You’ve got to put it to the test in a VERY serious manner.

With this purpose in mind, I will give you some questions that could lead you to this answer, but at the same time I will contradict myself. This is to make you think because there are many currents of thought to answer this question, including yours and mine. Yet, I am going to approach to it through a different lens, a practical and experimental one.

First of all, what is the objective of meditation? Some might believe it is to reach enlightenment, so I ask… What is enlightenment? Is it a supernatural thing? Although, this could be deeply phenomenological I still want to be cautious. We cannot simply accept something that is out of our experience (although this experience might be false, will not go here right now, but it is about how our senses and brain tricks us); we need to ask questions because blind belief has a done a lot of damage to our societies.

So, let’s put an idea forward as a possibility of enlightenment:

Love, the feeling of loving when it is overwhelming and completely embracing to the point your “self” is not longer that “self”.

You could have felt this when you were hugging your child, even a dog, or simply by being totally out of time and space when doing something for you or others in a brief moment of space and time, a deep fulfilling moment. My point in comparing it to this: I want to bring enlightenment to something experimental, something that can be actual in yourself, but is not dependent of your desires of wanting to be “enlightened” but in giving “yourself”.

Now, to be very clear I am not saying this is enlightenment, but I am not saying it isn’t either: I am just setting a “common” ground that will put forward the possibility of love being enlightenment.

Now, if love is enlightenment? Then, ask yourself: What could be the most incredible moment of love I have lived? Why haven’t I lived it constantly? What is stopping me from living a constant wave of love within myself?

These questions are very interesting because they could lead you to ask: Who am I? Who is that “myself”? Who is this being “I” who thinks I am which is constantly talking to me? Is there a moment in our minds where there is complete silence of chatter? Does chatter stop when I love? Can I be aware of something without the need of words and chatter? Can I be aware of the words and chatter without judging them, but loving them?

Loving my CHATTER?! Could that mean love myself? Could loving “myself” mean enlightenment? Is this egoism? How does egoism differ from “enlightened” love? Could egoism mean my chatter, and “enlightened” love the awareness of the chatter? Could it mean to love the chatter, but at the same time improving it by being aware of what is going on inside of it without judging harshly (with love)? Am I that chatter? If I can be aware of my chatter, can I be aware of the things that surround me without that chatter? If I am able to see everything around me without chatter or judgments, can I feel that love that makes it all bloom?

Don’t make your need for answers or “quest” be the opium of your mind, let it rest, so when it does speak to you, you will be ready to hear.

Now, awareness… How does it relate to meditation and the idea of enlightenment? Well, meditation is said to take you to this state of silence, but is this silence necessary? Isn’t awareness more fulfilling than meditation? Could awareness be the silence when observing deeply our chatter or nature? Could meditation be at tool that we believe is the “method” without seeing that the tool as a tool is meaningless if there is no understanding of what it does and how it does it?

With awareness, you can have chatter, but you are aware of it. With awareness, you can have silence, and be aware of it. In awareness, there is love… Why? You have to love to see the awareness or you have to be aware to see the love. It is in actual experience that this can be realized, not as a myth of enlightenment, but as an actual thing that can be achieved when you decide to put your effort into it.

In meditation there is the belief that there is a “method”, and methods don’t work for everybody. So, we must doubt the method, and find our own ways to see our minds “through” our own forms of meditation or reflection. You can try the method, but don’t be blinded by the method… You are the ultimate source of meditation… You are the experience that is observing everything that happens around you.

You Choose!

Meditation, awareness, love, enlightenment, or another… Whatever you choose, do it, but try to ask why? Find your own answers, and if they lead you to fulfillment (a deep sense of love)… There is something good there to be explored, if they lead you to depression and suffering: STOP. Analyze yourself.

Ask: What am I afraid of? Nothing…? Then, let it be for a while, stop the questions, live and experience of being in the tree of life. Perhaps, in the moment you least imagine… An answer will pop! You will know it is time to ask the questions, again. However, don’t ignore it totally… Listen.

It is all about deep observations, awareness, love, YOUR method of meditation, and perhaps enlightenment, and again be cautious… Self-delusion is always a possibility, yet… I ask: Is the love you feel an illusion? How is it real? Could it be even more real? Could you live it to its full potential? What is that potential?

