What is true freedom? The unexamined answer is: “having the ability to do what you want.” But is that really freedom? Suppose you suddenly develop an overwhelming desire to buy a new car. You go to sleep thinking about it and find it is your first thought when you wake up. You start planning for that glorious day it will be yours – saving money, researching add-on features, reading reports. Are you free? Can you not think about it? Can you focus on your work, your life partner, the meal you are eating or preparing, or do you keep thinking about that car every time there is a pause in your mind? “I just can't wait to get that car!” But of course you must wait...
You are certainly free to act on your newfound desire. But so long as our desires are able to run wild within us, we are slaves — not to a person or organization perhaps, but to the desires that, in many ways, are more controlling than any external person or thing could ever be. We believe that freedom is getting what we want. But until we can want what we want, we are dominated by whatever desire bubbles up. And even beyond desires, our minds are filled with regrets about the past and worries about the future.
So what, then, is true freedom? I would say the ability to find inner peace and joy regardless of your circumstances, no matter what comes to us. The song The Secret of Laughter well states: “If you think that laughter lies in things, to things you’ll be but a slave.” Freedom is the ability to accept what cannot be changed.
Human consciousness is ever the same and the pathway out of unchecked desires and thoughts has been well researched. Meditation — selfless service — love — the pursuit of harmony: these things take us out of our little self and our constant self-preoccupation. It is why they have been emphasized by uplifted souls of every spiritual tradition throughout all history. If the goal of life is true freedom, we are fortunate to have good maps out of the labyrinth.
Some of them can even be found at your favorite bookstore… :-)