What is the feeling of "Freedom"?
One of the major goals of all spiritual endeavors is ‘Enlightenment’, the permanent experience of ‘Feedom’. What does, or would this freedom feel like?
Talk from EITHER your own experience (the permanent or temporary experience of profound freedom) OR express your own opinion / idea of what is would feel like.
Thanks for the answers thus far, but be careful though I am not asking for what makes you feel free, I am asking for you to describe what an enlightened "Freedom" would feel LIKE.
The most freedom I have had is when I didn’t have any…..well actually when I have nothing. It is then when my free will goes in to action.
Freedom was when I realize that I didn’t have to please other, that I didn’t have to judge others. Wow that was so freeing.
Freedom is often a choice. I do live in a country where I am free to travel where and when I want to. I vote. Lots of freedoms.
Another enlilghtment moment was when I realized that every thing that went through my brain didi’t have to come out of my mouth.
Freedom can also be a profound calling.
My youngest son died. I had no control over it
My freedom in that space was to grieve and pick myself up and move on, not forgetting him, but my freedom is commiting his spirit and soul to the universe.
Pure freedom to me is the first breath a newborn. It is pure joy, Pure slate of a brain so fresh and new to the world.
The Purest freedom is to let go and realize the more we know the more we know we don’t know. The freedom of not having to know everything.
July 12th, 2010 at 8:30 am
Freedom is to do everything you desire and that makes you happy
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July 12th, 2010 at 9:07 am
To me freedom means not worrying what people think of me, to be comfortable in my own skin, not to feel obliged and be able to say no. Its taken a while for me to reach this stage in my life but it surely is liberating!
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July 12th, 2010 at 9:30 am
its like looking at the top floor of the diving board
its taking a leap of the boards lower down
its plucking up the courage to climb the last ladder
its standing frozen with fear at the abyss below
-then it’s going for it feeling the rush as the air speeds past your ears
-its the deafening crash as you break the water
its the second think as you get your navigation back
(navigation should be re- something)
then its the breath of fresh air of not quite knowing what you did… but the knowledge that next time you’ll pay more attention to the thrill..
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July 12th, 2010 at 9:58 am
Freedom is to be able to live a happy life. Be happy without worrying that someone will take it away from you! I suppose you are American? Hmmm, I never had that feeling there! For once in my life I feel safe and free in China. Really happy and no fear.
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July 12th, 2010 at 10:36 am
jeeeez…………………….I wish I could explain what I think it is.
but if you could it wouldn’t be freedom. but i’ll try.
Ummmmmm ……………..to just BE. To understand. To be Whole. Everything.
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July 12th, 2010 at 11:00 am
being able to do what you want…no one holding you back, not being controled or sheltered. personal choices.
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July 12th, 2010 at 11:48 am
The most freedom I have had is when I didn’t have any…..well actually when I have nothing. It is then when my free will goes in to action.
Freedom was when I realize that I didn’t have to please other, that I didn’t have to judge others. Wow that was so freeing.
Freedom is often a choice. I do live in a country where I am free to travel where and when I want to. I vote. Lots of freedoms.
Another enlilghtment moment was when I realized that every thing that went through my brain didi’t have to come out of my mouth.
Freedom can also be a profound calling.
My youngest son died. I had no control over it
My freedom in that space was to grieve and pick myself up and move on, not forgetting him, but my freedom is commiting his spirit and soul to the universe.
Pure freedom to me is the first breath a newborn. It is pure joy, Pure slate of a brain so fresh and new to the world.
The Purest freedom is to let go and realize the more we know the more we know we don’t know. The freedom of not having to know everything.
References :
July 12th, 2010 at 11:59 am
Freedom is knowing the consequences of you actions and still having the ability to choose your actions. – I Believe.
I think this is free will and because "free", "freedom" and "choice" are very similar I believe it (free will) would be the most logical reference to "Enlightenment"
;+}
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July 12th, 2010 at 12:20 pm
Do you also consider freedom from feelings too? Then you feel nothing.
If you mean political freedom, then you have all human rights, respect of your citizenship, general justice and security so your feeling is you don’t have to fear of the laws.
If you mean of spiritual freedom, it’s individual feeling that is not different from or not the same with others. This is enlightenment for me. (I’m a Buddhist by the way.)
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July 12th, 2010 at 12:58 pm
Feeling of freedom is the separation from all that is undesired.
It is the realization of space, time and possibilities.
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July 12th, 2010 at 1:28 pm
The feeling of freedom is " no guilt ".