Peace only exists if it is individual, so it is a personal responsibility to find peace within ourselves for the sake of others and oneself.

This is actual, a repetitive aspect of each person because that is the way we produce judgments based on memories and experience. Each vision has a certain truth and falsity in it, why? The further you are from a certain vision, the less you are likely to agree with it. It is as is if the agreement with a position depends on your understanding of what the other’s perspective is, and the more compare and ask questions that deepens the perspective, then you are likely to disagree with it.

Why is this important? Why should we recognize the truth in others vision? Well, because their vision if written or if the person is alive creates action, an activity that comes directly from a vision. It is easier to say… Well, he is wrong. I do not care…

Instead of actually understanding why he says what he says. What do I mean to understand what he says?

I mean to actually SEE through his EYES. This is real compassion, not a sense of pity, but love. The greatest love is the one that cares about the other’s perspective, instead of violently rejecting it. To see the past within that perspective, the experiences, and their “logic”, so there is no violence when you decide to set apart from this perspective/beliefs.

What is the objective? To recreate his “ambience” to actually see why he or she is so stubborn with a certain position, then to ask what is the “truth” he so desperately lingers on, so you can see the “why”. If you are able to see his perspective from its core, then the way you disagree with him will not be violent. It is an awareness of the other, not a categorical rejection due to the fact that his “beliefs” will produce actual action that affects you.  Thus, this awareness will not threaten your “ideas” that provide you a “false” sense of security.

What do I mean with a false sense of security? Beliefs give psychological security, not actual security. You can believe you have a home, but that is not an actual reality unless in that moment are at your home. There is a lot of depth here, but will not explore it due to the topic. The way beliefs work within a conceptual framework, not an actual experience unless you are being aware of the belief of your belief as an experience…

Therefore, you now can be comfortable with the fact that you can be right and wrong depending the perspective, and in that moment peace is given a real chance because there is understanding of the other and yourself.

Why yourself? To understand others is to understand yourself, and viceversa because the other influences your position and the understanding of his position will make you understand better your position (right, wrong or/and both), understanding does not judge because it adds to your comparison, but doubting does divide when comparing because it separates you from the observed. Doubt me, but after understanding me? Maybe… Can we actually understand others? Could be? Think about it!

We act as if peace was an exterior result, but in actuality it is an interior thing that produces consequences that can be seen as peace. However, if countries are peaceful, but people are violent… peace is an illusion.

So, we need peace as an interior result; so we can understand others’ positions instead of being intolerant to what others have to say.

Yes, people might be wrong, right or right and wrong, but to find and live peace it is not about who is wrong and who is right, but how much do I understand others, so I don’t take their beliefs as a threat to my beliefs.

There are two important aspects here:

01The capacity to listen what you don’t want to listen because it threatens your stubborn beliefs.

02The capacity to understand the other’s perspective until you make the other’s perspective yours.

I am not saying that by doing this you will be convinced with his opinion or you that should believe the other’s opinion, instead within this act of love you are able to see through his eyes, and then see the big picture, what he is not able to see, and walk away.

However, you will be different because you have just discovered a new perspective you didn’t want to hear, the fact that you were able to be the other will change you, and then to see the limits of his vision as you lived his vision will transform you as you love deeply.

You will not see your own limits, unless you dare to go within the perspectives you most reject.

If the person who you just understood would see your vision, would he change his perspective? Maybe… Will you change your perspective a little after seeing through his eyes? Yes, you might not think/believe as the perspective you absorbed, but you will see things you weren’t able to see before.

This includes trying to see my perspective, and at the same time doubting my position, both acts are important… But most important is: Peace. Is it? Why?

We have an urgent thing to answer: What is violence? Where does violence come from? Where does violence lie within us?

There are people who talk about freedom of the mind, and its emptiness. It is my concern that their beliefs and their concepts about all these theories fill the same void religion fills. The only difference is that their ideology changes to their new adopted behaviors of meditation or whatever “fashion” is available to them that makes them feel good or safe. The problem of ideology and belief is the lack of questioning the fundamental reasons: Who are we? What is a concept? What is to think? How do we think? What is love? What is to observe? Etc. These questions may seem obvious, but it is in that trap that we have been living, a trap that can no longer be contained. It is ready to explode. There are philosophers, religious figures, and others who have attempted to give answers to these questions. However, it can no longer be a state of complete denial where deep thought is left for some, it is our responsibility to ask questions, and try to answer them, not for the sake of knowledge, but your own fulfillment.

