Society often talks about freedom; freedom of speech, personality, choice and many others. Everyone talks, but not everyone understands what it is - freedom.
But what exactly does this freedom consist of and does it mean that a free person should not be responsible for his freedom? It is these questions that we decided to discuss at our next round table.
Freedom, like any abstract concept, will evoke its own ideas and thoughts in each person.
In my opinion, freedom is not an external, but an internal state. For example, you can be married, but feel like a free person, free in the sense that you have the right to your opinion, your time, etc. And vice versa, being outwardly a free person, internally it was as if he himself had built a fence around himself from various prohibitions and beliefs.
Freedom is something that cannot be taken away from us and given to us without our desire. Freedom is an internal state!
Freedom is inextricably linked with responsibility; a person cannot be truly free if he does not take responsibility for his life, if he shifts it to people or circumstances.
Figuratively speaking, “I have the right to any action, thought and feeling, but for each of them I myself am responsible, I am responsible for what I do or do not do.”
Therefore, responsibility is one of the criteria of freedom!
Let us feel free and responsible for our lives!
Freedom of speech is when a society allows its members to express their thoughts. Provided that these statements do not offend other people, that this is not a threat, that this is respect.
If there is no freedom of speech in a society, then people become closed and aggressive. If in society freedom of speech is understood as freedom to say stupid things, then society becomes stupid.
Freedom of speech is not a choice of an individual, it is a choice of society.
In general, I don’t really understand such general questions. They can be discussed endlessly, but there will be no result. Or it will be abstract, like the question itself.
Hello, dear readers, colleagues.
Being a free person means taking full responsibility for what happens in my life; for what has already happened in my life: how I live now, who and what surrounds me, how satisfied I am with what I have, how healthy and happy I am. Take full responsibility for the kind of life I am already creating for myself in the future, as they say, what goes around comes around: if you sow a lie, you will receive betrayal; sow greed - get poverty; sow indifference - get loneliness and so on. And in this understanding of freedom there is a lot of freedom of action, freedom of choice, freedom to live as I like and according to my laws - freedom to create my life without fear and reproach and without regard to other people’s opinions, but at the same time fitting harmoniously into the community of people and wisely using available social resources for your own benefit and sincerely sharing what you have achieved with others.
The more truly free people there are, the safer, more interesting and richer life is.
We are all initially FREE in our choice.
We are all responsible for our lives.
However, there are those who recognize their freedom and responsibility, and those who, for some reason, do not.
Freedom and responsibility are strongly interconnected.
From the recognition that ONLY YOU are responsible for YOUR life, and ONLY for your life! give you the FREEDOM to dispose of it as you wish, and not to waste energy on limiting the freedom of another person to one degree or another.
However, it is important to remember that FREEDOM OF CHOICE is the most precious thing a person has, we are endowed with this from birth. We are always free to CHOOSE. This is why it is so important to respect the freedom of choice of another person.
We make one CHOICE or another every day. Even leaving everything the same is a choice. Even thinking that we are not free IS a CHOICE.
An interesting observation: those people who recognize their freedom and responsibility usually show respect for the freedom of choice of other people, they do not impose their opinions, they always strive to give responsibility to a person for his life, but those who do not themselves recognize their freedom strive for this freedom limit others, and they also like to shift responsibility.
Only the recognitionthat you yourself created everything,what do you have in your life now?and attracted all events (responsibility),give you the opportunityit is ALL Change (freedom).
- Dependencies can be natural, such as food, sleep, clothing, etc.
- There are unnecessary addictions, for example, smoking, since it is not a natural activity for a person, but an acquired one.
- The human desire for freedom is the maximum desire to free ourselves from a greater number of dependencies with all our might. The desire for freedom is a good desire to be better.
I agree, the topic is philosophical. Everyone has their own measure of freedom. For one it is the freedom to speak the truth to the face of another, for another it is freedom of choice, and for the third it is a mirage, a pipe dream.
Freedom and responsibility, from my point of view, are interdependent concepts. The more free you are, the more responsibility you have.
But I am closer to the definition of freedom as “freedom want". This is the ability to choose a dress not because Armani or Dior showed this year “what you need to want,” but because I like it and it suits me. But, definitely, you will have to answer for your desire. At least before the “fashion verdict”:- )
The freedom to be yourself in general is a very unpopular thing these days. Standards, goals, images are hung in front of the population.
And that's the whole point! There is a huge difference between the phrases “I need to be successful” and “I want to be successful.” The second phrase exudes freedom, the first social conjuncture. Thus, I would also correlate the word freedom with the word " individuality".
And the last binding, freedom and life. I think that while a person is alive, he develops one or another measure of freedom. And only death does not need freedom.
