"True freedom starts from within"
What is freedom? Have you ever asked yourself this question? We talk about it with our family, in relationships, in politics, religion, work, in every aspect of our lives, but what is it?
Now we will tell you one secret, we don’t really like this question. We don't want to define what freedom is, because as long as it is vague, we can say whatever we want about it.
The truth is that real freedom is a fiction. It simply doesn't exist. Freedom is a concept created by people, an idea that has contradiction right at its core.
Freedom or responsibility
The definition of human freedom has changed over the centuries. In the modern sense, they first started talking about it during the Renaissance. It was then that people began to be considered the highest value, and their freedom as an inalienable right.
During the reign of the Protestant Reformation, the word “freedom” changed its meaning slightly. It implied the opportunity to find your own way to God and interpret the Bible in your own way.
Since the 19th century, individual freedom has become synonymous with self-expression. It meant economic stability, the ability to independently choose religion, behavior, and social circle.
Nothing has changed these days. Personal freedom occupies an important place in the structure of society. The individual is free to set priorities, choose goals and methods for achieving them. But there is one condition. Your freedom must coexist harmoniously with the freedoms of other people. This is called responsibility. A more free person is also a more responsible person. The opposite situation is called arbitrariness.
Freedom and Necessity
Human freedom has been traditionally considered in the history of philosophy in relation to necessity. Necessity, in turn, was usually perceived in the form of predestination, fate, fate, commanding the actions of people and denying the freedom of human will. This understanding of necessity found its most expressive embodiment, perhaps, in the Latin proverb, according to which fate guides those who accept it and drags those who resist it. The opposition of such concepts as “necessity” and “human freedom”, the replacement of one of them by the other or the denial of one or the other for more than two thousand years was a stumbling block for philosophers who could not find a satisfactory solution to this problem. The old question of necessity and freedom arose before the idealists of the 19th century, as did the metaphysicians of the 18th century and all philosophers who considered the relation to thinking of human existence.
Basic theory
Famous public and cultural figures have described individual freedom in different ways:
- The ability to act in accordance with your interests and goals. Belinsky.
- The absence of political and economic oppression, restrictions in political and social life and the activities of a class or society as a whole. Dobrolyubov.
- Absence of slavery and serfdom. Chernyshevsky.
- Personal independence, independence. No dependency or constraint. The opportunity to do as you want. Dostoevsky.
- Ease, no difficulties. L. Tolstoy.
Personal freedom is often associated with voluntarism and fatalism. The first word really has to do with a free person. This is the desire to achieve goals without paying attention to objective circumstances and consequences. Fatalism is the exact opposite concept of voluntarism. According to fatalists, the personal freedom of each individual is nothing more than a utopia. Human life is predetermined by external factors. They cannot be changed. How are things really going?
Is there such a thing as unconditional freedom?
In an ideal world, yes. No one is able to limit the flight of thought. However, this concept is not applicable to real life. Absolute or unconditional personal freedom is, of course, tempting. But the idea itself has a number of shortcomings. For example, the inability to become free from one's body, conscience, discipline or responsibility. Such conditions can cause harm to both the person himself and those around him. In any case, freedom is endowed with specificity and certainty. Therefore, it is not unconditional, but relative. But this does not mean that there are always some restrictions. Often they are nothing more than empowerment. It turns out that there is no need to strive for absolute personal freedom. It's an illusion.
What does it mean to be a free person?
Today it is very fashionable to talk about freedom. Surely each of us has heard and read something like this: “Be free!”, “I want to be free!” Let's take a closer look at the concept of “freedom”. In my understanding, freedom is:
- Conscious choice of your reactions, words, thoughts, actions, states.
- Control of your selfish desires, instinctive and pathological fears, as well as the manifestation of rationality in the face of far-fetched dogmas and ridiculous prejudices.
- A stable manifestation of positivity, through the desire to get out of any non-positive state in a maximum of 2 minutes, finding the necessary motivation, as well as maintaining yourself and your environment in positive states.
- The ability to forgive and sincerely ask for forgiveness.
- The ability to value friendship, the desire and desire to form and maintain good, warm, peaceful relationships with every person on our planet, the desire for unity.
- Willingness to work with your ambition through meekness, humility, and self-abasement.
- The opportunity to engage in your favorite creativity, which fills life with meaning.
- Deep understanding of the reasons for the actions and states of other people.
- Feeling grateful for everything that happens in our lives.
- Constantly inquisitive openness to deep knowledge, craving for creative changes.
- Preserving and increasing your health.
- A clear definition of the goals of your life and adherence to your life principles and values, readiness for their qualitative improvement.
So, it turns out that in order to be a truly free person, you need to work hard on yourself. And if every person on our planet moving towards harmony begins to strive for such freedom and already now does something to become better (higher quality) than yesterday, and also helps others to do this, and does not stop in his aspiration, then this world will transform faster, and the dream of many people about a bright, peaceful future will begin to come true.
As soon as we begin to cultivate human qualities in ourselves and sprout a “stem” of humanity within ourselves, when we set ourselves a global goal based on the unity of Highly Sensitive Intelligence and Highly Intellectual Altruism and spare no effort to achieve it, and also become above our selfish desires, we begin to respect ourselves more, become more principled and demanding of ourselves and more understanding and loving towards others. All this together brings happiness and inner joy into our lives, which the people around us begin to feel.