Now, it seems easier and more tempting to just read a “guru”, and believe everything he says, instead of challenging him and giving him your own level, you as “he” as the same capacities, the only difference is that he made a living by being “a guru”. You cannot. Most of us, have to work or do things to survive, and being a guru is not an option, unless you are one of those writers who say to know everything about the world, but in fact are a bunch of copy pasters from different traditions of thought.

Therefore, this post today will be to challenge you… I dare you to think! To ask questions. To forget about the “guru”, to face life with all you’ve got, painful or not, it is all we actually have, our experience, and if we continue to rely on those “mythical figures” (academic, political, or religious) we will fail to see our mistakes, and will be keep doing them for centuries to come.

So, how to ask questions? With more questions, without “definite answers”, however you will gain new perspectives about life. You will be able to see how there is no actual “true” or “false” (in a deep sense), but perspectives that have different ways of seeing and experiencing life. As I said before, these questions are not about finding perfect answers or new beliefs… It is about experiencing life in a new way… BEWARE the guru, the knower, the whatever… better know thyself!

Let’s confront the gurus, prophets, philosophers, etc, and realize in yourself the correct perspective of what they are saying. Got a belief? Challenge it. Challenge your own belief. Don’t fall into the your own guru bias. You have to be very careful, very aware of your thoughts, and how they arise, and how they dissolve. Why? You use your thoughts to understand life. It is a source of your “experience”, you cannot simply trust your senses because it is “obvious” to do so, you need not only to challenge others, but to challenge yourself to the extreme. This might sound difficult or extraordinary, and it might be… Until you realize how relevant, and transcendent for your experience it is to see beyond concepts, to observe beyond beliefs, to actually LIVE, and instead of being in a “virtual reality” of yourself.

Ask questions: Use one question, and answer it with another until you have a bag of questions you are constantly trying to answer day and night. You will reach answers, doubt those, and start again. Why do we want to feel security of knowing? Is there something else beside knowledge? What about experience? Is experience knowledge? How can live an experience if I am always thinking about nonsense? Or is the experience a thought? If experience is a thought, then… Is all reality a product of thought? Is there something beyond thoughts?

How can you assure that the mind is never empty? How can you assure everybody lives a mind without emptiness? Why is emptiness so important if you have never had your mind empty? Isn’t that same “idea” of emptiness the same thing that “prevents” you from being empty? And if you reach emptiness how can you be sure that there is this divine? And if it is divine, how can you be sure that divine is not obtained through untraditional non explored ways that only you can reach through self-contemplation with or without thoughts? Why do mediators want to empty the mind? Isn’t the mind already empty, but we strive to “live” the illusions due to the security felt by what we know? Why would you want to achieve one-mindedness if one-mindedness already is? Why try to achieve something that is not achievable because it already has been achieved?

Why is there a classical sense of traditional meditation? Is meditation total awareness (Including your thoughts whenever they arise and non-thoughts)? What happens when there are no thoughts? Is this possible? How can you assure that there is no possible existence without thoughts just because you haven’t experienced a life without “constant thoughts”? Ask about contemplation, how does contemplation relate with thought? How could awareness of these conflicts change things? What is contemplation? Could there be a state of constant awareness?  For example, I am observing the conflict inside my head without judging, but just listening to it and trying to understand it. Could this be meditation? Why should you follow a tradition about what is a “meditative state”? What is justice? What is freedom? Do you really have free will? If so, could the idea of having free will a belief that you want to nurture to feel security and feel you have control over something?

These questions are not easy, some may find them too difficult to answer because that means to change your entire way to observe and experience the world. You will change, and in this change if there is no peace, but more conflict, your answers are creating more and more beliefs that do not have a foundation of truth. Why? What is truth? What is peace? What is violence? How does violence work within the mind? Is our nature violent? Why? Why could you accept a concept like that seeing the implication of such violence in the world? Could concepts and beliefs be the source of violence? Could our identification of ourselves with these beliefs create violence to defend these beliefs that create us security? Where does true security lie? Could security be related with violence? What would happen if we understood security? Would fear disappear? What is fear? How is fear felt? What are the consequences of fear? How does frustration relate with fear and anger? Can you live without anger? How is fear helpful? What are the limits of fear? Are we really free? What is freedom?

