How to Be Free | brandoninhaber

"Your essay ... is most excellent and helpful", Carl Barbarotto, Author

"It contains a lot of wisdom", Richard Brady, Mindfulness Teacher

"A very beautiful piece of writing", Roger Bretherton, Author

Everyone has the ability to experience freedom. This is possible for everyone. This includes freedom from stress and suffering. It also includes the freedom from imperfection and from perceiving yourself as flawed. The limitations that are placed on you from external forces are temporary, and you can free yourself from them. In this way, you can find more peace and happiness.

Many people take suffering for granted. They think that it is a part of our current social system and that it is inherent in our existence. They allow themselves to make judgments about themselves and others. It is a common view that we are simply imperfect beings, doing imperfect things and having imperfect thoughts. Many people are content with this system, and do not realize that there is something better that is possible. It is a temporary system, and you can free yourself from this flawed existence.

Freedom is a pleasant and preferred state of being. There is an energy that flows through you. This energy is best allowed to exist on its own, unimpeded by our preferences or judgments. This allows us to experience peace. When you are free, you can express your true self. You do not need to determine which aspects of yourself you are willing to share with others, because you are free to share your entire self. You can also allow everyone else to be their true selves as well. This creates unity.

Everyone deserves freedom, regardless of their past. The past was a valuable journey that brought you here, not a reason to doubt the present. The past helped you to free yourself from your perceived imperfections. It showed you your false beliefs and manifested all of your intricacies, so that you could see them and attend to them. It is how you learn about freedom, and how to allow yourself and everyone else to be free.

Your perceptions are not necessarily true. This includes your perceptions of the world, yourself, and others. If you perceive yourself as being flawed, this is temporary, and you can free yourself from these perceptions. Any perception of the self as flawed is a false perception. There is a space in which you can reside, where there is nothing wrong. Any perception that is imperfect takes you away from this space. It is okay to think imperfect thoughts if you realize that they are false, allow them to pass, and continue to reside in this perfect space.

Free will exists in the present moment. It implies that you are not determining the future, or regretting the past. Deciding that certain events should or should not occur in the future limits your free will at that future moment. Thinking that there is something wrong with the past can result in you trying to avoid that behavior in the future, again limiting your free will.

It is important that everyone has free will. This can be accomplished by loving one another and by allowing everyone to be free. Do not judge people. Allow them to choose without fear. If people know that they will continue to be free, regardless of their choices, decisions would not be stressful. There is a fear of being limited if you make a wrong decision, and this causes stress.

The current system that we live in, where people judge each other for their choices and behavior, is the result of fear, and it is only one possible reaction that we can have towards each other. This system is detrimental to everyone. It is built on a response that at first seems reasonable, but it is not a long-term solution. Limiting people can ensure that certain behaviors do not recur, but if we are to achieve freedom, it needs to be now. Limiting something in the hopes that it will create a better future always results in a limited present, and the original goal was to create a present moment that is free.

A good way to stay present and in the moment is to acknowledge your thoughts and to allow them to pass without holding on to them. This implies that you are always fully focused on the present. This works not only for thoughts, but for events as well. Allow time to pass and for events to occur without wishing they were different. When you are content with the past, you can focus more effectively on the present moment. This is also important with events in the future. Wishing that things will turn out a specific way clearly limits the future and reduces the amount of freedom that we will have at that future moment.

Allowing thoughts to pass does not imply that the mind should be empty. This emptiness would be detrimental because empty space gets filled, not necessarily with the most beneficial thing, and it becomes more difficult to control and choose the contents of our thoughts. Having thoughts that are free from imperfection does not imply emptiness or nothingness. There is still an energy that flows through you. Allow this energy to be, and do not try to hinder or change it. This does not mean that you will allow anything to happen. You are still guiding and choosing your path. You are part of a creative energy in the moment. There is a balance between being open and allowing things to happen.

There is a common pattern that occurs when we hold on to our thoughts. It is a thought pattern that leads us away from reality. It begins with a judgment, believing that something is imperfect. This creates a division. There becomes a division between that imperfection and the rest of the world. As time keeps passing, the present moment continues, but you are holding on to a moment that is now in the past. There is a perceived division between the present and the past.

It is likely that this perceived imperfection is about yourself. You can perceive yourself as imperfect. You see yourself as separate from the rest of the world. This disparity can lead you to compare yourself to the rest of the world, and to believe that they are two distinct things. Once you are at this point, it is easy to believe that the rest of the world and other people are better than you.

Once you believe that there is something imperfect about you, and considering that you are already thinking about the past, it is easy to connect this imperfection to previous imperfections, and to believe that they are all part of the same thing. You believe that not only are you flawed now, but that this flaw keeps recurring at different points in the past. You connect all of these flawed moments and believe that it is a personality flaw that keeps surfacing, and that you are an existentially flawed person. This belief keeps you separate and different from the rest of humanity.

