A Portion of Freedom

Once more I am on the topic of 'freedom'; along with how we long for it, wish for it, and  hope for its visit.  Most references orbit on a relationship of earning it through our labor, and then prudently savings, so that some-day we will have the economic opportunity to go where we want, or get what we wish;  I saw in a movie once where that was referred to the ‘screw you’ amount of money. In effect, you didn’t have ask anymore for permission.

   But you know, that's a conditioned, hand-me- down illusion about the character of what freedom actually is.  Our freedom, and ONLY freedom, is right now. It’s not anchored in the past; we can do nothing to change what has passed, nor does it reside in some future realm we will never visit. It’s in the choices we make in the good-old here-and-now. Oh, and to add insult to injury, it can’t be purchased with money either (rats). 

   Now there’s a whole lot of rationalization for accumulating things we consider valuable that suggest we just might be able to purchase our cherished freedom, such as taking care of our property so it will have a greater 'value' when we sell it.  Why do we sell it but to have money for unforeseen needs that we are afraid we can't meet?
       Even to my way of accepting that 'stuff' isn't important.  What do I do?  Get more of it.  And the stuff "I WANT" comes in this color, style, blah blah blah.  Why?  What difference does it make to my feeling happy?  And then see that the happy is based on my sense of freedom...to choose.
       So I share with you this reading from a small book I had on my nightstand titled The enlightened heart, (this particular snippet was written some  2800 years ago)  See how much of its truth resonates with you...whispers familiar...and then celebrate with me your feelings.  I am glad today that we are alive at the same time, and I've this great fortune to have fellowship...aren't we prosperous?

       The golden God, the Self, the immortal Swan
leaves the small nest of the body, goes where he wants.
He moves through the realm of dreams; makes numberless forms;
delights in sex; eats, drinks, laughs with His friends;
frightens Himself with scenes of heart-chilling terror.
But He is not attached to anything that He sees;
and after He has wandered in the realms of dream and awakeness,
has tasted pleasures and experienced good and evil,
He returns to the blissful state from which He began.
As a fish swims forward to one riverbank then the other,
Self alternates between awakeness and dreaming.
As an eagle, weary from long flight, folds its wings,
gliding down to its nest, Self hurries to the realm
of dreamless sleep, free of desires, fear, pain.
As a man in sexual union with his beloved
is unaware of anything outside or inside,
so a man in union with Self knows nothing, wants nothing,
has found his heart's fulfillment and is free of sorrow.
Father disappears, mother disappears, gods and scriptures disappear, thief disappears, murderer, rich man, beggar disappear, world disappears,
good and evil disappear; he has passed beyond sorrow