It is about challenging the known, not with a new belief… And although, that “will” and might happen, the ultimate purpose should not be to gain a new “way of thinking”, but a new way of being… How?

Changing the way you experience life, love!

Forgiveness makes you a better human being, and it gives you peace of mind and makes you a compassionate, loving heart.

We have been programmed to think that we need forgiveness by those who we have hurt, so things may remain the same. Yes, we have been taught that if the one you offended forgives you, then nothing happened. However, things did happen, so consequences never remain the same.

If you hurt someone, consequences will always arrive. There is a famous saying,” Do to others what you would like others do to you.”  What is the reason behind this? To remove the blindfold we have been living for some many centuries and realize that we are all one. This might sound outrageous or be even felt as another “belief” that has no true foundation.

However, I invite you to read to see the “philosophy” behind this concept: Your body does not end where your skin does. Your mind thinks this way because your body has a senses that defines itself through them producing the experience of life…. That “external” experience that seems to be “independent” from your conscious self.

Yet, ask your lungs; they need oxygen provided by trees’ leaves.  Ask your liver; it needs nutrients food provides. Ask the apple going down your esophagus; Are you already me or are you still an apple? In fact, your consequences do not end where your skin does, why should we then believe we are just “the name given to us at birth”? Why do we believe that our skin and senses define who we are? Could there be something else, but we are blinded by what we “believe”? Before the world “seemed” flat, and now we know it is round…. Tell that to people who lived that period of time, and believed that.

If we really take sometime each day from our lives to understand this, we will eventually give new perspective to the meaning of forgiveness. Let’s break this down a little bit more:

To give forgiveness means you have the power to forgive. Do you really have such? In a way, it could seem you do. However, think about it a little more. Ask again, do you really have the power to forgive someone in such a way the consequences of the act the person seeking forgiveness will not eventually appear in his/her life? …..

If you want to learn to forgive, do not give forgiveness as it is only a word. Instead, act with compassion and love.

The answer is no. You do not have the power. You may be friends/husband/any relationship of that person as if nothing had happened, but the consequences are way beyond our control.

This means that when you forgive, you can release yourself from the dreadful feelings associated with anger, frustration, despair, and the internal pain caused by suffering. As I stated in the beginning of this text, you are the one who will be most be benefited from forgiveness by becoming free from the act of selfishness done by that person who caused you pain.

Although, you don’t have the power to remove the consequence of a determined act, you can wish for the person who harmed you to be forgiven beyond yourself and really be compassionate for him because he/she does not know the consequences of his deeds and how these will hurt him back. You can wish that he/she realized that each time you harm, you are also harming yourself.

Nothing is independent; existence is an entwined ball of actions that always bounce back. However, we want to believe otherwise, so each time you do something selfish, it is justified inside your mind. Never the less, if you observe carefully the ones who do most harm, are most miserable. It is a fact that is hidden behind the glare of popularity, fame, or power.

It is then when you will really forgive and you will become free from suffering. Are we ready to be free? Or will be something too tough to assimilate? Give it a try, and comment!

To be self confident you need to believe in yourself. You must be aware you may make mistakes. However, you must also be aware that those errors will make you become a better person. After each mistake, you must embrace change with happiness because you have been given the opportunity to overcome something and grow internally.

We cannot continue this path of thought where libertinism means to be free. It is a path of self destruction. You can only be free within yourself, and in fact the less your freedom depends on others, the freer you will actually be. Why? It does not depend on your ability to perceive, but in the actual freedom, the truth behind your conceptions.

Yet, you’ve got to understand why by yourself. Although it may sound contradictory, we cannot force others comply with our points of view because that means there is no freedom, but we cannot live as if freedom means to do whatever you want with no consequences.

We cannot leave everything in hands of our government and its policies because as stated above… It will all depend on points of view that will only lead you into a “political” trap: communism, marxism, socialism, capitalism or whatever “ism” is not the “ideal way”. There is no such thing as an ideal or perfect way. We can only learn and try to find your “middle way”: the path of love or at least your happiness and peace.

