Can we acknowledge in some way that we're looking for something that resembles freedom?
To take off these chains which in appearances restrict our ability to love and play?
There appears to be so much potential to explore the depth of what we are,
The miracle of what we are.
And when I look at why that play might not be there,
What I find are those chains not being allowed to enjoy the gift you've been given,
Life.
Welcome to this moment.
If you're willing to be here with me,
I want to take you on a journey.
A journey that invites us to see something profound about our human experience,
About life itself,
And ultimately allow that discovery to open our hearts and expose a tremendous amount of love for all that is.
I want to talk about,
In some way,
Real freedom along with what it is that you're actually looking for in this life,
What it is that you soulfully crave,
And also what it is that might seem so painfully missing.
You know,
In this human adventure,
There's what appears to be going on on the surface,
And then there's something quite radical and amazing happening below the surface or on the inside of what we are.
On the surface,
There is what appears to be all the things that we want,
The things we're looking for,
The things we hope for,
The things we're afraid of losing,
But all of this appearance of form is simply a beautiful illustration,
A reflection of something profound going on in the inside of what we are.
And so easy it is on our human journey to get lost in the appearances of things,
To get lost in the appearance of what we think we want and completely miss what it is we're actually looking for.
And of course,
This distinction,
This clarity of understanding is the original intent of spirituality.
Can we take a moment and recognize something?
That in the play of spirituality,
It takes many different forms,
Which is to also say,
There might be many different traditions.
Some of those traditions might be more noisy than others,
More colorful than others.
But among all of them,
There is a,
Let's call it a sacred commonality.
This commonality in some way is inviting a discovery about something that is deeply real and true.
And the recognition of this,
The unification with this promises to resolve the inner conflict and drama,
Inviting you into a landscape of infinite love and play.
Of course,
Notably,
This is referred to as heaven.
Liberation from suffering.
Liberation from that aspect in your humanness that feels bound to the world,
To conflict,
To drama,
To a painful sense that something's missing,
To an agitation that consistently finds itself afraid.
Do you see this commonality among all the different flavors of spirituality?
That it's inviting a profound recognition of something?
In all of these different spiritual traditions,
In their own way,
Speak a different language.
They tell different stories.
But amidst all of these stories is that commonality.
Maybe a common theme that all of these stories point back to is the common phrase we have all heard,
Which is the truth shall set you free.
I find that really,
Really interesting and profoundly true.
And maybe that's what I want to dive into directly in our quest on this spiritual journey.
Can we acknowledge in some way that we're looking for something that resembles freedom?
We long to be free.
To take off these chains,
Which in appearances,
Restrict our ability to love and play.
I mean,
My goodness,
This is fascinating.
In one regard,
Here we are on what we call planet Earth.
And if you look out into nature,
It's extraordinary.
It's beautiful.
And in what we might call chaos,
We see a divine symphony,
Where the mind doesn't understand how it all fits together,
Yet somehow it fits together.
And allows for this thing called life to be.
It's extraordinary.
We've been gifted this opportunity to be alive.
And in that opportunity,
There appears to be so much potential to explore the depth of what we are,
The miracle of what we are.
Which to me just seems like an opportunity to play.
And when I look at why that play might not be there,
What I find are those chains.
That sense of not being free.
Not being allowed to play.
Which is also not being allowed to enjoy the gift you've been given.
Life.
And yet we come back to this phrase,
The truth shall set you free.
For freedom is what you're looking for.
So where do we find this thing that we're looking for?
In the truth.
Which is quite fascinating.
Because if you look at the traditional ways we go about it,
We're not looking for freedom in the truth.
We're looking for freedom through our attempt to control and manipulate experience.
If only other people would do what I want them to do,
Then I could be free.
If only I could have all the things I want in the world,
Then I could be free.
If only I looked a certain way,
Then I could be free.
If only I didn't have the past I have,
Then I could be free.
If only I was certain about tomorrow,
Then I could be free.
Do you see all the ways in which we go searching in the mind for freedom?
Which is not effectively looking for the truth.
We are looking for something out there to give us freedom.
And in this wild search we are on,
We find that whatever we come across never satisfies that thirst.
Whether it's somebody doing what you want,
Whether it's getting the thing you want in the world.
It never quite scratches that itch for feeling abundantly free.
What is this truth?
