Thoughts on freedom

For some years I have thought about freedom and how to achieve it. It hasn't been that easy to specify what kind of freedom I really meant or really wanted. I have tried to specify freedom and how to achieve it and I hope this description can be useful for others that are looking to become free. I have been inspired by Buddhism, but I would not call myself a buddhist.

No attachments

Becoming free implies that you loose attachments. Non-attachment does not mean that you should become indifferent or emotionally cold. It means that you should accept that you can lose your job, your best friend could die and your girlfriend could leave you. Don't fear loss, but accept it as a part of life and something that could and will eventually happen.

Look within. Be still.
Free from fear and attachment,
Know the sweet joy of living in the way.

Live in the present

Live, embrace and accept the present moment, instead of waiting anxiously for all future desires to be fulfilled. Like Gandhi said: Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.

Don't carry the burden of the past,
nor indulge in the fantasizes of the future,
nor intoxicate with the desires of the present.

No goals and dreams

Goals and dreams are mostly fantasizes. You build a fantasy of how it's going to be when you get that job or find the perfect mate. When you reach your goal you find out that it was just a fantasy and the taste is not that sweet as you imagined.

The lesson is to live in the present moment and not dwell on the prospects of the future. Enjoy what you have now, instead of being a slave of what you want to achieve or become.

David Bowie wrote about this delusion in Changes:

Still don't know what I was waiting for
And my time was running wild
A million dead-end streets and
every time I thought I'd got it made,
it seemed the taste was not so sweet...

Don't act

Acting like you live in the present moment is not the same as living in the present moment. Acting like you you are non-attached is not the same as being non-attached!

Acting is a delusion and if you are acting you are cheating yourself. Don't act free, but be free!

It's a practice

Becoming free takes a lot practice. It's not something that you can read your way through or something that magically happens to you. It's a change within and a change that takes a lot of practice.