How to do it? It is really difficult to deal with short thinking, blinded, and stubborn people who think their “truth” is the only one. Yet, we must be aware of something: Nothing is forever. No one lives forever. They can live all their lives like that, let them be…

Our job is not to make them understand what is “right” for them because if you try to impose them what you think is “right” for them, then there will be no difference between them and you.

However, we can open the minds of our new generations, so they may walk the “unforeseen” path and reach that world of progress, respect, love, and peace we all should linger for until it becomes our reality.

We should be out there working for a better ourselves, not for a better political system because at the end those systems are a reflection of ourselves. Although, it may be important to give a sense of reality to those who “have the power” we must not be completely focused in that. Politics is a game where there is no loser or winner. It is a game where there is a positive aftermath or a negative aftermath, and we all will receive the consequences, not only the “winner or loser”.  Some people love the game, let them. Don’t fight true battles by confronting and killing the opponent directly.

So, let it be a game without forgetting that there are a lot of things more important beyond the “game” like changing humanity by being an example of love and positive self-esteem, and as a consequence there will be a change in politics. You do not need to confront someone to make a change; you can do it quietly through a simple and definite way: BY YOUR EXAMPLE!

For example, Gandhi showed another way, by which he changed indirectly the politicians though the way of non-resistance. This way hides a deeper aspect of letting things go without moving your finger from the point/truth.  Why? The truth cannot be hidden. It is a matter of time for it to shine so bright it will make everyone who is not prepared blind. This way does not mean to go a let yourself be beaten to make your point be understood, actually, it states: Forget about direct confrontation through violence! Use your imagination to make your point be heard.

Gandhi used several techniques though his life, one of those implied beating, another starving to death, yet these times require not to repeat what has been done in the past…

Instead, it is time to use the deep truth beyond those ideas to provoke change and make them shine. How?  Challenge yourself!

• Challenge yourself by questioning your own arguments if you love writing,
• Create a civil society if you are very good with your social skills,
• Write songs or paint to bring consciousness if you are great at the arts,
• Use copy-left licenses, so more people can be affected by your skills,
• Use any other kind of skill you have…
• Challenge the ordinary and make a change!

Feel confident about yourself and what you do. Surely you will make mistakes, we all do, but if there is an honest and unselfish intention behind everything you do, then you will feel great about yourself! Give it a try!  Do it! The sky is not the limit! There is so much more, so unknown to humankind! Remember, this is a very long trip, but the most satisfactory. There will be moments of total despair, but at the end although, I may always be wrong…

The truth will always prevail!

Just take a look at your “country”, and ask: Does the government work for you or for themselves? It is very easy to blind the population, most of us are sheep believing what others say without questioning. Why? We are afraid.

1. Afraid we could be wrong, instead of accepting your perfect human nature of imperfection.
2. Afraid we have to take responsibility for our actions, instead of blaming others for our failures.
3. Afraid to confront the truth, instead of being constantly drunk with excuses and lies.

People who work for themselves, and never taking in account the others are corrupt.

Why? Corruption means dishonesty.

You are not honest if you believe working at the government is so you can live better, public service means to serve the public… Let’s make it clear: Not to serve yourself by pretending you are working for others. 
Of course, if you honestly work with great devotion to others, you should be rewarded… However, the reward comes after you have given to others:

Remember: The more you give, the more you get.  Give, and you shall have.

Getting that clear, we must then think a little more about liberty… Is freedom given by a country or can you live trapped although living in a “free” country? There will always be a “trap” where you live, people may be selfish, and therefore influence their surroundings, so you may not be able to do what you should. Is there a lack of freedom there? Where does your liberty end, and where does mine start? Well…

Let’s give it another focus. Freedom as we have stated it for so long, does depend on our exterior world. However, the reality of freedom is that it does not depend on “the outer world” but deeply inside you. People may steal your whole, they may degrade your voice, and even try to rape your spirit, but they cannot touch your inner self if you don’t let them.
Yes, I know, this sounds too idealist but think about it. At the end, death will only knock on your door, leaving your body behind…
Let’s assume freedom only depends on your inner self…

Show your arguments against me… Make this world a better place, and think about it thoroughly. Don’t be just “like the herd”! THINK! ONCE AND AGAIN! Make a difference! Please!