This truth that promises to set us free.
Which is interesting because in some regard,
Depending on who you talk to,
They have their own version of it.
And depending on how captured we are by our stories and narratives,
We might think that our story is the truth and other people's story about the truth is wrong.
And then of course we become dogmatic,
Entrapped in our particular way of thinking,
Which only reinforces that we are a prisoner.
Which is,
I don't know if I want to go down that rabbit hole,
But my goodness.
What I'm getting is the visual of the person who is convinced that their narrative is the truth,
But in order for it to satisfy,
They need other people to believe it.
Which quite clearly shows that you're not free.
If you need other people to agree with you,
And if you feel threatened by when people don't,
That's not freedom.
That is being a prisoner to an idea.
If only the whole world believed what I believed,
Then I could be free.
That is not freedom.
That is to be a prisoner to the whole world.
And I think that that's an important distinction as it relates to looking for what is real and true about freedom.
If freedom is given from something outside of you,
Then that something outside of you is now your master,
The giver of freedom,
Which is not freedom.
And we're looking for real freedom.
Are we not?
Are we looking to be a slave?
Are we looking for an authority?
Someone else to tell us that we're free?
And now we have to do what they say in order to maintain that freedom?
Is that freedom?
No,
No,
No,
No.
But of course,
This is how human beings go about their quest.
There is a real freedom.
There is a real freedom.
Do you see that if there was a real freedom,
It wouldn't come from outside?
This is important to see.
If it comes from outside,
If the giver of your freedom comes from outside,
Then that giver is your master.
You're not free.
Even if they're super nice to you,
They're still your master.
And therefore you will always have a subtle fear that they might take the freedom away,
Which will make you question yourself and make sure you're being approved of by your master in order to maintain your freedom,
Which is to be a slave.
The challenge here in understanding these things and the struggle that humans have is we are so captured by the mind's content.
We are so captured by stories to the point that we think that what we think is happening.
In the most wild way,
It seems extraordinarily difficult to discern the difference.
To see that whatever you're thinking,
Whatever story you're telling isn't actually happening.
And this,
Of course,
Is something that all spiritual paths are inviting us to see through the invitation to be present,
Through the invitation to be still and know.
That is an invitation to discern the difference between what is imagined and what is real.
Which is also to say,
Because I think it's on the same theme,
It's to discern the difference between the lie and what is true.
Do you see how to imagine something and then to think that what you imagine is real is the same as believing in a lie?
You're seeing something as real that is not,
Which is the same as seeing something as true that is not.
As it relates to this statement,
The truth shall set you free,
This is the same as saying what is real will set you free.
What is real will set you free.
Can we acknowledge this?
And I understand that this might be a leap,
But see if you can just recognize the synonymous nature between what is true and what is real.
Because in a spiritual context,
When it's referred to truth,
It's referring to what is real.
This is the same thing.
And therefore,
What is true,
What is real,
Is not a product of imagination,
Because imagination is imagination.
Furthermore,
What is real and true is not a product of mind,
Because mind produces imagination.
It produces images.
And you can see a great example of this here right now to recognize that this moment is what's real.
And then in this moment,
You can imagine 10,
000 different things,
Whether those are in the past,
In the future,
Whether those things are about this moment.
And all of that content in the mind is imagination.
It's not real.
Do you see the distinction?
And I have to reinforce this nearly every time I talk because it's such a profound recognition.
And it might seem juvenile.
And if it does,
Then I would say it's not really seen because it's one of the most profound recognitions,
Mostly in part because of how often we are fooled,
Fooled into believing our own thinking as if what we are thinking is real.
And this,
Of course,
Is where you find all of the suffering.
This is where you find those chains.
This is where you find the perceived prison cell,
Which somehow keeps you from truly being free.
You see,
My friends,
The prison is not out there in the world.
It's to be a prisoner of mind.
I wonder if you can see that in the same way that all the things you think you want in the world are simply products of your imagination that you're chasing through the mind.
Can you see that?
You're chasing some story about yourself.
But it looks like you're chasing something in the world.
Can you see that you're chasing an idea?
Can you see that you're chasing the imagination?
Again,
You know,
This isn't wrong.
In fact,
It's never about an issue of right or wrong.
It's always about what's true.
You're free to chase your imagination.
