Freedom

It’s my extreme fortune to always have resided in a democratic nation. I’ve enjoyed the right to freedom of expression, assembly, association, movement, residence, profession, and religion. These are fundamental rights of citizenship. But, they come at a price. Firstly, I should be aware of my rights and if they are being violated, capable of seeking redress in the courts of law. Secondly, I need to perform the duties of and abide by the responsibilities of citizenship. But in some regions, such rights don’t even exist or exist as privileges, so I should be grateful.

In spite of this, I feel shackled like a slave, craving for freedom. I’ve found employment to pay my monthly bills, rent and insurance payments. The state takes its cut from my earnings, too. Employment confines me to a fixed routine in specific locations. I take the same route to and from work, occupy the same cage-like office and operate on the same schedule, day after day. Every job has certain powers and responsibilities associated with it. Higher I rise in the hierarchy, the more people I’ll be answerable and accountable to. I need to discipline my thoughts, words, actions and deeds to think, say and do as I am expected to, so everyone I am accountable to is happy. Under a constant pressure of meet ever-rising expectations, I’ll get caught in a tangle of stresses and strains.

Formal education and employment have certainly made me a better citizen. I abide by the law of the land. I adhere to codes of conduct. I follow the norms of the culture I operate in. I’ve submitted to all the restrictions, schedules and obligations so today I am perceived as a well behaved member of the system (whether an organization, community, society and nation) that I interact with. For a smooth operation, the system depends on the compliance of its members and keeps a watch to prevent members from pursuing a life could have malefic effects on others. But, I live in the constant fear of not being a well behaved entity in the system or being a victim of another entity’s ill conduct.

Outside my cage-like office, I realize the world looks so colorful and sounds so musical. I seek temporary relief from my bound existence in a song, a magazine/book, a TV show, an amusing spectacle or conversation to break the monotony and routine. But, the relief is short lived. It’s as if all there is to look forward to be these breaks, weekends and vacations.

There is so much in the world to see, hear, taste, smell, touch and do. My senses constantly seek gratification. My mind continuously seeks entertainment. I was born on earth because of these desires and urges, in the first place. To a certain extent, they motivate me to live and drive me to act in life. When wants become needs, these urges and desires become cravings and addictions. That’s when a desire or urge is gratified not because pleasure is derived from it, but because it’s become a habit, a compulsion, like taking a meal to pacify hunger. Does this mean that I have been enslaved by my own desires and urges, my own mind?

While at home, I turn the TV or some loud and fast music on; in the car, I keep the radio and at work I keep my headphones on listening to music streaming over the web. In the afternoon and the evening, I take doses of caffeine, whether a soda or a coffee, or else the day seems to hit a halt. Now that I’ve become habituated to these, I feel restless when my senses are under-engaged. These started as engagements I used to temporarily free myself from the shackles of everyday existence, but now I’m enslaved by them.

Karma suggests I am bound to live the reactions of my actions, whether in this life or in the lives to come. Hence, I am never free. I should live responsibly because I will be held accountable for all of my actions. But this still is a cycle. The only way to limit the reactions is to limit the actions. Thoughts lead to words and words to actions, so the very desire to someday possess or do something will ultimately result in the possession or actions accordingly. To break the cycle, the only solution seems to be to establish a personal relationship with the higher powers that maintain accounts of actions and administer reactions.

The human species has highly developed and mature senses compared to other living beings. Plants have to live long lives with low levels of consciousness and little sense perception. Among the animals, we have the best combination of high-resolution color vision, well-developed auditory sensing and the highest level of consciousness. We engage in activities beyond those required for survival, i.e. eating, sleeping, mating and defending. Many highly expressive languages have evolved from our communication. They’ve been made rich with literature, in prose and poetry forms, with expressions of romance, comedy, sorrow, anger, valor, fear, disgust, surprise and peace. While experimenting with sound, we realized rhythm and melody and created music. With the ability to coordinate our high-resolution senses and our high-precision motor functions, came various sports, games, martial arts, yoga and other physical exercises. Curious about the mysteries of nature, we explored and experimented, which led to various discoveries and inventions that define our life and our understanding of the world today. No matter when or where, we humans have engaged our senses and mind to interact with the world we’re in and have thoroughly occupied ourselves in it. With such a highly potent and fast mind is it possible to operate in a mental world and achieve more in a lifetime than operating in the material world? Researchers studying theoretical aspects of a science progress in leaps and bounds compared to their counterparts studying the practical aspects of engineering the science that progress at snail’s pace. It’s our interaction with the material world that slows us down and restricts our space of thought.

Our mind is so potent. Yet, we spend all our life interacting with the material world, which restricts its operating space and slows it down. But we don’t discipline or control it. It always seeks sense enjoyment; we’re continuously running around trying to pacify its insatiable thirst. But, in the societal system we are a part of, we are bound by what’s deemed acceptable and appropriate behavior. So, we are unable to satisfy each desire or urge as it comes. Hence we feel enslaved. I see freedom in peace, in the complete acceptance of things as they are as the will of higher powers, without wanting things to be any different for myself or anyone else.