The Crystal Cave of Naica, Mexico

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Freedom, Ethics & Liberation

Freedom is the state of being free or at liberty rather than in confinement or under restraint. It is an essential and quintessential quality of human evolution.

Liberation is the act of setting someone (including oneself) or something free from imprisonment, slavery, or oppression. Extensively, it could mean the freedom from all imposed limits on thought or behavior.

Freedom can be perceived through individual behaviors. By letting go of the obsessions, compulsions and inhibitions of our psychological conditioning, and so freeing ourselves to respond appropriately in every situation. In a way, freedom is a point of departure for liberation.

Very often freedom takes the form of restraint - the ability to say "no" to harmful habits, compulsions, craving or dependency. But sometimes freedom can also take the form of saying "yes" - a yes that overrides habitual fears, prejudices and inhibitions. Comparably, this is how moral principles from various cultures are viewed as rules which intend to regulate behavior and thought or as proven guidelines outside of which exist infinite possibilities.

However, does the pursuit of individual freedom easily leads to selfish interests? In the struggle of asserting individuality, the ego thus gets born and reborn. It is important to know that only true freedom exists in harmony between individual and collective interest. If a person insists on treating others and elements of his environment as objects of his calculation, exploitation and consumption, he cannot be free from his self-contentedness. Consequently, this person is imprisoned by his own views, his ego.

All great religions embody one form or another "golden rule" - do unto others as you would have them do unto you. As a training in loving oneself and others, it's a real and constant challenge to intent carefully and to act skillfully in order to set us all free, which leads to personal liberation.

In short, it's ok to love ME but not ONLY ME.