You're free to see yourself as a prisoner.
That is the depth of the freedom.
That you are so free that you are free to imagine yourself as not free.
If you didn't have that freedom,
Then you wouldn't be free.
My goodness,
That opens the door.
And to peek behind that door,
It points towards why everything is the way that it is,
Because everything is free.
People are allowed,
People are free to see themselves as imprisoned and see others as their masters.
Because they're free.
They're free to be confused and then try and take freedom from others.
Because they're free.
People are allowed to go to war.
People are allowed to judge,
To condemn,
To be violent.
Because everything is free.
Do you see the moment you have somebody stand up in the middle and say,
Everyone has to be nice?
No more freedom.
Isn't that interesting?
Because that's what we do as human beings.
In our attempt to decide how everyone should be,
We're just denying freedom.
We want to strip other people's freedom so that we can be free.
And here's the beautiful thing is,
You're allowed to try.
But how's it going?
Probably what you discover is that no matter how much you try and take freedom from others,
It doesn't actually make you free.
Because that's not where real freedom is.
Do you see this in our human exploration?
In our search for freedom?
In our search for the one thing that we're actually looking for?
We are allowed to go looking for it in the most wild of places,
In the most impossible of places where we will never find it,
Where it will never work.
But yet we're free to try.
Do you see that everything in life is free to be what it is?
Free to be confused.
Free to love,
Free to hate.
And no matter how much you try to get hold of it,
No matter how many laws you put into place,
You still seem to get the same perceived chaos of people doing whatever they do.
And of course,
That's the fear,
Isn't it?
If everyone's just free,
It'll be madness.
Everyone's already free.
Here's the thing,
Though.
Here's the thing,
And I'm gonna approach this very slowly,
Because I find it to be incredibly profound.
In a space where everyone is free,
Do you see that the only ones who cause what we'll call real harm are the ones who think they are not free?
Can you see that if you really saw how free you were,
It would be impossible to be violent to anyone else?
So free that I don't need you to be this way or be that way.
I don't need you to give me this or give me that.
I'm already free.
Which is interesting,
Because in the freedom that I recognize that I am comes with an extension of freedom to everyone else.
In fact,
In order for me to truly be free,
I have to first let everyone else be free.
Because the moment I don't let somebody else be free,
I am now their prisoner.
That's an interesting dynamic.
Imagine you have a prison cell and you start making everyone your prisoner.
Do you see that you now have to spend all your time making sure your prisoners don't escape?
Do you see how that makes you a prisoner of your prisoners?
Do you see how your prisoners are now your masters?
And you thought you were becoming free?
That's not freedom.
We are so adorable.
The truth will set you free.
What is the truth?
You know,
It's been said 1000 different times in 1000 different ways,
But the truth cannot be spoken.
And this is maybe important to acknowledge,
Because in a worldly sense,
Human beings adamantly believe that the truth can be spoken.
They believe the truth is a sentence.
Again,
It opens another door of exploration that we won't go down today.
But I invite you to be open to acknowledge the difference.
The difference,
Whereas human beings believe the truth is a matter of worldly facts,
Or opinions about what was or will be.
Or a projected meaning that the truth is,
It means this,
Or it means that.
This is all product of the imagination,
Projected onto the world and perceived to really be there.
But it just exists in the mind.
The truth is what is real.
In our fascination with the mind's content.
It's where we hold everything dear.
That is also what makes up the chain that binds us.
Which is to say,
Everything that we are fearfully holding on to.
Everything we fear the loss of is to fear something in the mind.
While we confuse it as something that's real.
And it's not something I'm interested in arguing about.
Because for the one who can't see it,
Then maybe they just can't see it.
But maybe I can just plant the seed.
And then one day it will be a holy shit moment.
I'm not afraid of anything in reality.
I'm only afraid of the content in my mind.
Which if that is seen,
Makes you question your entire human experience.
Because so much of our human experience is tossed around by fear.
With the assumption that we are afraid of something that's real.
In this realization is an invitation to see something profound about the circle of life that you're swimming in.
Something profound about reality.
What is actually real.
Which is also what is actually happening.
Beyond what you imagine to be happening.
Which is also what actually happened beyond what you think happened.
To see that the past is not the past.
The future is not the future.
This reminds me,
In a silly way,
Waking up from the matrix.