Speaking about freedom, we cannot fail to mention the advice that we can often find in many esoteric and psychological books, for example: “Be yourself!”, “Love yourself!” But what does it mean to be yourself and what does it mean to love yourself?
The fact is that we are always free to choose: how to be ourselves, how to love ourselves. After all, you can be more altruistic, kind, wise, understanding, intelligent, positive, honest, open, responsible, sincere, striving for your goal, or you can be offended, stupid, narrow-minded, aggressive, be a slave to your egoism, a hostage to animal instinctual fears and centuries-old dogmas, a puppet of ignorance and a servant of non-positivism.
Interestingly, what we do not want to see in ourselves, we most often notice in other people, and it is these manifestations that we condemn especially strongly. To free yourself from judging other people and yourself, you need to understand a lot, figure out a lot, and also learn to listen to your high intuition (your inner voice, which always tells us something, but we don’t always want to notice it) and conduct a logical analysis of that the situation in which we find ourselves, in order to quickly become the self that we can truly love and respect.
Relying on the human principles of relationships described in the series of books on Iissiidiology (the latest scientific and cosmological ideas about the Universe and man), trying to cultivate highly sensitive intelligence and highly intellectual altruism, each person will become someone who can be loved with respect, admiration, and gratitude. Because such a person is free from selfish manifestations and base instincts, he does not harm, but creates and contributes to the prosperity of life on our planet.
If we show spiritual courage in working on our personality, if we project our high-quality interests into the world around us, if we share the best that we have with other people, if we strive for unity rather than herdism, if we feel the need to serve the whole planet, we stop catering to our fears and stop being led by selfish desires, then we will be able to decorate this world with ourselves, we will become free, full-fledged creators of our destiny.
How to become a free person
First, realize that true freedom comes from within. It depends on attitudes embedded deep in the consciousness and subconscious. A free person has a number of distinctive features:
- Controls his instincts and reflexes. Thanks to this, he behaves correctly in society.
- He doesn’t set limits for himself, doesn’t dictate a strict regime. Free individuals subtly sense the signals of the body. They know when they need rest, when it is the best time to work or eat.
- A free person has no complexes. This is especially true for self-doubt and low self-esteem. These negative qualities take away vital energy and eat from the inside. That is why freedom from them takes so long to develop.
- Not at the mercy of emotions. A person dependent on feelings and sensations often commits rash acts. Afterwards he regrets them, but cannot change anything. As a result, another complex develops. A free person independent of emotions easily makes decisions, can evaluate his actions from the outside and consciously correct mistakes.
Another sign of a free person is childlike spontaneity along with adult thinking.
Are you ready for freedom?
About the failed “reckless” act and anxiety
Increasing the level of freedom increases responsibility. This is natural, since lack of freedom means predetermination and dependence on other factors involved in the process. Reducing pressure means that more and more functions will be delegated to a person who will have to cope with his life independently. It is believed that avoidance of responsibility is generally characteristic of most people. This means that when deciding for yourself to get rid of restrictions, you need to take into account factors such as
- How capable are you of making decisions on your own?
- Are you able to take responsibility?
- By gaining a new degree of freedom, what are you losing? After all, getting rid of something is also losing it. How valuable is this to you? Can you live without it?
- What are you purchasing? Do you have a plan for what you can achieve this way?
- How will you change? Under the influence of circumstances, or will internal changes be primary?
- about the author
- Copyright materials
Andrey Petrakov
Hello! This is a blog on psychology, in which significant attention is paid to the topics of psychological violence - abuse, narcissism, relationships, personal crises, taking responsibility for one's life, increasing self-esteem, existential problems. The cost of consulting a psychologist is 3000 rubles/hour, in person (Moscow, Maryina Roshcha metro station), or via Skype About us/Make an appointment
Latest materials: (See all)
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How to understand your own freedom
Ask yourself 4 questions:
- Am I an independent person? Your opinions and actions should not be influenced by external factors. Learn, develop, boldly move forward. There is no way to stop there.
- Do I have a favorite activity or hobby? A person who does not like work can hardly be called free and happy. Therefore, think about whether your hobby can be turned into a permanent source of income.
- Do I spend a lot of time reading? Start with books dedicated to self-development and self-knowledge. They may not add freedom. But you will know exactly where to move next.
- Can I control my emotions? This is probably the most difficult skill.
A free person has all the skills listed above. He lives as he sees fit. Focuses only on his own values and priorities, leaving behind the opinions of others. Do you act the same way? So you can be congratulated. You are a free person.
Freedom is always a relative concept.
Absolute freedom is the absolute absence of restrictions. It is quite obvious that this simply does not happen. Including, our mind cannot be absolutely free. If only because he builds his fabrications within the framework of previous experience, which undoubtedly imposes certain restrictions.
Therefore, when a person says that he wants to be free, like a bird, this is the same dream as the dream of growing wings.
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Practical recommendations
Following simple but effective tips will help you gain inner freedom and self-confidence.
Understand what's stopping you from being free
This must be done at the very beginning of the path to internal liberation. There are 7 factors that make a person dependent:
- fear, self-doubt, complexes;
- public opinion, stereotypes;
- dependence on money;
- inability to make choices independently.
Once you determine the reason for the lack of freedom, act decisively. Eliminate the listed factors one by one.
Conquer your internal barriers
These include all the same fears and complexes. This is usually a consequence of past failures. It also happens that parents, having failed in some business, unknowingly program their children for it. This is the first and most important barrier.
