Our Carefully Crafted Cages

In this world of diverse pleasures and pains, we strive to string together a series of life events in an attempt to optimize the occurrence of pleasure experiences over those that bring pain, but this seemingly simple life mission proves to be extremely difficult for most.  Of course, there is the problem that circumstance limits the options from which we can choose, but these issues of circumstance are largely beyond our control.  There is another big problem with making these correct choices that can be addressed by the individual.

Making good choices between the opportunities that are at hand should be a simple matter of deciding and doing what makes us happy, but frequently, the biggest problem in this simple pursuit of happiness is not having the freedom required to make and pursue the best choices.  There are two possible sources of obstacles to our freedom of choice.  One is the threat posed by persons external to us who want to obstruct the realization of our desires, but by the far, the greatest obstacle to our personal freedom is in the form of the carefully crafted cages that we create for ourselves.

Everyone longs to be free to pursue their own personal happiness. They just want to be the person they really are without fear of ridicule or worse yet persecution, but these simple desires like so many other things get tangled in the individual’s intricate web of illusions and are never realized.  Freedom seems like a simple enough concept, but most don’t even have a good understanding of what freedom is much less how to attain it. 

On superficial consideration, freedom appears to be a simple matter of being able to do what you want or not, but like everything else, the devil for freedom is in the details.  A popular catch phrase “Freedom isn’t free’ leads many to believe they can be free by virtue of someone else’s sacrifice, but true freedom is a much more complicated matter than just that.  It is further complicated by our own involvement in the decision process. To really understanding freedom, the entire process of action needs to be considered.

Every action begins with a desire, a gentle intent or a strong urge, and from that desire, we spring into the process of taking action.  There are no constraints on what we want at this desire level. Everyone has the ability to think that they want.  In fact most, don't have the self-control required to not think what they want.  Perhaps we are too afraid to acknowledge some thoughts to anyone else, but they are there nonetheless tantalizing us with the possibility of their realization pretty much all the time.   

The obstacles are encountered when we choose to act or not on an actionable desire (I.e. one favored by circumstance).  This personal evaluation to determine whether to act or not is where our personal truth enters the freedom equation and potentially make us our own worst enemies. 

Everyone’s unique and individual Personal Truth creates a unique personal reality constructed from all the things that known and that have been accepted as beliefs by the personal.  These realities become that individual’s rules of engagement which specify the circumstances and limitations under which that person will engage and interact with the various affairs of life.  In effect, this personal truth decision matrix makes us the gate keeper for our own desires.

This decision matrix is an important part of the action process where the immediate and long-term effects of the action for us and everything else are assessed.   We all understand our actions have consequences, and some actions have adverse outcomes for us and/or those around us.  These consideration is critically important to correct action, but we are all susceptible to things that can cloud the analysis and lead to the wrong decision. 

The great imprisoner of mankind is simple ignorance in all the common forms of its manifestation such as lack of understanding, fear, and self-doubt.  Ignorance makes us vulnerable, and the less we are aware of this ignorance, the greater is our vulnerability risk. Ignorance keeps us from the happiness that we all long to have, and we are foolishly by virtue of this ignorance the instrument that enforces that imprisonment by causing us to make wrong life choices.

It is only by the complete understanding of our Self that true freedom can be attained.  This process of liberation begins from the moment we deliberately start on the path of knowledge to discover the Self.  This liberation continues incrementally as long as we continue to be steady on this path until complete liberation is realized with a complete understanding of the Self in our personal truth.

The process of believing is both a blessing and a curse.  It is a blessing in the context that it is an opportunity to look forward on the path of discovery, but it is a curse if it is used to remain stagnant or worse yet look back. 

Be careful what you accept as a belief.  The consequences could be catastrophic.