You perceive a world that you think is there.
And then one day you open your eyes and say holy shit.
It's all a dream.
It's not real.
And for the one in the dream,
That sounds like nonsense.
Because to them it's real.
And the fact that you no longer believe in the dream,
To them,
You're perceived as an enemy.
As a weirdo.
What do you mean you're not bothered by all of these things going on in the world?
What's wrong with you?
You should be upset.
You should be triggered.
You should be suffering.
And from their perspective,
It makes sense.
Which is like saying,
If I was in your shoes,
Yeah,
I'd probably feel that way.
But I don't see the same thing.
Which is wild,
Because in a way that points to a profound truth.
I don't see the same thing that you see.
My goodness.
And what a freedom in that.
To see a love in beauty,
And not need to see something else because it makes somebody else uncomfortable.
Which is like having love,
Compassion,
And forgiveness in your heart for all that is,
And then people think you're crazy.
How could you just love everything?
How could you just forgive everyone?
How could you just allow the world to be the world?
As if God knows what God is doing.
As if this is all brilliantly just designed.
As if this is a real miracle.
As if only love is real.
Because that's what I see.
And you're completely free to see something else.
Let's not delude ourselves though.
Because this freedom has a cost.
And most people,
Understandably in the confusion,
Are unwilling to pay the price.
In fact,
Any time we don't feel free is because we're not willing to pay the price.
And at the same time,
I can confidently say that the freedom is free.
How could that be?
The freedom is free,
But there's a cost?
Let me explain.
In order to be with this freedom,
Which is the same as saying,
In order to be with what is real,
You have to be willing to surrender and give up what is unreal.
But the good news is,
You're essentially giving up nothing because it's unreal.
It's an imaginary cost.
But the more you think it's real,
The more painful it is to give up.
We torture ourselves as human beings.
And there's so much compassion for this self-inflicted pain.
Because it arises through an ignorance.
Almost to say that we don't really know,
But it might also be true that we are simply ignoring.
Because this truth,
This freedom,
Is an innate aspect of what you are.
It is the truth of what you are.
It is what's real about what you are.
And we become hypnotized by the allure of the mind's images.
So much so,
That we ignore the truth of the matter.
We can actually illustrate this beautifully in a couple ways,
If I can remember them as I'm thinking about them now.
Do you understand the allure behind being dishonest?
Think about that for a second.
We all have that experience of being drawn to be dishonest.
Being drawn to be dishonest means you're being lured into dishonesty.
What is the allure of dishonesty?
Of not allowing the truth to be the truth.
Why would we do that?
You're being lured in through a promise of power and control.
If I'm dishonest,
Then I can have power and I can have control.
Every human being has had this experience.
And furthermore,
Every human being has this experience every single day.
It exists on a scale from minor to major.
In fact,
I would even go so far as to say,
Whenever you feel emotionally disturbed,
There's some aspect of this going on.
Because to be emotionally disturbed,
In some way,
Your attempt to maintain power and control is being threatened.
The thing you've been lured into.
And now we're throwing a fit over losing it.
And in this illustration of being lured into dishonesty,
It's the same thing as saying being lured into not being yourself.
Being lured into not being sincere.
Being lured into hiding aspects of your authenticity.
Why?
Because you're afraid of being judged,
Which is a form of trying to maintain control over how other people see you.
As you attempt to maintain this image of yourself,
Which is an image of someone who has power and is in control,
You might find different words for it,
But essentially the same thing.
We are always lured by an image of ourselves,
Which is to be lured by the ego.
This is simply a mechanism in which human beings learn.
There's no human being that escapes this.
It's almost like saying there's no human being who has never lied to some degree.
Even to doubt is a form of being lured.
So you could go so far as to say there's no human being that has never doubted.
And I say that to make the point that this is all okay.
It's all part of the process,
Because naturally the mind always wants to turn this into an issue of right and wrong,
An issue of innocence and guilt,
Which is simply the same mechanism playing out.
And it's not that at all.
It's simply the way of things.
Beautifully,
It's a way of illustrating the choice that we discover that we have.
Just as we have discovered the beauty and value in living honestly,
You discover that through the pain that comes with the opposite.
Do you see this?
It's almost like,
And it's a silly example,
But maybe it illustrates the point.
Through your freedom to touch a hot stove,
You discover a pain that invites you to not touch hot things.