For each person, the concept of “freedom” has its own meaning. For example, to be a free person means:
Be free from prejudice.
Be free from other people's opinions.
Be free from insults and criticism.
Don't be afraid of being misunderstood.
To be open.
To be the first - the first to make contact, the first to smile, the first to start a conversation, the first to express feelings.
Be free in your choice.
You can add to this the 5 FREEDOMS of Virginia Satir:
1. Freedom to see and hear what exists in the present moment here and now, and not what should be, was or will be.
2. Freedom to express what you think and feel, and not what others expect from you.
3. Freedom to feel what you feel, and not pretend.
4. Freedom to ask when you need something rather than waiting for permission.
5. Freedom to take responsibility, to take risks, rather than choosing safety and not daring to do anything differently.
Liberty , This word, term, from time immemorial, has excited the great minds of mankind, and in the works of various thinkers one can find their own definition of this phenomenon. Much of these definitions will depend on the individual's personal characteristics and the many factors involved in the description.
Homo sapiens, in his quest to become free, has traveled such a long path of evolution that it seems that the fortress is about to collapse; whether this will actually be possible can only be known in the future, perhaps not as distant as it seems.
Freedom is a washed-out term that has absolutely lost its meaning in modern society. And everyone will give their own definition. But not everyone thinks about this. Maybe he is free who does not go into discussions about freedom? It seems to me that as soon as a person begins to think about freedom, it means that now something or someone is making him unfree. The concepts of freedom and unfreedom are connected with each other much stronger than it seems at first glance. For me, the main questions here are: how does a person make himself unfree and why? Sometimes a person cannot afford freedom and it is much calmer to be in some lack of freedom. The main thing is not to confuse lack of freedom and a feeling of attachment, the presence of connections with things and people.
The term Freedom has a rather vague definition and therefore, everyone who encounters it often has a subjective understanding. To begin with, let us note that there is external freedom, when someone either allows us something or limits it, and internal freedom, when we allow or limit it ourselves. Sometimes it happens that external and internal freedom coincide, then we have a complete scattering of thoughts and actions, but this marginal action can be avoided by having clear boundaries, which include responsibility for what we do or do not do. We allow or limit. It happens that external freedom dominates internal freedom and then we are faced with the limitations of our own capabilities and self-realization. We constantly find a stone in an empty place and thereby justify our inaction. But sometimes internal freedom prevails over external freedom, and here we see the syndrome of a revolutionary, such a pioneer who seeks the meaning of life in rebellion. And the last case is that there is neither external nor internal freedom - the so-called permanent security zone. Where everything is always peaceful and calm. No creativity or creativity. Everything is within the established rules! And in the end I would like to say that the main thing in freedom is the ability to be who you are, i.e. To be youreself! And then both external and internal freedom will be synchronized and balanced!
Freedom is a theoretical concept, it cannot be touched, touched, smelled - it is something indefinite.
After all, we cannot give a clear definition of this phenomenon and say that freedom is this or that. It seems to me that few people can feel free. Since a truly free person is considered independent of either external or internal factors. Where can freedom come from in a world in which all existing phenomena are interconnected with each other and there is not a single being that is absolutely independent of anything?
For example, a child from birth depends on his mother, the mother, in turn, is attached to the child and is no longer free to manage her time as she would like, etc. A person depends on the society in which he lives, on a small and global scale, from the country to the working conditions. That is, it is possible to make a contrast between freedom and dependence. That is, a person is free to the extent that he has no dependencies of various kinds. This seems unrealistic to me. But this is if we talk about freedom in the global sense of the word - that is, in my opinion, this is an illusion that comes from the fact that a person thinks that he himself decides his own destiny and is free from any external and internal influences. That is, to paraphrase, we can say that a person is born so free that he is able to choose the degree of his slavery.
But in a more subjective sense, freedom seems more real when there is freedom from fear, and the most important human fear is the fear of death. Since, feeling the acceptance of death as an inevitable factor in any life, a person accepts life itself in the full degree of its freedom, which implies, first of all, openness to what is happening, acceptance of all aspects of life. Openness to yourself, your fears and complexes. Then there is an opportunity to see them closer and free yourself from them. Freedom is, first of all, to be natural, that is, to live in harmony with oneself, with the world. Live according to the dictates of your soul, so to speak, go your own way and be free from any prejudices, patterns, etc..
