It does. In Consumer Education class in the 1970’s, Ms. Bond taught, "If something sounds too good to be true, it is.” We’ve seen words like “freedom,” “enlightenment,” and "love" used to sell every kind of product imaginable—from dish soap to religion--in our market-based culture. We are targeted as consumers, and greed makes all kinds of promises it can't keep.
What is freedom, and is it realistic? I think of the Rumi quote about love, "Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the obstacles within yourself that you have built against it.” The same can be said about freedom.
Freedom is hard to describe or quantify, but bondage isn’t. When we cannot control ourselves, we have no free will. When we have no free will, we are imprisoned by our own mental and emotional habits. When we are imprisoned, we are not free.
We confine, restrict, and limit our experiences every day, due to egoic ignorance and lack of awareness. Here are some random examples of this ignorance and inattention:
· Reacting to people or situations, with anger, annoyance, unkindness, jealousy, anxiety, greed, repulsion, hostility, fear, etc.
· “Checking out” of our lives by engaging extensively in addictive behaviors, such as drinking, vaping, smoking, over-eating, over-sexing, over-shopping, clicking on media, staring passively at the programming of TV, YouTube, etc, etc.
· Rushing.
· Resisting.
· Worrying.
· Worrying or concerning ourselves with what and how anyone else is doing.
· Worrying about a thought/feeling so compulsively that we simply can’t let go of it, even if we want to.
· Judging others or ourselves as better or worse
· Distracting ourselves from this short moment.
· Believing we don’t have a choice in this short moment.
· Making decisions based on fear.
· Refusing to take small risks that would improve our experience.
· Taking things personally (Per The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz).
· Making assumptions (ditto).
There's no limit to the limits we put on ourselves.
Freedom is a practice, which requires that we observe all the ways we limit, impair, and restrict our own experiences. As we observe our bondage, we remember that freedom is a choice in this moment and only in this moment. We can bless ourselves with choices that support the inspirations and aspirations of our lives, or we can continue to curse it through old, negative, fear-based habits and ideas. In one moment, we may be able to release ourselves from the knots of confusion. In another, we may not. If nothing else, we can simply choose to return to this moment and open to whatever peace or turmoil is happening.
Self-control is the only control possible. Through the practice of yoga, we can develop mastery over our bodies, our minds, our breathe, our conduct, our fear, and our connection to the only moment that is. With self-sovereignty, we are courageous, confident, and easy. We are free.
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