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July 12th, 2010 at 1:42 pm
Freedom is described eloquently by Chapter 11 of "Anthem":
XI.
11.1 I am. I think. I will.
11.2 My hands . . . My spirit . . . My sky . . . My forest . . . This earth of mine. . . .
11.3 What must I say besides? These are the words. This is the answer.
11.4 I stand here on the summit of the mountain. I lift my head and I spread my arms. This, my body and spirit, this is the end of the quest. I wished to know the meaning of things. I am the meaning. I wished to find a warrant for being. I need no warrant for being, and no word of sanction upon my being. I am the warrant and the sanction.
11.5 It is my eyes which see, and the sight of my eyes grants beauty to the earth. It is my ears which hear, and the hearing of my ears gives its song to the world. It is my mind which thinks, and the judgment of my mind is the only searchlight that can find the truth. It is my will which chooses, and the choice of my will is the only edict I must respect.
11.6 Many words have been granted me, and some are wise, and some are false, but only three are holy: "I will it!"
11.7 Whatever road I take, the guiding star is within me; the guiding star and the loadstone which point the way. They point in but one direction. They point to me.
11.8 I know not if this earth on which I stand is the core of the universe or if it is but a speck of dust lost in eternity. I know not and I care not. For I know what happiness is possible to me on earth. And my happiness needs no higher aim to vindicate it. My happiness is not the means to any end. It is the end. It is its own goal. It is its own purpose.
11.9 Neither am I the means to any end others may wish to accomplish. I am not a tool for their use. I am not a servant of their needs. I am not a bandage for their wounds. I am not a sacrifice on their altars.
11.10 I am a man. This miracle of me is mine to own and keep, and mine to guard, and mine to use, and mine to kneel before!
11.11 I do not surrender my treasures, nor do I share them. The fortune of my spirit is not to be blown into coins of brass and flung to the winds as alms for the poor of the spirit. I guard my treasures: my thought, my will, my freedom. And the greatest of these is freedom.
11.12 I owe nothing to my brothers, nor do I gather debts from them. I ask none to live for me, nor do I live for any others. I covet no man’s soul, nor is my soul theirs to covet.
11.13 I am neither foe nor friend to my brothers, but such as each of them shall deserve of me. And to earn my love, my brothers must do more than to have been born. I do not grant my love without reason, nor to any chance passer-by who may wish to claim it. I honor men with my love. But honor is a thing to be earned.
11.14 I shall choose friends among men, but neither slaves nor masters. And I shall choose only such as please me, and them I shall love and respect, but neither command nor obey. And we shall join our hands when we wish, or walk alone when we so desire. For in the temple of his spirit, each man is alone. Let each man keep his temple untouched and undefiled. Then let him join hands with others if he wishes, but only beyond his holy threshold.
11.15 For the word "We" must never be spoken, save by one’s choice and as a second thought. This word must never be placed first within man’s soul, else it becomes a monster, the root of all the evils on earth, the root of man’s torture by men, and of an unspeakable lie.
11.16 The word "We" is as lime poured over men, which sets and hardens to stone, and crushes all beneath it, and that which is white and that which is black are lost equally in the grey of it. It is the word by which the depraved steal the virtue of the good, by which the weak steal the might of the strong, by which the fools steal the wisdom of the sages.
11.17 What is my joy if all hands, even the unclean, can reach into it? What is my wisdom, if even the fools can dictate to me? What is my freedom, if all creatures, even the botched and impotent, are my masters? What is my life, if I am but to bow, to agree and to obey?
11.18 But I am done with this creed of corruption.
11.19 I am done with the monster of "We," the word of serfdom, of plunder, of misery, falsehood and shame.
11.20 And now I see the face of god, and I raise this god over the earth, this god whom men have sought since men came into being, this god who will grant them joy and peace and pride.
11.21 This god, this one word:
11.22 "I."
References :
http://www.noblesoul.com/orc/texts/anthem/complete.html
July 12th, 2010 at 1:55 pm
Freedom …You can do things that no one dictates to you,its your will to do it and that makes you not to worry.You can do what you want.Like the birds up in the sky, they are free to fly..so just like the birds you are free to do what you want no matter what the outcome may be.
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July 12th, 2010 at 2:29 pm
Right-knowledge (wisdom) of what is what. You know who you are and what is your position in the whole system.
As you move along the path, you come to know that you are no longer governed by external and internal stimulants. You know that you are different from ever-changing inert matter.
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