This belief is stressful. If you believe that you are flawed, and that this flaw keeps resurfacing, and you are trying to improve yourself, you are attempting to change many different moments in time at the same time, and this is difficult. Trying to improve yourself is noble, but thinking that you need to change a pattern that exists in the past is frustrating and stressful.

This process can be stopped at any point in the pattern. You can free yourself from the perception of a flawed self. Once you understand the pattern, you can realize that each step is false and that it does not make sense with reality. You can prevent the pattern from continuing to the next step, and once again align yourself with this present moment. If you realize that the belief of an imperfect self is temporary, you can believe in yourself as free from imperfection.

This can lead to equality. See yourself as not flawed, and others as not flawed as well. This promotes a lack of division between yourself and the rest of the world. You can be free from the perception of imperfection, in you or in anyone else. Equality implies peace. There are no two sides, and there is no comparison. There is no need for subjugation or condescension, because you are one with the world. It is easier to let go of our perceptions of imperfection than it is to try to correct them.

You can free yourself from time and space. These are temporary constructs. By always being in the present moment, you can free yourself from time. Time exists as other moments, whether it be the past or the future. If you perceive the present moment as imperfect, you may choose to focus on a different moment, and this draws you away from the present moment and reality, for it is always the present moment.

It is easy to think about the future, but this also draws you away from the present moment. Do not try to make something happen in the future, and do not try to stop anything from happening in the future. Let the future be open. This allows for free will. You can still actively create your reality while being content with whatever happens.

We can also perceive space. It is easy to think about some other place, somewhere else from where you are. This also follows from believing that something is imperfect in the present moment. Wishing that you were somewhere else leads you away from the present moment and contentment. Be happy with where you are.
Both time and space can be transcended by focusing on the here and now. Realize that everything that exists, exists now. There is no other time, and there is no other space; it is all part of one thing. Only we perceive it as a moment in time.

One problem that arises from belief in time and space is that of cause and effect. This too is stressful, and you can free yourself from it. Cause and effect implies a division. The cause is something separate and prior to the effect. If you believe in unity, you will realize that it is all part of one thing. And if you are content with the present moment, there is no need to find a cause for it. You search for a cause when you are trying to stop something from happening. If you find the cause, you can prevent it from happening again. This is not necessary if you are content with the present moment.

I am discussing freedom and free will, but I am not suggesting that we should do whatever we want. This freedom should be used morally. You have the freedom to choose wisely. You have the ability to do things that are good for yourself and for others. People are able to make better choices when they are free to decide from all of the possibilities. This freedom should be used for the good of everyone.

This freedom can extend into your relationship with God as well. Let God be in the moment, allow Him to have free will. You can free yourself from being judged based on your past or your decisions about the future. Together, you can make wise decisions about the present in a collaborative, creative process.

It is a common belief that God is omnipresent. This can be especially true if you allow God to be in the moment. He can always be with you, always focused on the moment. Regardless of what the situation is, He will be there with you. You can have faith in this - that no matter where you are, or what you are doing, you are not alone, He will not forsake you. This means, however, that you have to come to terms with your past, believe that you have been forgiven, and that this will in no way hinder you from achieving your full potential in the present.

Allow God to design the future. He is wiser than we are. When we leave the future open, this allows God to choose the best possible future. We also have the capacity to choose the future, but He can do it better than we can. It is okay if this limits our freedom. Personal sacrifice is beneficial in this situation. We are acknowledging that our plan for the future may not be as good as God’s plan, and that is okay.

If we believe that we and God are both choosing the future, something miraculous happens. Our choices, our small personal decisions, are actually deciding the fate of the Universe. God is observing all of our collective decisions, and this is giving him information and showing Him available options for determining the path that will lead to the redemption of the Universe. Every choice we make is connected to this cosmic destiny. This is why seemingly small decisions can be so stressful, because on some level, you are choosing between redemption and the failure of the Universe.

All of this discussion about freedom seems nice, but is it possible? Freedom from difficulty is not only possible, it is easy. It must be easy; otherwise, it would be difficult, and it would therefore not be freedom from difficulty. This implies that freedom from difficulty is possible and that it is not an eternal struggle. There is an ease about freedom. There is a calm when you know that you, and the rest of the world, are on the right path, and that peace is imminent and ever-present.

In our thoughts, there is a state of mind, a space, that is perfect. This perfection, this freedom, is always available. It is immediate. It does not take time to achieve; it is not some future goal. It is, however, also not a permanent state. One cannot simply “accomplish” it and then rely on one's past accomplishments. It must be continuously renewed through constant mindfulness and attentiveness to the present moment. But once you learn that this is always possible, you can stay in this perfect place.

Everyone can be free. All you have to do is allow yourself to be free. It is within your control. Not only should you allow yourself to be free, but you should allow others to be free as well. Love one another. It is a good and pleasant way to live. In this way, you can live in harmony with the Universe.