Free

My father recently passed away. Since then  I have been riding an emotional roller coaster. One day, I feel I am totally fine while the next day, I feel incredibly sad, scared, and full of pain. I remember one day in particular when I was really down. I felt lonely and life seemed to be really unfair. I felt that the whole world was having fun while I was hurting bad. But then I reminded myself that life in fact is quite fair. Everyone goes through this. We all suffer at some point or other losses and disappointments. One day we will all die, rich or poor, beautiful or ugly.

When I had this realization, out of a sudden, I felt that I was liberated. I was there on the same footing with everyone else; equally experiencing what it means to be the human; the joy of birth, the happiness of success, the pain of loss, and the fear of death…suddenly, I didn’t feel lonely at all…suddenly, I felt that I was well taken care of.

I also learned to balance myself through this emotional roller coaster experience. What should we really attach ourselves to?  Nothing! Except for our own awareness and observation which as meaningful to our soul development, everything else is surreal. As soon as we are happy for something, the downside of life is already lurking. As soon as we are sad or disappointed, life silently lifts us up….just experience everything with an equal mind and know that whatever you are experiencing, soon you are going to experience different things and have different feelings.  There is no need to be sad or happy for all these fleeting things…just experience them as they are, absorb them and center yourself again. However the world is changing, whatever life has brought you, you are there watching, experiencing with an pair of eternal eyes; you are there experiencing everything just like every one does, but you always have the choice to be free.

When I saw this truth of life, I suddenly felt free.

By Su Zhen

Freedom

The Holy Spirit teaches you the difference between pain and joy. This is the same as saying He teaches you the difference between imprisonment and freedom.

(A Course in Miracles)

God in Neale Walsch's "Conversations with God", often said that there is no "wrong" or "right", there is is only useful and less so, judged from the perspective of what you want to achieve. Some want status and power, while others want love and freedom. Freedom was Buddha's stated goal and he was uncompromising in his approach to get there. I remember a scene in Deepak Chopra's "Buddha", where Lord Krishna visited Buddha after a long meditation session. Buddha said to Lord Krishna, "You have no idea how much I have longed Thee!", to which Lord Krishna responded, "I know!". But then Buddha closed his eyes again and said, "Please leave now I have work to do." That is indeed the mindset of someone who is on a mission. You keep on going until your goal reached. In Buddha's case it was a mission to be completely free from all mind-driven illusions.

It is in fact possible to be "free". Not in the way that you can cut yourself completely off from the subconscious processes that run below the surface, but in the way that you can really live your life completely detached from the longings of the ego. There is a Way that somehow always knows best and all you have to do is to follow Her. Sometimes it is external signs that guide you, while sometimes it is your intuition. There always will be a few missed steps but mostly you can be connected every step of the Way. You can see and feel the Way just as a scientist would and you learn as much from your mistakes as you do from your blissful moments. Along the Way, the longings of the "I" simply melt into nothingness and in those moments you get a taste for true freedom, just as the Course in Miracles claims.

It is pretty meaningless to strive for enlightenment just because this gift a higher authority has to grant you. What you can do though, you can cut out interferences to the best of your abilities by just holding on to the Way. Joy and freedom follow you where you go. Never mind if there are still a couple of dimensions in your life where people or positions seemingly still hold you back. This just means that you aren't quite ready for the big jump. Serve willingly as a free master and true freedom will be yours before you know it.

The Way Towards Freedom

We have said often that we Tao travelers are just like everyone else; we go through the same ups and downs that life has to offer, just as the fellow next door; yet, something is quite different at the same time.

Slowly but surely, we become so much more patient with people. We start recognizing ourselves in them, so how can you really be mad at anyone? Would you throw stones at your own mirror image? You learn to look at people with different eyes. You learn to interact with them with compassion and understanding. At the same time, you also learn to look for a proactive and effective way of solving any outstanding interpersonal issue. As you understand yourself, you understand your soul siblings - and as you understand them, you gain insights about yourself.

You also learn to interact with life with a very different attitude. What a blessing when you stop wasting your energy complaining about what life has confronted you with; so instead, you can use your energy to find a creative solution to all your problems. The Way has taught us over and over that problems are always there to lift us to the next level. Always aim high when you set your expectations for what a situation or a problem is for. Gather the stones that people put in your way to build a nice home for yourself. Do this for a while and see how your confidence takes off. Where you saw problems before you now see opportunities. Suddenly you look forward to life and you can't wait to dance with Her every step of the Way!