Of course, realizing his choice, a person accordingly accepts responsibility for it. Learning to hear and listen to yourself is the true freedom of a person. After all, a truly free person is a person without borders
“Man is free to be himself or to hide behind a façade, to move forward or backward, to act as a destructive destroyer of himself and others or to make himself and others stronger—he is literally free to live or die.” (K. Rogers) Wonderful words! Every person is free to choose his own path in life, because it is not for nothing that the Lord gave us this freedom. Only one thing is often forgotten. Responsibility for the choice always lies with the person himself! We ourselves choose our life partners, wives and husbands, and the person himself makes the choice to continue living with the one who beats and bullies or to leave. The problem of loneliness is often addressed. “Only married people are drawn to me,” I hear from clients... Or maybe, unconsciously, of course, the woman herself makes a choice in favor of just such a relationship? It’s easier this way and there’s no responsibility! And the task is to “realize” your unconscious choice and make another, conscious one! I always tell my clients: nothing will happen until you yourself want it." And this is also about the issue of freedom. Freedom to be yourself, freedom to be happy. How I want to live my life, who I want to be with, what I I want from life! A person is free to choose... The main thing is not to forget about the price... and in conclusion I want to quote one of my favorite poems, it seems to me that it is about freedom:
Everyone chooses a woman, a religion, a path for themselves.
To serve the devil or the prophet - everyone chooses for himself.
Everyone chooses their own word for love and prayer.
Everyone chooses a sword for a duel, a sword for battle.
Everyone chooses for themselves.
Shield and armor, staff and patches,
Everyone chooses the measure of final retribution for themselves.
Everyone chooses for themselves. I also choose - as best I can.
I have no complaints against anyone.
Everyone chooses for themselves.
An interesting question: are you a free person? Someone will say... yes, I'm free. But when he thinks about it, he will understand whether I’m really free. More precisely, what is freedom? Freedom is when a person is not tied to anything, and at any moment has the opportunity to do as he wants. Is this really so, and upon reflection, everyone will probably say no. No person on earth is absolutely free, we depend on family, work, environment. But if we speak in a high sense of the meaning of this word, then freedom is what is inside you, how you feel about yourself. That is, if you feel free, then you will bring this feeling into your life. Human freedom is a philosophical question, everyone will answer in their own way! As the song says, I am free, like a bird in the sky, I am free, I have forgotten what fear means! Can every person say that? Question and ellipsis......
Due to the fact that this is still a psychological portal, I think it is necessary to separate the concept of socio-political rights and freedoms from the psychological category of Freedom. These are slightly different things. As you know, the concept of Freedom is one of the key ones in existential psychology and psychotherapy. And it concludes:
First of all, freedom of a person to create his own life path ,
- human freedom to will, choose and act ;
And most importantly, from the point of view of psychotherapy, change .
In this sense, we are simply doomed to be Free. And Freedom is inseparable from Responsibility. Responsibility actually means authorship.
Being aware of your responsibility means to be aware of the creation by oneself of one’s “I”, one’s destiny, one’s troubles in life, one’s feelings, as well as one’s suffering, if any. But at the same time, we are responsible not only for actions, but also for our inaction, for refusing choices, from the opportunities that our Life offers us.
But often, instead of accepting this responsibility, a person gives up his freedom, replacing it with the desire to persistently blame other people or forces for his failures. And this search for those responsible often drags on for many years.
And this is precisely the case of a child’s idea of Freedom, the motto of which is the following: “It’s not me who is like this, this is Life like this”..." It is they: parents, educators, teachers, bosses, the world who are guilty of the fact that I am like this." ...
"Freedom comes through choice" - this is the main thesis, in my opinion. I can have almost limitless potential, theoretically master a lot of professions, visit many places, but if I don’t choose what of all this wealth I will realize at the moment, no movement will happen.
Freedom in this case will remain imaginary, it will be more likely thoughts and conversations about freedom, and not freedom itself. In this sense, making a choice is my responsibility, my way to realize my freedom in real life .
Also, in order to be fully free, paradoxically, it is important to understand the real boundaries of my personal freedom:
1.Temporal boundaries . There are 24 hours in a day, and no matter how much I want, there won’t be 48 or 72 of them. I can fill them with anything, but from this it is already clear that there is no smell of limitlessness here - there is a finite number of activities that I can do for this time. But the content of my day is already a matter of my responsibility.
2. Spatial boundaries - are closely related to the first point. I can't be in two places at once. I choose where to be and what to do.
3. Relationship boundaries - the most controversial point. Here the range of opinions is the widest, from limitless possibilities to acceptance of anything and everything. In my opinion, mine “freedom ends where the freedom of another begins” - Then there is no longer any arbitrariness, there is only dialogue and mutual agreements.
I can fall in love with a girl and make every effort to win her favor - this is my zone of freedom and responsibility. But I can not force to love herself is already a question of her freedom. Despite all my efforts, I may not receive reciprocal love.
