Where Liberalism Fails, And Liberation Begins
Break the rules. Break the bonds. Dance to your own tune. Whatever you do, don’t conform. Stand out.
Welcome to a world where rebellion is the norm. Conformity is the disease. This is a lopsided, cracked world, where a break from conformity gets automatically translated to rebellion & “liberalism.”
Liberalism is a mainstream thought process. It is neither good, nor bad. It is limited & has no permanent solutions.
Freedom From & Freedom For
While it is reasonable to rebel against an imposition, a forced ideology, or a forced belief, the reasonability ends there.
It is important to understand that rebellions fail and do not give long term solutions because they are short-sighted, do not address grass root problem, and are often orchestrated by vested interest or misguided personalities, who have no real interest in the happiness, human right and fulfillment of people.
Revolution may or may not be good. But evolution is what leads you forward in life.
It would be a mistake to think that revolution is good for society and evolution good for the individual. The logical gap here is that not everything that is believed to be good for the society can be good for the individual. That is where people suffer. Any ecosystem which stops working for the individual, stops working. Because people are at the centre of every ecosystem. Whereas anything that solves grass root problems of many individuals, is always good for the society.
Any ecosystem or infrastructure which addresses long term, and atleast some short term problems of individuals can be sustainable.
Seeking spiritual answers, which solve multiple problems, both long term, as well as short term, is evolution. It is the only solution for human beings to find answers to not just 1–2, but all their problems.
Does Tradition Have Any Answers?
Tradition is too quickly dismissed as “orthodox.”
But is it always orthodox?
And does “orthodox” always translate to irrelevant and not applicable to the modern day? Can orthodox sometimes just mean old?
Tradition, by its inherent definition, is that which has survived for a long time. Though many traditions may not be relevant, the very fact that something has stood the test of time is testimony to its solidity and relevance.
Whether a certain tradition is useful or not in the present day scenario can never be decided by making a black and white choice. An in depth understanding of the tradition and a sense of inquiry into its use, purpose and relevance is required.
Whether you follow a tradition or not is a choice. But prematurely discarding a tradition without any sense of inquiry, without an in-depth understanding of its background, history and spiritual associations, is foolishness. Any logic, any ideology, any belief system that discards tradition at face value, without any attempt at understanding it, is neither scientific, nor mature, nor intelligent. A blatant disregard of all traditions, just at face value, just because it is tradition, which many “liberal thinking” folks do, is the biggest symptom of their lack of maturity, and lack of depth.
Asking Tough Questions
Taking decisions for the next few days or weeks is a short term plan, short term vision, shortsighted-ness, short view of life.
The biggest denominator in most liberals is no clarity about life’s purpose — purpose of their life and purpose of LIFE itself — but forever ready to refute anything that makes them question their choices.
Clarity about what fulfills you, what adds meaning to you, what makes you grounded & complete is mandatory for living.
That clarity stems from a sense of self inquiry — from looking in. It is the side effect of taking the time to sit with yourself and asking yourself tough questions — do your current choices really make you feel complete, centered, fulfilled? Do your current activities, decisions, habits, add strength to you or make you weaker? Where are you headed? Do your choices in the entire day add to the direction in which you want to travel, or do they distract you from it?
Does everything you do make sense on a big picture level or is it only temporary entertainment?
Every choice, every decision, every action, every inaction, every postponement, every thought process matters in the big picture. Is it aligned with your big picture or is it a short term distraction?
Everyone has freedom of choice. But what many don’t consider is that freedom of choice is not freedom of life.
Freedom of choice is freedom only if it can stand the test of the tough questions.
Two Types of Freedom
“Freedom” is a hackneyed word, without any meaning other than the one you give to it.
Freedom is of two types: Freedom from part, and freedom from Whole.
Liberals keep running around in circles, chasing freedom from part. Mature people seek freedom from the Whole.
Freedom from part is chasing freedom to break away from any responsibility, any time commitment, any work commitment, any relationship commitment, shoving off any form of expectation of anyone. True, not all expectations can be fulfilled, and not all commitments are worth making, but a default unwillingness to make a commit to anything, results in you becoming a free radical, floating in the Cosmos, without a sense of direction, purpose or joy. You think you are choosing freedom, but you are, in reality, giving up the very mindset required for fulfillment. Anything worth having in life requires effort, requires sincerity, requires time investment, requires your attention & life.
To manifest what you want in life, you need to dig your heels in, not keep one leg outside. Freedom from part is trying to “free” yourself from putting any effort into anything. What will the result be? You will not only be unfulfilled, but also disillusioned, disgruntled, and frustrated. You will soon give up on your dreams and desires altogether. And that is the worst thing that can happen to anyone!
You think you are choosing freedom, but you are taking your prison with you wherever you go!
Freedom from Whole is working towards the Ultimate freedom — liberation from the cycle of life and birth itself. That freedom is an option available to everyone who took birth! Everyone who seeks the Ultimate liberation is eligible to it.
Biggest question people find themselves unable to answer is: how is seeking the Ultimate freedom important or even relevant in everyday decisions, everyday actions, everyday problems?
It is more relevant than you can imagine.
Seeking the Ultimate begins with having a long vision of your life. What do you really want in life? What are you really seeking, from your being? Beyond the distractions, entertainment, excitation, sensory impulses, what is your being asking for? Dig deep. Face your real Self. It has all the answers.
You may not understand, cognize, resonate with seeking the Ultimate freedom immediately. But the more you remove conflicting actions & decisions, the more you remove hypocrisy, the more you dig deep into yourself and start aligning your life with what you are seeking from deep within, the closer you will find yourself to the Ultimate itself.
The Ultimate divinity, which is your own true Self, is never too far. It is available, and is available immediately. If you can remove the layers of denial, hypocrisy, distractions, and start thinking, acting on your deepest being, you are already on the journey to liberation. Your every single choice will bring you closer to the Ultimate freedom. It will align your life trajectory to what you seek.
Seeking the Ultimate gives you a sense of grounded-ness which no one can shake.
Freedom from Whole is nothing but breaking the bonds you have already built around you, which hold you back from everything you want in Life. Because bliss, liberation, divinity, your Self, are all different manifestations of the same Ultimate.