Then, ask yourself:

• Where does your freedom start and mine end?
• Can freedom be gained?
• Can you develop freedom from your own attachments and obsessive behaviors?
• If you are constantly tormented by your conscience are you free from yourself?
• Can you be free from yourself?
• If you act according to your greatest sense of humanity and love, can you be free from your own judgments?
• If you judge others, can you later judge yourself for the same issues when acting as you had previously judged?
• If I treat you with respect, are you giving and providing freedom?
• Is freedom only external or also internal?
• How does freedom from yourself mean?
• Does it mean to be selfish or giving?
• What is freedom?
• Can you really live freedom?
• How does freedom relate to the truth and love?

Can you see it? It does not matter if you live in a free country, you are not free from your selfishness and suffering.

How can you be free, truly free? Is living in a free country enough? Is that country really free? NO! It is not free because each person living in that country is not free from itself.

Let’s think about freedom with new eyes, and let’s realize that you are not free. You are trapped in the routine established by those who gain from it, in the illusion of happiness while you are surrounding of so much suffering, in the lies of the media and advertising so you may happily be asleep while your life slips away from you, and in so many other killing doses of “freedom” that actually in time makes it harder to take that terrible sleeping pill that convert us into drunken/drugged sheep who do not have/want the time to think.

WAKE UP!

Can’t you see there is a fire in your garden? Can’t you see… we are all burning in pain?

WAKE UP! Let’s make change possible by looking at the mirror….!!!

Of course, there are may types of attacks. Ones may be physical and psychological or just psychological. However, the impact of any type of attack on yourself is profound.

It is in these attacks where a window of opportunity is opened: The capacity to grow and overcome this through observation, awareness, and then change will take place.

Let’s make conscious some internal workings we may not be aware of:

You may believe power comes from controlling others, when it actually exists when you are in control of YOURSELF.

Cause <-> Effect
-> one way
<-> Both ways

• Feeling Abused -> Anger
• Feel Abused <-> Feel Powerless
• Feel Powerless <-> The need to control others to gain security
• The need to control others to gain security <-> Fear
• Fear -> Anger
• Anger <-> Sadness

In other words,

01Feeling Abused -> Anger
Anger may be a common response when we feel abused. In such moments, anger may provoke an aggressive response or a silent protest. Even a silent response, may induce resent. Therefore, abuse causing anger needs to be detected before anger controls you and you won’t be able to see beyond the abuse.

What does “to see beyond the abuse” mean? It means abuse needs to be understood to be free from it, not only to have a reaction through anger or sadness, but to see beyond behavior to understand ourselves better.

02Feel Abused <-> Feel Powerless When you feel abused, you can sense how powerless you really are. It happens that you may not even aware of this, but the impact of your agression toward the world surrounding you when we feel powerless is enormous. This all is influenced by your definition of what is fair.  For example, if you worked hard for an A and got a D, you may feel abused, and if you can’t change the note… You will feel powerless, thus angry and frustrated. This chain of reactions will only lead to a negative consequence. You need to be aware of it before it takes control over you. Why? The angrier  you get, the less will you be able to observe your surroundings or yourself to take the appropriate action for a positive result.

03Feel Powerless <-> The need to control others to gain security When there is no control or actual manipulation, freedom really begins to exist. Unfortunatly, we don’t regularly see this because we want to prefer the feeling of security over freedom. However, the security provoked by controling others is just ephimeral and not real. Security exists only when you are free, but freedom from your inside, not outside. The more you are aware of your own instincts and patters, the better you will feel because you will be free from yourself, thus you will feel no need to control others.

04The need to control others to gain security <-> Fear When you are feeling power powerless, you realize you can never really control others, and you can’t even not be in control of yourself, fear may come in, and aggression could find a way into your mind. When you realize you are powerless, you may want to control others, you could try to use “force” to obtain thing your way through control and manipulation, and if you don’t get it your way, anger gains control over you.

Do you realize the more you feel the need to control others, the less will you actually be in need of the others to feel secure, thus your security will always be false and depending others? Eventually, those you think you will always control, will realize it. Manipulation doesn’t live forever, people die. Yet, you will always be with yourself.