As you learn the magic of transforming your energy dynamics and the environment you are operating in, you create the life you have always been dreaming off. A spiritual path is about cutting through what is truly meaningful to you and what is not. The meaningful connections you have always had; it is just that you didn't always recognize how blessed you were before. Now, as you emerge as God's co-creator you can see what is truly meaningful and what is not. A spiritual path is all about opening your eyes to what is rather than what appears to be.

Take action just as your inner Voice suggests - you are finally free to create as your heart desires. Enjoy!

By Christian and Su Zhen

Detachment

Detachment is not that you should own nothing. 

But that nothing should own you.

(Ali ibn abi Talib)

You can manifest whatever it is you want: your body, your relationships, your possessions, your success. Yes, you are that powerful! Yet, you must have noticed hat there are areas in your life where you face resistance to get what "you want". The reason is that the "you" is way bigger than what the "I" experiences and the "you" has very different longings as well.

Conflicts of interests happen between the "I" and your True Self because you know deep inside that you are free and you mind the stuff that binds you. This fact explains the seemingly endless battles between what the "I" wants and what you feel is right deep down inside. These periods of struggle are just there to prepare you for the next psychological stage: spiritual freedom. When you are truly free, nothing owns you, though all of your needs are perfectly satisfied.

Honor your life, welcome the struggles and the resistance you are facing. Accept that some time is require to propel you from "here" to "there". Where you are going there is perfect freedom, true love and complete detachment.

Free

Sometimes, when negative experiences show up in our life, we tend to complain or blame others, God, or whoever else for our suffering. We often view ourselves as victims of life and easily identify ourselves with the situation and think that our life is doomed forever. Even positive experiences may trap us. We like these experiences so much that we identify ourselves with them and try to run after them even though life has other plans for us right now.

Please be aware that either thinking can be poison. The mind, our expectations, our judgments or previous disappointments keep us from experiencing what is. Whenever reality is different from our fantasy world, we are annoyed and bothered; yet we are missing out a meaningful experience by being elsewhere.

Whenever we remember who we are; whenever experiences just flow through us without sticking to us, we are again aware of our true identity as pure consciousness. We then open ourselves up to life without fear and eagerly engage with what is. We have trust because we experience the Force we are connected to.

Whenever we are reconnected with Her, we know nothing can contaminate us internally, and nothing can touch us externally. We are suddenly free!

By Christian and and Su Zhen

Religion versus Spirituality

The first gulp of the glass makes you an atheist, but at the bottom of the glass, God is waiting for you.
(Werner Heisenberg)

Tell your children fairy tales for they are closer to the truth than what is going on in your head sometimes. Tell your children about love, respect, honesty, integrity and the sisterhood of man for it is a pretty good approximation of the 'beyond' that we like to capture. Yet, go easy on all religious description of God for this Force can only communicate the complexity of the Universe one by one. Everyone has a deeply personal psychological starting point and will discover this Force in a different way. The scientist will discover Her via the beauty of Her Creation, this poet will discover Her via love for nature and people. True, at the end of the road we are all religious because the word religion comes from the root 'to tie'. Once you have seen Her you will never let go. And as you walk in Her Presence, you are finally free.

Freedom

Prisoners bound with heavy chains for years, starved and emaciated, weak and exhausted and with eyes so long cast down in darkness they remember not the light, do not leap up in joy the instant they are made free. It takes them a while to understand what freedom is.
(A Course in Miracles)

You are already free my friend, yet you know it not. The first step into freedom is understanding that the monsters you perceive are not real. It is like going into a virtual reality horror show: the monsters, ghosts and zombies are scary enough, yet, when you step up to the  monster and say, " Hey you, I challenge you, why don't you try to touch me", you will find that it cannot deliver. At this moment you are free and the monsters you perceive now will never bother you again.

Having versus Being

Erich Fromm wrote 'Having versus Being' and I found it revolutionary when I read it, even though his message is actually only a reminder of what spirituality has told us over thousands of years: when you run after possession, knowledge, sex and power, you only think you are free, but you are bound instead. Whenever there is unhappiness with what is, if you like to be somewhere where you think you are not, you are not free.

Freedom is the equilibrium, the point where you are right now, and every movement away from the center of tranquility only happens when this creative Force, the Tao, invites you to dance and you willingly agree because you see that is just is a continuation of the 'is'. In the state of 'being', you accumulate possessions, you acquire knowledge, you have sex and you are powerful, but you are not bound by them. 

Freedom is having transcended the ego, which wants things, knowledge, status and power to be a cut above everyone else. You have transcended the trap that keeps you running eternally in the wrong direction. Being is the natural flow in harmony with Creativity Itself, you are moving as well, but at each time you are in the now which is perfect and you are happy to know that where you are is exactly where you should be.