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….!!!

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.

To question your thoughts means: I admit I can be wrong.

Therefore, I can change because there is no need to be who I believe I am because you need to admit you can be wrong to accept change.

They teach us to see freedom as something external; like the capacity to choose a president or to choose what to buy, but freedom actually is the removal of paradigms and chains of your mind ; to remove those limits, so you can live fulfilled and happy.

Freedom can even mean to be a child again, and ask: Why? to everything, even what seems most obvious.

Society as a group of people is just an aspect of the collective mind, it is the conjunction of different factors like: the general state of consciousness of the population, your inner division (what you believe vs. others believe) causing peer pressure, and the clear necessity of doing something, to reach a certain ideal like beauty, money, power,etc. because it is well seen by the population.

To be unaware how the collective mind influences; can affect us in such a way we become prisoners of their ideals without asking ourselves: What is my passion? Do I work and feel fulfilled with it? Who am I?

I have tried to imagine why can we become prisoners of our collective (social) minds; It occurred to me (may be wrong) it is our fears, the need of acceptance, and to feel secure the reasons we loose our freedom.

Freedom is not about being a “free country”; Freedom is about a free “you”, and that does not mean to do whatever you want, but to have the ability understand who are you, then you will know how does freedom really apply to each one of us.

Virtual Pioneers @ Flickr: krossbow

For example, if the collective part of us accepts something, then we don’t have to think stuff for ourselves, and just act as how most of the people agree on. So, we stop fighting into finding a meaning for life. We get accustomed and accept the supposed “fact”: Life is just that, get over it, and use your mind on things that produce results, like money (results the collectivity can use, and then assess as really good results).

However, the collective mind can be mistaken. It has been so many times along history. You always have a choice: To question or not to question, and find out things by yourself. Will you choose to become aware about your choices or will you choose to go with the flow?

The reason I believe we don’t question the collective mind as we should is that we don’t want to take full responsibility for our actions and its consequences. If you can say,” It is not my fault. It is not my mistake. It is not my consequence It is the fault of the circumstances, it is the mistake of my parents, it is the consequence of a divorce, but never mine.” Then, you can have an excuse. You will not face the facts. You will not change, and this society will continue to degenerate.

Your choices affect everything because you are part of it all.

At the end, you cannot divide yourself just by thinking you are different from the collective mind. You are inside of it, but are free to be yourself if you know who you are.

It is time to make it greeer

It is up to our generation
to change the world as we know it,
it is time to make it greener,
it is time to make it peaceful,
it is time to be creative,
it is time to break old ideas,
it is time to think thoroughly about it all,
it is time to ask good questions,
it is time to say: I could be wrong,
it is time to overcome failure with courage,
it is time to doubt old paradigms,
it is time to learn about humility,
it is time to stop greed with generosity,
it is time to learn how respect involves freedom,
it is time to listen to others,
it is time to observe life with clarity,
it is time to confront the past
with an incredible future,
it is time to live and speak about love,
and stop being afraid of it.

Is this generation ready for this challenge?

I bet it is.

It is up to us.
You and me.
One.