What makes a person free? Each of us at least once asked himself this question. There are many definitions of the concept of "freedom", as well as a huge number of points of view on the topic of who he is - a free person, what are the criteria for this state. Let's try to figure it out.
You can consider freedom from different points of view. A prisoner in a prison is far from free, because he cannot leave the confines of his cell, but a journalist who travels calmly around the country also complains about harassment. Freedom of speech is taken from him. Here is a teacher in a rural school. He is constrained by material problems, forced to constantly think about how to feed himself and his family. What kind of freedom can we talk about? However, a successful businessman is hostage to circumstances - the state does not allow him to develop his business, puts sticks in wheels.
There are many more similar examples. All these are external causes of our lack of freedom. This is how society and the whole world are organized. Created for the benefit of man, he gradually turns him into his slave. Conventions and rules put pressure on people from all sides, often penetrate not only the external manifestations of our lives, but also into the
inner world of every person, preventing him from realizing one of his main freedoms - freedom of thought.
It seems that could be simpler than free thought? Nobody can forbid to think. Even if your brain generates ideas unreliable from the point of view of the government, society or family, no one will know about it (unless, of course, you yourself tell everyone about them). But then what is the problem, why is freedom of thought so important?
"Freedom has nothing to do with the outside world. True freedom is not political, not economic: it is spiritual. It is not in your hands. And what is not in your hands cannot be called true freedom."
These are the words of Osho, and it is difficult to disagree with them. What makes a person free? It’s hard to live without money, they give a certain freedom, but funds can easily disappear. The state that oppresses you can be left, but this does not mean that everything will be smooth in another country. Achieve the right to speak openly whatever you think? Achievable, but there are pitfalls here. Everything that happens inside of us cannot be taken away, ruined, lost, only if we ourselves do not want it. A free man is an inwardly unlimited individual who is in harmony with himself and the world.
Here we get to the most interesting and important point of our reasoning. What makes a person free? We saw that the keys to the desired state are within us. But what can prevent them from using them?
There is an opinion that the main enemy in the achievement of freedom by a man is ideas that he has taken for granted (most often in the process of upbringing and education). These are external conditions, transformed into his
own opinion, but not really related to what he really wants, feels and thinks. It is not so important what message these ideas bring, positive or negative. If a person does not understand that it is not he, but only a thought, an idea, he cannot become free.
It is not necessary to abandon one’s beliefs, one just needs to be aware of them. This applies to children's complexes, which do not allow us to develop, and to religious ideas that prevent us from understanding what we really believe in, and to our schemes regarding a right life. Because of the latter, we are often in constant planning of the future, forgetting about the present, and strive not to what we want and can, but to what for some reason we should want.
What makes a person free? We have found the answer. Awareness of oneself apart from ideas, search for oneself, inner work. You need to constantly be aware of yourself, not to act mechanically, to be here and now. This is true freedom.