And here lies a great danger - a person with ideas of unlimited freedom often begins to look for flaws in himself in such cases - after all, he is responsible for everything! Means Always must get the result that it was aimed at, otherwise something is wrong with it. These kinds of ideas in cognitive psychotherapy are called irrational - for their unrealism and dogmatism.
If I realize the real boundaries of my freedom and responsibility, I understand that I do not have to please everyone, but at the same time I realize that there is an area of my real capabilities - and within this area I make every effort to achieve my dreams.
And lastly, to the question of “does it mean that a free person should not be responsible for his freedom?” - in my opinion, a free person cannot but bear responsibility for his choice, at least in the form of readiness to receive the consequences of this choice. If this is not so, there is no freedom, the person simply avoids situations that have significant consequences for him, is engaged in self-restraint and, of course, is not free.
The question, it seems to me, has one more facet - should a person necessarily experience a feeling of guilt if he did not get the result that he wanted. But here the answer is different - no, not necessarily. The feeling of guilt arises rather from an insufficient understanding of one’s real boundaries and the presence of ideas of omnipotence. If I realize the scope of my real, and not imaginary, capabilities, if I receive an undesirable result, I simply “work on my mistakes,” clarifying my personal contribution to the situation. The tools here can be very diverse - self-analysis, psychological counseling, personal psychotherapy, supervision and many others.
Thus, we move away from the simple dichotomy “I am free - I am not free” and get a real idea of our capabilities.
To feel like a free person, the most important prerequisite is to live together with people who love life. It is conveyed without any words or explanations and, of course, without any sermons about loving life. Freedom finds its expression in behavior rather than in ideas, in the tone of voice rather than in words. It is felt in the general atmosphere of a person or group, and not in certain principles and rules by which they organize their lives. Among warm, loving contacts with people during childhood; freedom and non-threat, teaching principles that lead to inner spiritual strength, by example rather than by moral teaching; introduction to the "art of living"; lively exchange with other people and an arrangement of life determined by genuine interests.
Freedom can be physical and spiritual (or psychological). Physical freedom from bondage and “golden” cages. Psychological freedom is independence in one’s feelings, desires, goals and expectations.
It is possible to raise an independent person. To do this, parents must maintain adequate self-esteem for the child, trust the child and give him maximum independence. An independent (free) person is responsible for his own life, for his choices, for his own affairs.
In freedom there is strength and flight of fancy,
Space for thoughts, creativity of the soul...
She does not tolerate overt relationships,
Her palace is in the rapturous wilderness!
But there is no freedom if fear is in power.
She is a mirage of fear under its wing!
Such “freedom” does not know happiness
In a crystal clear blue sky.
Freedom is vulnerable and vulnerable,
And it's very hard to be free,
After all, life often passes by,
Look, loneliness has come...
In great love its mighty source,
As God's Gift in our hectic age...
Even if you are not always lucky in everything,
But only in freedom is a person happy!
Kuvaev Sergey
When a person is in harmony with happiness and unhappiness, with innocence and guilt, with health and illness, with life and death, new opportunities open up for him. Thanks to this consent, he receives knowledge and strength, he receives freedom.
A parable that explains the principle of such agreement.
The student asked the sage: “Tell me, what is freedom?”
“What freedom? - answered the sage. — Freedom comes in different forms.
First freedom- stupidity. She is like a horse that, rearing up, throws off its rider. Because of this, the horse will then have to feel the rider’s firm hand on him more strongly.
Second freedom- repentance. She is like a helmsman who remains on a sinking ship instead of going into the lifeboat.
AND third freedom- cognition. She comes to us after stupidity and repentance. She is like a stem that sways in the wind, but does not break because it is flexible.”
"And it's all?" - the student was surprised.
Then the sage answered him: “Others believe that it is they themselves who seek the truth in their souls. But it is the Big Soul that thinks and seeks through them.Like nature, it can allow itself to be mistaken; it continuously and effortlessly replaces bad players with new ones. To the same person who allows her to think, she provides some freedom of action and, like a swimmer who allows himself to be carried by the river, brings him to the shore with common efforts.”
Good day everyone!
A very interesting topic - freedom! Yes, of course, this is a whole philosophy: you can argue long and floridly. I would like to talk about the origins of that inner freedom that, in my opinion, makes a person happy and self-sufficient. Now the baby is born and as he grows, he increasingly has the opportunity to take some action of his choice. And then... the adult nearby determines what and how the child needs to do for his own good. Of course, you need to take into account the safety aspect and try to create the safest possible environment in advance, and then give the little person the opportunity to determine and choose the area of research. At this stage, it is very important for adults to be patient and add responsibility to the possibility of choice without comment (well, I told you so, well, what did I get, etc.).