So you are now free to not touch hot things.
Do you see the learning?
You find out for yourself how this all works.
But in order to find out for yourself,
You have to be free to touch hot things.
In order to find the beauty in living honestly,
You have to have the freedom to live dishonestly.
Do you see that in the willingness to be honest,
You're sacrificing what's being held on to?
Is that obvious?
And can you see what is being sacrificed is an idealized image of yourself?
That wants to appear in control,
Powerful,
Better than.
There is a sacrifice of the ego in order to be honest,
Which is a letting go of mental content and returning to what is real,
Letting what is real be real.
While sacrificing the things we hold on to in the imagination,
Which will always revolve around the imagination of who you think you are,
Which is the same as ego.
It will be the sacrifice of your imaginary sense of separate self-importance so that you can allow the authenticity of what you are to be the authenticity of what you are,
Which is to allow what is real to be what is real,
Which is to allow the truth to be the truth.
Isn't that what you crave most?
I wish I could just be myself.
I wish that when I'm sad,
It's OK that I'm sad.
I wish that when I'm happy,
It's OK that I'm happy.
I wish that I didn't have to hide so much.
I wish I could listen to what is alive and authentic within me.
And why do we not?
Very simply because we are protecting that idea of ourselves.
Another way of saying it is we fear judgment,
Which is saying we fear how others will perceive us,
Which is saying I want to control how other people see me,
Which is the desire for power,
Which is the attempt to make everyone else your prisoner,
Which is to turn everyone else into your master.
And isn't that what it feels like?
My goodness.
Is it really OK for me to be me?
Well,
My dear,
You're the only one who says it's not.
Life has already given you permission because in life,
In reality,
Please see this.
In the immediacy of right now,
In what is real and true,
There is nothing that says you can't be you.
Even if somebody else,
Your neighbor or a partner,
That says you're not allowed to be you,
You're the one who agrees.
So it's you.
You give authority to all of those voices.
And you think it's somebody else telling you.
No,
It's not.
Well,
If I just be me,
I don't know what they're going to do.
Welcome to life.
It's called the unknown.
And the unknown is what's true.
But if I pretend to be what they want me to be,
Then I have a better idea of what they're going to do.
Yeah,
That's called wanting control and power.
And so you will deny yourself the authenticity of yourself in order to have this illusion of control and power.
And as you cling to that,
Your soul will starve.
So what do you want?
Do you want to be liberated and come home to what's real and true?
Or do you want to make sure that the world likes you?
That the world does what you want so you can have what you think is so important in the world.
So you can be seen as special.
And find out that even that is not enough.
And find out how unreal that is.
How that too will never satisfy.
You see,
In this quest of chasing all of these things,
What you're ultimately going to come to find is that what you want is what is real.
This is our craving for authenticity.
You see this in our desires around relationships.
What do we crave?
Something real.
Something authentic.
Something present.
Something loving.
These are all reflections of what is true.
You think you can have what is real and true while you chase the unreal?
It doesn't work that way.
It doesn't work that way.
This is how we live in opposition to the truth.
We try and make things how we want them to be but that's not the way things are.
Because the way things are are already brilliantly set up.
This whole thing has already been perfectly designed.
Isn't that interesting how we come into this experience assuming that life made up of these things life doesn't know what it's doing and if only life did what we think it should do then it would be better?
That's pretty wild.
And a bit arrogant.
As if you could see the totality of what's happening behind the scenes.
You want to try and organize all of that?
You want to keep the stars right where they are?
You want to time the arrival of each new season?
You want to organize the trillions of cells in your body?
The 10,
000 different things in the forest?
All so this life can be life?
You think there's a mistake somewhere?
Or are you just obsessed with who you think you are?
And trying to get what you think you want in the world?
Not seeing how ephemeral it all is.
How illusionary it all is.
Not seeing that you already have everything.
You already have everything that is real.
You were born with it.
And you will take it with you until your last breath.
You're not missing anything that's real.
Isn't that interesting?
We just imagine things are missing?
That's a great exercise.
And really see that.
We imagine things are missing and then we believe in the imagination.
We see it as so.
Therefore it feels as so.
Just because it feels that way doesn't mean it is that way.
My goodness.
What a ride that was.
Thanks for hanging out with me.