05Fear -> Anger It is when you feel fear when your animal instincts gain force. Fear is a primeval feeling that is deeply related with how secure we feel. A long time ago, when we heard a roar we had to run. That adrenaline rush keeps coming after all these centuries, but in the form of anger. Why? We may not need to kill the prey, but we still feel the rush that becomes anger toward those who seem to take our security away from us. What would happen if we could realize we do not need to control others to feel secure? What would happen if we don’t feel fear when we are not under control over things? What would happen if we could understand ourselves so well, we can feel security by seeing the truth beyond our biased perceptions?

06Anger <-> Sadness Least, but not last… Anger is actually sadness, the realization you are not “powerful” and you will never be “secure”, unless something changes deeply inside of you. If you see yourself really closely when in anger, you will realize without a doubt that when you are anger, you are really sad about something. It could be you are sad because you cannot obtain something you deserve (the definition of what is just in your eyes), you may have a low-self esteem without realzing it consciously, and then it is projected by anger when you are feel sad, disappointed, alone, worthless, etc. and don’t want to realize it because doing it means you will change. Most of us, don’t want to change until we reach the limit.

When will enough be enough?

At the end, I may be wrong and I’m not going to tell you what to do, but give you hints about what could be going on inside yourself. If we could understand the consequences of our actions before they unfold, perhaps will we be ready to live with confortably with those. It takes a lot of courage to react against the most, but if you don’t start your own positive current: Who will? What are you waiting for?

The more you become aware of what you do and why, the less will you suffer. Think about it!

by Oberazzi

What happens that in a few years some of the things we were most curious about become dull and understandable? (although we may not understand the underlying functions or ways it works) We want to be a “know it all” society, but there are two ways we do it:

• We think we know. We become arrogant. You use the power of telling others you know it all to control and manipulate. Arrogance is far from knowing, it is the false feeling of a high self-esteem that comes with ignorance.
• We think we don’t know it, so we try by all means to understand, and when done… We will continue our curiosity through new or more detailed topics. Humility becomes the true path used to grow.

There will always be something you don’t know, but as we grow older we believe there are not more evident puzzles to understand.

I mean, not everybody works like this, but if most were curious till death, then this society would NOT be so viced with corruption, greed, and violence.

We linger for freedom and peace, but we don’t ask the right questions, nor we try to doubt ourselves and our patterns.

We are not free. We want to believe freedom comes with a government. Let me tell you: It does not work that way. Freedom exists inside of you, always. How can you make it visible? How can freedom we something real? How can we stop this illusion of a free government and people? By asking questions.

Why do I call it an illusion? Those who don’t ask questions are trapped in their own (or societies) beliefs.

A belief is an illusion. It is an idea we make a reality when in fact it only is real, at first, in your head, and maybe as a result of being in your head it may become a reality.

Freedom can be like that. You have a belief: I am free.

What is freedom? What is real? Who are you?

Ask: Is that real?
Answer: Yes. <- You are not free, but you will just cheat your brain into believing so.
Answer: No. <- You are not free, but there is no difference between answering “yes” because it is still a belief. An idea placed far away from actual freedom.
Answer with another question: What is real? <- Then, you will begin a quest. The most difficult one human nature has encountered. A question so many have tried to answer since the beginning of curiosity.

However, those who have found an answer have not found an answer for YOU. What is real to them will never be real to you, unless you truly understand it by yourself. How?

• Doubt common reasoning.
• Ask questions.
• Doubt your answers.
• Ask more questions.
• Let freedom enter.

Keep asking questions. Find out what freedom really means.

For example, there is a rule: Do not steal.
Why would you break that rule?

Is there a reason behind stealing? Yes, there is always a hidden & evident “why” behind everything.

Stealing is considered wrong because by doing so, you are interfering with the rights of a person who worked hard to obtain a certain good.

Remember, laws change as people change. Don’t try to break the law to change it, better change people’s ideas, thus law will change.

However, there is a lot of people out there who “legally” steal. There are no apparent consequences of their doings, don’t be fooled, there is always a result. This kind of stealing is protected by laws… If this is possible, how many other things are not ethical, but still accepted socially? A lot, this is the basic reason rules should be broken. Do it smartly.