I would not like to talk about freedom as a social, philosophical category. I won’t bring the word “spirituality” into this topic either, since its meaning is not very clear to me.
I would like to talk about freedom as a basic value in the direction of psychotherapy in which I work.
I am sure that we can only live when we choose. Otherwise, the retained energy from the lack of freedom of choice makes our life dead. In this case, I do not consider choice as an assessment and rational approach to different alternatives. I consider choice as a mental act, absolutely holistic, not based on any grounds.
Such an act is necessarily accompanied by anxiety. And freedom lies precisely in not avoiding this anxiety, but experiencing it, having the courage to remain in it, to manage your life in it. It is at the moment when we begin to justify and evaluate our choice that we lose freedom.
I resonate with the position of Anastasia Vladimirovna Sapozhnikova, who asks the question “How does a person make himself unfree and for what?” This is both a human and professional issue. And it seems to me that trying to rationalize, philosophize about your choice is one of the ways to avoid anxiety, a way not to worry about your choice, and therefore not to be free.
As for responsibility, even here in our time a person has no freedom. From early childhood, we are all told about responsibility, and society has long been making a choice for us in this sense: responsibility is an obligation towards one’s life. It is cruel to call for responsibility on people who are already obliged to bear this responsibility based on their upbringing, the requirements of society, and laws. Where is the choice, where is the freedom? I'm not surprised that many people try to avoid this responsibility.
Freedom can only appear when responsibility is not a duty, but a right. What is most interesting is that as soon as a person realizes responsibility as a right (the public is in panic, this is a duty!!!), the person begins to feel his own internal ethical code, trust in which is the main regulator of relationships.
Freedom is not expressed in responsibility as an obligation, it is expressed in responsibility as an opportunity and a right.
Regarding this, the parable about stupidity, repentance and knowledge, told by Beshiga Alena Valentinovna, resonates with me. Yes, nature can allow itself to be mistaken, it tries, it searches, it lives. There are only two options left for us. We trust her, and live, experiencing existential anxiety, but remaining true to ourselves. Either we run away from this anxiety, and lose our freedom to live, hiding behind masks and protecting ourselves with all sorts of concepts regarding ourselves, others and the world as a whole.
The question of freedom is eternally open, not fully defined - it will be significant at all times for a person who is able to realize, desire, achieve goals, and defend his individuality. And the more deeply he realizes himself as a person, internally free, independently thinking, responsible for his actions, a person included in culture, the more acutely he experiences the contradiction between “I am free” and “I am not free.”
Freedom is the spiritual air of man. A culture without freedom is an imaginary culture. An uncultured person usually perceives it as a call to arbitrariness and permissiveness.
Previously, the word freedom was considered as the right to control one’s destiny and was a legal concept. It originally indicated a person born to free parents, not from slaves. But being born free does not mean remaining that way. To stay, you need to know yourself, learn to control yourself, manage your habits (including bad ones). After all, it is freedom that distinguishes a person from an animal. A person is able to break the rigid “stimulus-response” chain that fetters animals. The stimulus can be hunger, sexual desires, etc. If a predator experiences hunger, then we can say that hunger is the predator. The predator is attraction itself. But it’s impossible to talk about a person like that. A person is a being who can always say “no” to his desires and does not have to always say “yes” to them, unless, of course, he has a healthy psyche.
A person can increase the degree of his freedom. The more mentally healthy he becomes, the higher his ability to constructively build his life, the better he is able to manage the potential of freedom that he has. So when a therapist helps a client overcome his personal difficulties, he is actually helping him find greater freedom.
The topic of freedom is very important in therapy, because everyone’s understanding of freedom and their relationship with the world is very individual. In the deep experiences of this concept lies both enormous life potential and inexhaustible anxiety and tension. Freedom is always opportunities - to want, choose and act. And all together means the opportunity to change, which is the goal of our work with clients. It is freedom that provides the necessary strength for changes in life.
“The Apostle said: “Everything is permitted to me, but not everything is beneficial... I can possess everything, but not everything must possess me.” Freedom is limited by the external world, freedom is limited by the inner world of a person, freedom is limited by the person himself. Freedom is not captured, not won, not obtained as a gift, for nothing. Freedom is born in accordance with our internal processes of the soul... You have to pay for everything: for your freedom, for the freedom of others, for safety.
Free is the one who has control over his choice, who is aware of the consequences of his choice and does not look for those to blame when something goes wrong, who is able to bear responsibility for all his decisions. Those. freedom is the state of an adult, mature, cultural personality.
Freedom, if we consider it in a specific psychological, and not a general philosophical sense, is a deeply subjective phenomenon, and this was noted by all the colleagues who spoke.
