claims to be a democracy says that everyone has the right to pursue happiness. Just think about it, why would anyone want to pursue happiness? The main reason for anyone to even consider pursuing happiness is – to be unhappy in the first place. Why would any one who is happy waste their time on pursuing happiness?

This makes it a bit tricky for the government to ensure that everyone can pursue happiness, as they have to make sure that the main condition is satisfied ie that no-one is happy.

The only way one can be happy is to stop pursuing happiness. Happiness is in the moment, you cannot be happy tomorrow, only today.

Happiness is everywhere where you care to see it. In the eyes of the loved one, in the warmth of the sun, in the darkness of the night, in the music and the silence, in the blue sky and the clouds. It is all around you, but you are too busy searching for it that you cannot see it. Just sit back and relax, take a step back from your life, look at it from a distance.

You are standing in front of your happiness with your nose touching it, but you cannot see it. Don’t know what I mean? Then stand in front of a building touching it with your nose, open your eyes. Can you see the building, or only a wall barrier? Step back and you will see it, and you can choose to see it as a safe, welcoming place.

When you are perusing happiness, you are like a dog chasing its own tail the harder it tries, the faster it runs, the quicker it seems the tails is getting away from it. Butwe can also see it as the dog running away from its tail. The only way it can reach its tail, is to stop, calm down and look down between its hind legs. Important thing is that he does not get too exited when he finds it.

Power of kind words

I remember my first job.

I was a maths teacher in a very rough area. Every city has one of them. A place where you just do not go out after dark, place of high crime rate.

I was in my early twenties and looked like a teenager and the kids I was teaching were between 10 and 14. As much as I liked teaching, I had difficulties in crowd control. The kids would misbehave, walk around the classroom, be noisy and disruptive. How do I make them listen? I spoke about this s in the staff room. How do other teachers do it? All I heard is: “Do not worry about it. Some kids especially in this area are basically uncontrollable. Just be happy that you do not teach in class 6B, because Robert there is the worst in the whole school and no-one can control him” He was described to me as the worst of the worst, very disrespectful, rude, one who would disrupt the whole class. That was strange, I thought, as I did teach in that class, and for me, this was the best-behaved class. I could not remember anyone being disruptive. The consensus was that most probably he was not in the class when I was teaching there.

Next time I went to class 6B I was observing the class very carefully. Again, they were well behaved and I noticed that I had a helper. There was this boy at the back who would bring to order anyone that would try to misbehave. That was Robert! I was shocked, why would all the other teachers describe him as the worst of the worst. For me he was the best behaving student polite and helpful. I shared it in the staff room. Are we talking about the same boy? Yes, it was the same one.

At the end of the following lesson, I asked Robert to stay behind because I want to ask him just a question. He did. (with no smile, I never saw him smile). I told him that in the staff room all the teachers complained about his behaviour, describing him as the worst of the worst, however on my lessons he is not only well behaved and polite he is t the best of the best. There is absolutely nothing I can say against him; he is basically perfect. Why do I get the honour of such treatment?

He looked at me with his cold eyes and said: “Because you are the only person in my life that ever said please and thank you.”

As he finished he left and I stayed there speechless.

How little is needed to change someone’s attitude; just few kind words. Yet we do it so rarely. I made my decision I will treat everyone with respect and kindness to bring out the good in them.

I remembered the first day in this class. As I walked in the kids were running around shouting and screaming. Robert was standing on a desk near the window. I looked at him and said:

“You look like a nice helpful guy, as you are already standing there, could you please open the window, it is stuffy here”. After a second of hesitation he opened the window. “Thank you very much. Now we can start the lesson”. That is all I said.

Was it my expectation, that changed his behaviour. My vision of him that he did not want to destroy. Deep inside we all want to be good and we all are.

Oneness

I keep on hearing about a new story; a story of interconnectedness, of inter-being as Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh nicely puts it. The old story is supposed to be a “story of separation”, but I always seen, felt that everything is connected. When something is obvious to you it is hard to explain why. I sometimes fell it is like trying to explain to someone who is colour-blind why this is red and this is green. It is obvious for a not colour blind person but it is equally obvious they are the same for colour blind (well I assume it is like this for them based on their reaction )

Well here is my attempt

We breath the same air, what was in you lungs will be in mine and vice versa; it has been in lungs of many animals it was breathed out by trees. We drink the water that has been recycled by nature so many times: ocean, clouds, rain, rivers, inside the bodies of living creature, soil, it is hard to find something on Earth that does not have water in it. And the water molecules are being exchanged all the time. We breath it, we drink it, we perspire, we urinate. I read somewhere that with probability of 100% everyone of us drunk at least one drop of water that went through a urinary track of a dinosaur.

We eat, digest and absorb elements of the food to build our bodies. Those formed part of another living organism before we ate it. This is the cycle of life.

Or body is a collection of cells. We have more bacteria in us then we have our own cells (that was an WOW moment for me, when I heard this) and without these bacteria our body cannot function. We are so connected to these bacteria that when we kill them we get sick and to get better we have to reintroduce then into our body. How dumb is then our war on germs without which we will die.

And so on. Anything that exists – co-exists. Nothing can survive in isolation.

I remember a guy who made a statement “I did not get onto the top of food chain to give up ……..”. My reply was: “well this is what you bed bug thinks as well.

Another analogy for oneness.

People say how can we be one; we are obviously separate. I am different form you, from others.