For example, doing drugs. You may do drugs to break the rules and challenge the law. Or you may not do drugs, to challenge the peer pressure “social” rules, you’ve got to do what everybody is doing.

Is the point clear?

There are a lot of ways to break the rules. The problem is we fall into the same trap that is supposed to release us from those irrational rules, we loose credibility, and end up doing nothing…

Let’s give another example, piracy.
You may break the rules by selling or copying rigidly copyrighted content because you believe the way companies have manipulated the law is against the fundamental principles that created copyright (to promote creation). You may also break the rules by creating wonderful “commercial” work and giving it for free or by using a creative commons licenses.

by alicepopkorn

Now, do you really want to break the rules? Do it, but do it properly. Irrational action produces violence. Clear thinking produces change.

How? Ask yourself:

• Is it a selfish reason?
• Why would you break a rule for a self reason?
• Do you want to produce change?
• Do you want to release anger?
• Do you want to feel the adrenaline rush?
• Do you want to feel power?
• Do you want to challenge authority?
• Do you break a rule because you believe it will make you belong to a group?
• What are the consequences you can receive by breaking that rule?
• What are the long term consequences society could receive by breaking the rule?
• Is the rule you are breaking challenging the law? Is there an alternative way to make the point without breaking the law?

Sometimes, the best way to prove your point is by being original. Everybody can break a law. There is probably no law that hasn’t been broken by someone. Be creative! Don’t follow the rules, but distinguish the difference between a rule and the law.

Change can only be approached slowly, people are afraid of change, don’t try to force anything, think thoroughly about your reasons, doubt them, and learn what freedom really means.

In a way, it is obvious. There is a physical process involved when pain is created by our skin, but what is even more amazing is the physiological one. It can be felt as much as the physical one, but this one can be stopped through your own brain.

Why can’t we stop it? Have you ever paid attention to your brain as the uncontrollable begins to take control over your body?

Have you listened to your thoughts as the chain reaction unfolds? It is as if something that is not tangible, a thought, could create an alternate reality based on the data you possess at that moment. That is the reason most of us act, although we may not even be aware of it, you become a slave of thoughts.

by h.koppdelaney

If that is not crazy enough, those thoughts may result false or incomplete as time makes the truth be clearer. So, in such ignorance, we continue existing, creating chaos, and translating justice in our best suited verdict.

This at the long run creates a false world based on your own limits and prejudices, and we educate the next generation to act in the same way. We don’t question our own thoughts because the belief gives us a sense of being certain, safe, in control, and righteous.

Perhaps, we feel unconsciously that if we can keep that “unreal” world the “truth”, then there won’t be any reason to feel fear, when in fact, fear comes each time that “world” is in danger, psychologically speaking.

This is where rejection begins to rule society, we don’t understand the process in which fear beings to arise, so we try to repel everything that can endanger your sweet lies, so pain may not touch you.

The more you try to keep pain away, the more you fear. The more you fear, the closer you get to pain.

Fear is deeply related to pain, therefore, why do we feel both?

Thoughts create the perfect environment trying to keep everything in “order”, you don’t pay attention to them, so they become independent, they begin to form what you identify as your personality, sometimes even “who you are”. You are totally helpless. In a sense, you feel impotent, totally controlled, and abused.

However, you try to find excuses outside yourself, you may drink heavily, even use drugs to evade those irritating thoughts that create pain, and make you feel trapped in fear. Others, may do sports, do art, do science, and in a sense take the positive route to gain control, at least, keep it contained.

It is not enough, though. So, religion becomes another kind of “walked” route. However, if the “religion” does not let you understand yourself or the people surrounding the “religion” try to control you, then on the contrary, it takes you to the “bliss of ignorance”, and self-denial. It can be another path to self destruction like any other kind of addiction where you live a high that keeps you there, but at the same time you may feel abused and reliant.

So, why do we feel pain, fear, etc.? I guess it is time to listen to your thoughts, and try to dissolve the reasons you suffer, you live, and you act. It is like using a turbine to move the fog around you, until you are ready to understand why does the fog follow you, and then… Get rid of it from the source.

Question those thoughts. Question the thoughts written here. Question, analyze, and live what freedom really means.