In the practice of psychological counseling, the question of freedom arises primarily in connection with three topics:
Liberation from various kinds of addictions;
Overcoming codependency;
- depression after divorce/breakup with a loved one.
In each of these cases, behind the unique ways in which work with a particular person occurs, the leitmotif is the person’s discovery of his unique path to liberation. And in each such work, the turning point becomes the one when a person understands that his path to freedom begins not with a change in the prevailing circumstances or the attitude of other people towards him, but with a change in his attitude towards the prevailing circumstances and towards other people. This moment is essentially the discovery of what V. Frankl, in his extraordinary book “Man’s Search for Meaning,” called “the last freedom of man,” which no one and nothing can take away from him.
This “last” freedom, recognized by both the ancient Stoics and modern existentialists, is revealed in Frankl’s narrative through the extremely dramatic content of his autobiographical experience of being in a German concentration camp during the Second World War, “where every detail of camp life was aimed at to deprive the prisoner of the slightest support.”
The prisoners were just average, ordinary people, but some of them proved that man is capable of rising above his external fate. Frankl writes that those who were more likely to survive these inhuman efforts were not those who were physically stronger and healthier, but those who had a very strong human sense for survival. This could be the purpose of finding someone who remained outside the camp, completing a life's work begun, participating in underground anti-fascist work, or helping fellow prisoners.
Helping a person discover his “last”, or rather first, basic, original human freedom, which is the strongest, and sometimes the only support when solving the problem of coping with a difficult life situation - this, by and large, is the main psychotherapeutic task.
Freedom beckons and excites, and its acquisition is usually associated with certain conditions. For example, liberation from something or with the acquisition of any benefits or material values. In most cases, freedom is associated with money. It is enough to receive a certain number of millions, and a person will receive true freedom. Will be able to manage his time and fulfill his desires. But will he be truly free? There are many billionaires in the world and even more - are they free? They devote most of their time to business, worries about how not to lose their acquired wealth. Instead of some worries and fears, others appear. Rich people, as one, say that wealth in itself does not make you happy.
The main obstacle to the search for freedom is desires. It is they who make a person unfree, tormenting him with the lack of opportunity to satisfy them, or driving him onto the path of their implementation. As long as a person has desires, he is not free, and this is the basis of the search for freedom. Moreover, while a person is looking for freedom, he will not find it, because he will be separated from it by the very desire to find it. This is a very subtle and important point that needs to be realized. The desire to gain freedom is necessary, but at some stage you will have to free yourself from it.
But is it possible to free yourself from desires? And what happens if this succeeds? It is possible to free yourself from desires, but it is a very long and truly difficult process. If this succeeds, a person not only gains freedom, he becomes truly happy. The world is no longer obscured from him by the phantasmagoria created by the mind, because the process of thinking stops. Don't be scared by this - try to understand what you think about during the day. You are constantly grinding some events, conversations with someone in your mind, thinking about some completely unimportant things. Imagine that you have lost all the thoughts that you have had since the beginning of this day. Now evaluate whether you really lost something valuable? No. But behind these thoughts, you really missed something very important - a free, unclouded perception of the world. When the internal dialogue stops, a person not only becomes happy, but gains the opportunity to enjoy the world around him. Remember the last time you admired the sky, murmuring water, green foliage, stars? There is simply no time left for this; a person lives his life in a meaningless bustle. Even after making billions of dollars, he still leaves this world the same way he came, without the opportunity to take anything material with him. Realize this moment - the pursuit of a beautiful life, wealth and prosperity really does not give anything. On the contrary, it interferes with a person, obscures true values from him - that for which he came into this world.
So, freedom is really achievable, but for this a person needs to free himself from himself. This is a very difficult process, but it brings a person true wealth - freedom, happiness, awareness of his true divine nature. All the trash of consciousness goes away, falls off like leaves from a tree. Only the true, the present remains. This process is known as enlightenment. Enlightenment is access to a new, higher level of existence. Very often at this level a person exhibits unusual abilities. And this is very logical - now, freed from the ego, he will be able to use them wisely, for the benefit of the world around him.
Do you consider yourself a free person? What do you mean by this concept? It is quite possible that you are mistaken due to the wrong opinion that modern society has implanted in us since childhood. Let's break down who a real free person is.
A free person is devoid of fear of other people, he never considers his own from the perspective of the problem. No, he uses communication to its fullest, inspiring people to work.
He is a leader who is followed. Of course, he is always open to others, he can hear those who need it. But this does not mean that he will please everyone, only when it coincides with his plans.
A free person can always modernize his values and desires if he sees benefit in a new idea. Therefore, we can say that such a person is not biased and is not limited to his own little world.
Naturally, no material values have power over her. And this gives her additional freedom. A free person will not resolve disputes by force; there is no need for this: the main “weapon” is negotiations, in which he wins.
