Has anyone found True Freedom?

No, I have not found this freedom – this particular freedom is not one I seek, though…on a daily basis, I am more concerned about the freedoms I have that others do not and how I fix the inequity

I found it in a place that isn’t necessarily good. Alcohol gives you those things, but it takes away quite a bit, too.

I guess to that question I should add: a freedom that takes nothing in return.

“Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose…” Janis Joplin.

There is no such thing as true freedom in the context you propose. However, I do thank the military veterans I meet for their sacrifices to maintain America as a free country.

That’s good enough for me.

it is elusive. The societal web gives freedom, then jealously takes it from those who seek to use it and empower themselves from it. When you die you will be free again.

Yes. But it took me years to achieve it, and I had to deprogram myself from all the crap that schools, peers, family and friends tried to instill. You see, we live in a system whose goal is to enslave us. It is called capitalism right now. It will mutate to something else, but the bottom line is the intent to enslave us.

Good luck breaking free from the bonds enslaving you.

<<——- I’ve found Blue freedom and that in itself is something very special.

No. I don’t think anyone has found such freedom. At any one point we’ll probably find ourselves living our lives due to the expectations of others, or because we’re enslaved by our own desires, or because we’re forcing ourselves to do something we don’t want because society tells us it’s not right.

The freest freedom might just be in death. But if there’s an afterlife, perhaps even not then..

Then again, maybe all that’s needed is just a change in the way we see things…

Yes. I’ve found a huge measure of this type of freedom. It comes with concentrated effort and intention. My belief is that anyone who has an honest desire for internal freedom and puts their attention on getting it, will, over time, find more and more of it.

On the surface the kinds of things that have helped are: loving relationships, associating with people that are seekers and striving toward self-awareness, therapy, meditation, reading spiritual things, journaling about my experiences, etc.

More specifically I think what it takes is:

1) Learning to have faith. I’m not a religious person by any means, but I’ve gradually learned to trust in God (or, The Universe, or, Fate, or Myself, or <whatever>). Basically I trust that life will take care of me if I do my part, and that ultimately I’ve been given an incredibly rare and beautiful thing in just being alive. Which bring me to….

2) Gratitude. Consciously giving thanks for all the good things in life and all the things that give me some amount of happiness.

3) Giving. The more I give, of whatever I have, the better I feel. All those negative voices we have about ourselves and the world can be overridden with real experience, and we can create those experiences. Basically I follow my heart and my conscience as much as possible, and every day I strengthen the “positive” voices a little bit more. Gradually the negative voices have lost much of their power. When you say “a freedom that takes nothing in return” I think you’re looking at it backwards—what do you have to give to get freedom back?

Oh, and one more thing: I don’t own a TV and I haven’t watched TV for about 9 years. My personal belief is that the mainstream media is very toxic and instills all kinds of unhelpful and damaging messages into us… so I just stopped consuming it. It’s amazing what TV feels like after you haven’t been exposed to it for a month or two—yuck.

No, I did not find it. It found me.

The Way to happiness is quite clear… Practically invisible!

Real Eyes Realize Real Lies

Let the river do the rowing.

Freedom is the power to choose God’s will

@BBQsomeCows…in your opinion
my freedom doesn’t include god
it actually can’t
as I don’t consider that freedom