He can calmly spend his time and energy to find a way out of a difficult situation. A free person will never resort to deception or threats; on the contrary, such a person will interest people, and they themselves will go to resolve the conflict.
10 unique “commandments” were derived. Perhaps you should take note of them and introduce them into your life.
- My behavior and all its consequences are entirely my responsibility. I understand perfectly well what is bad and what is good.
- I have every right to leave my actions without explanation or apology. This is my choice and I have my reasons for it.
- Only I can determine the degree of my responsibility in relation to other people. Those around me are also not constrained in their choice, and any of their actions is their decision.
- I have the power to change my mind at any time. Again, no one has the right to tell me or allow me to.
- If I do it, then it is my right. I am not ideal and therefore I may well do the wrong thing. However, my mistakes are my experience.
- Like any real person, I cannot know absolutely everything. Therefore, at any moment you can hear me say “I don’t know!”
- I don't depend on other people's attitude towards me. The most important thing is my own attitude towards myself and it is excellent!
- If you don't see the logic in my actions and decisions, that's your problem. I know better what to do.
- I can say at any time that I do not understand my interlocutor. I don't need to pretend.
- I will never depend on other people's fashion and hobbies. If I like something, I will bring it into my life.
Watch this video right now
Let's start with the postulate that the goal (and criterion for evaluating activities) of all humanitarian disciplines is human morality, an attempt to cognize it and then an attempt to increase it in a person.
Unlike natural science and technical disciplines (where morality is not abolished, but is simply put out of brackets), a humanitarian discipline that does not strive to achieve the ideal of morality is either nonsense or a crime.
Why did the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates so attack the sophists of his time? Because the Sophists, being representatives of the humanities, nevertheless taught immorality. That is, they taught that anything can be proven and disproved - they say, it’s a matter of technology and the money of the person paying. If the sophists were only artisans, Socrates would not attack them. The difference in class does not allow challenging people to a duel. But the sophists dared to stand on an equal footing with philosophers - they also began to prove that “everything is relative” - ontologically - “according to the nature of things”... This fashionable thought among philosophers is a childhood disease of postmodernism, manifesting itself in every era and in every century.
So, the goal of any humanitarian discipline is morality and its affirmation.
What is considered moral? What is the cornerstone of morality, checking for its presence or absence in your activities?
Over centuries of long reflections and instant divine insights, collective discussions and solitary studies, all thinkers and practitioners, more or less, in different ways, came to a common opinion:
What is moral is what leads a person to freedom;
Immoral is something that either ontologically denies the value of freedom or superficially - simply deprives you of it in one way or another, without high reasoning.
So, to the simple question “What is morality?” You can give a simple answer: “Morality is freedom.” Or: “Morality is what sets you free.”
Thus, freedom, which has become one of the classical categories of ethics (ethics is the doctrine of morality) can no longer be barked at by any fool, it has a mandate. But this is only on paper. In practice, we were born into this world to defend freedom, which is trampled upon by all and sundry every second. That's the “goal of the game.”
Science psychology and morality
With the science of psychology, everything is very complicated. As one very stupid but catchy song says, psychology is a half-breed. Half horse, half gateway.
Being partly a humanitarian discipline, psychology is obliged to defend morality, that is, freedom.
But partly being a discipline and a natural science, psychology can afford to take the problem of morality out of the equation.
This double situation has a very detrimental effect on the moral state of psychologists themselves. Thus, the entire science of psychology has long become similar to a certain Hogwarts, where under one roof, next to the brave and honest Gryffindors who defend the Good, they quite legally exist and eat in the same dining room - cunning and vile Slytherins, almost all of them boasting of friendship and service with Voldemort. What should I do? Only a big war will end this ambiguity. But Hogwarts will never be the same...
And now - to the point. If the balance of power is clear, it’s time to take you into the arsenal and show you the weapon with which you, the humanitarians, will fight.
We have already learned that “what is moral is what makes a person free.” What makes a person free? Or let's ask the question differently:
What makes a person unfree?
What does it look like, our “prison”?
The answer to this question has also been found a long time ago - by entire generations of thinkers who agree with each other.
I won’t torture you for a long time, I’ll tell you the secret right away (although there is no secret here).
Freedom always lies in “timelessness.” Timelessness is freedom. Feeling outside of a specific time. The person who is in timelessness is not connected by anything with “his time” - he is free.
Time is our strong invisible prison. Time as such in general and Fractional Time - with all its consequences.
Slavery of age
You can be a slave to your particular age. This means that you are a slave of time. (You, a slave of time, immediately have “responsibilities” to your age. Every day you hear: either “it’s too early for you”, then “it’s too late for you”, then “when will you, finally, all your friends have long been ...").
Slavery "Generations"
You can be a slave to your “Generation”. This also means that you are a slave of time. (You have responsibilities to your generation).
Slavery Era
You can be a slave to your era. And this also means that you are a slave of time. (You have responsibilities to your era in which you happen to live. Even if the era is stupid, criminal or simply mediocre and they will laugh at it and despise it in some 50 years - having found yourself in this era by the fact of being born in it, you you will be “obliged” to slavishly follow all her stupid instructions and pretend that you believe in all her most idiotic prejudices).
In slavery to fashion
You can be a slave to a school, a direction, a trend, a fashion, a trend, a fad. This, of course, also means that you are a slave of time - a slave of the Temporary... (You have responsibilities to fashion and often, having given it everything, you die with it).
Freedom and Maturity
How can we not be in slavery to Time? Very simple! Need to become As a Mature Person. This is freedom.
I will give an example from ordinary, “school” developmental psychology, because even the most inhumane and indifferent psychologists nevertheless know very well how we can become happy.
In developmental psychology there is a doctrine of “age stages”, “age-related characteristics” and “age-related crises”.
Age stages (more or less the same) are listed by all scientists as follows:
from 0 to one year,
from one to three years,
<...>puberty<...>
and so on, right up to the approach to one “fatal” feature. If BEFORE this trait, a certain age immediately promised a list of certain obligatory ones: demands, crises and problems - which are as obligatory as chicken pox - then after this fatal trait, age psychology says something like the following:
“And then comes the age of Maturity (if a person really falls into it!) and there are no longer any mandatory requirements, and it can last as long as this age wants, until natural death, and here we cannot say anything - because here the person has already managed build himself and continues to build and he is absolutely free and falls out of our control”...
If at 3 years old a person’s leading need is play, and at 13 years old it is socialization among peers, and you can’t do anything about it, then to the magical age of maturity, attention:
“Man creates his own needs.” This is freedom.
I didn’t come up with this, it’s the formulation of indifferent psychologists who write indifferent textbooks. But they understand (and always say further) that the “age of maturity” is what only a few achieve.
Therefore, the last “slave” age is introduced, the last age crisis – old age. Another “age prison” with all the predictable problems, a “prison” in which those who were unable to literally jump into Maturity, as Buddha managed to jump out (and show the way) into Liberation-nirvana, are caught.
How to learn to live in timelessness?
First, let me remind you of the theses.
Time is a prison.
A person who “looks at time” is not free, he is a slave of time and its segments.
Only the person who strives and achieves life in timelessness is free.
This aspiration is true, valuable, correct, moral, moral.
It is immoral to deny the value and correctness of these aspirations, this vector, to hinder a person who has taken such a path.
The goal of all humanitarian movements is to promote the liberation of man: that is, to point out to man what is temporary and what is timeless and to promote the prosperity and growth of everything timeless.
What about temporary? God bless him. It will soon crumble on its own, made somehow, it is temporary, do not focus your energy on it! Yes, its place will immediately be replaced by a new, loud, temporary one... also for “five minutes.”
So how do you get into the timeless?
or
“You are not modern!”
Do you know that A.S. Pushkin was accused by his contemporaries of being “not modern”?..
This one sentence can be “thought of” like a Zen koan. I suggest you do so. And then Enlightenment will overtake you and you will understand once and for all - where to look for the “timeless”, where to look for your freedom and what is moral.
As a hint, I will inform you that the great Russian poet Benediktov was considered “modern” at that time.
Benediktov was read and adored, but Pushkin was arrogantly lectured: “You are not modern.”
Time is ambivalent. It puts everything in its place. It serves as a jailer only for those who themselves wanted to sit in prison all their lives, perhaps for the sake of entertainment, only from time to time - changing cells. Some call it tourism. Some are hell, from which you need to awaken into true existence.
***
So, timelessness, freedom, morality and the humanities.
I'll give you one last clue where to look for it - timelessness.
Humanists have a saying: “Only Art exists. Everything else is literature.”
These are the pretentious “statements” of the crazy grandfather - Fritz Perls - this is Art. It's not easy to read, but it's enjoyable. And from a certain point it’s easy.
But the eighth monograph of your department head, who has over 600 publications in domestic and foreign scientific journals, is “literature”, and a bad one at that.
Pushkin is art.
Benediktov is “literature”.
That for which you are persecuted for your interest is somehow strange, friendly and at the same time - this is “That”.
What the rest of the world lives by, always managing to pass all tests on time, is a horse in a coat.
Choose who you are with. I advise you to prefer morality. After all, even the authors of textbooks do not deny that this is good...
