It is certainly possible to develop “Free Will, yet to acquire such awareness and power requires a great deal of work and personal understanding. Most people commonly assume because they can make an arbitrary decision on some trivial, passing matter that they possess Free Will. Here in the U.S. we believe we have the sovereign right to choice because we can go in a supermarket and pick between 50 different kinds of breakfast cereal. Our ability to say yes or no in any given situation is undeniable, yet the more important thing to consider is exactly what is influencing our power of choice and to what extent are we being controlled by the possibilities we are offered? The simple fact of the matter is that before Free Will can be something viable in our lives we must first understand what constitutes the true nature of both “Freedom” and “Will.”

The basic misconception that most people have about what it means to be Free is that they usually associate “Freedom” with some level of escape. This is because most people are not “Free” so they make the common mistake of defining Freedom based on their overall experience of being slaves to circumstance. When someone says they are “Free” it often means that they have managed to get away from their job or some other activity or person they don’t want any part of. What is rarely ever realized is that anytime we have to make an effort to avoid something then we are definitely not free. In fact, what we are trying to avoid is exerting a very powerful influence over us by determining our behavior. In daily life this sort of roundabout enslavement plays out through compulsive addictions to our likes and dislikes. For instance, I might experience difficulty in a group because I don’t agree with someone else’s opinion. The overall dynamic of the group may suffer as a result and it is all because I can’t manage to identify a greater purpose beyond a perceived wound to my ego. In situations like this we often like to convince ourselves of our intrinsic righteousness by believing that our difficulties and the greater welfare of the group are the same thing. As soon as we find ourselves in such a “blame game” a warning flag should immediately go up making us aware of how our ego and its “bullying” tactics are being used to camouflage our fears and insecurities.

In any group situation each individual represents a “Denying Force” for every other person involved. What this means in terms of our personal evolution is that a clash of egos is ultimately designed to transform us beyond the confinement of our self-limiting beliefs. A confrontation should never simply be about victory or defeat. The conflicts in our lives should serve as lessons on how to transcend our likes and dislikes in order to reach reconciliation with a Higher Truth. An unwillingness to acknowledge compromise is often more about fear and inadequacy rather than strength. To be drawn into stand-offs over matters of taste is never about the victory of what may or may not be right; instead it is about our adversaries gaining control by making us play their game. The fate of any group as well as our own “Higher Evolution” rests entirely upon our ability to act meaningfully in regards to reconciling our desires with the welfare of the greater whole. This is often a very difficult point for many people to understand because most of us have been programmed to believe in the fable of rugged individualism, when in fact the glorification of the loner or “maverick” is merely a divide and conquer strategy aiding those who would wish to control us. Glorifying the pursuit of individual ego at all costs fosters a situation where everyone unwittingly participates in the ascent up the anthill toward fame and fortune. Benjamin Franklin summed it up best when he made the famous remark “We must all hang together or surely we will all hang separately. ”Our actions possess “meaning” when they have come about through an understanding of our role in the greater scheme of things rather than on the emotional baggage and megalomania we are often willing to make the situation about. The abilities to negotiate and compromise therefore become an intrinsic part of being “Free” because they manage to liberate us from the mechanical response of giving our power away to either external forces or our own insecurities. If a choice I make is based on either my misunderstanding or ignorance and not on a greater understanding of the overall situation, then I am not Free.

In order to begin to better understand what it means to be “Free” one must transcend the limits of needing to feel “safe.” Safety as a preoccupation is entirely about denying the life force. The power of life is beautiful and nurturing, but it can also be frightening and destructive. If we seek peace and harmony we must also come to accept the “Denying Principle” of death and transformation. No one can do the work for us to arrive at such an understanding of the cycles of existence, though the average person will always be vulnerable to any Messiah or system that claims to be able to. The most obvious way this “Savior “ dynamic plays out for many people is in the form of what is commonly referred to as “morality.”

The illusion of moral conduct is that it is derived from the word of God, but “which God?” Any answer regarding the true Divine Law would depend entirely on where you are in the world. What is a ticket to hell in Islamic countries may be an accepted custom in Christian countries. In truth “Morality” revolves around the premise that human behavior needs to be restricted for social order. The logic behind many such restrictions will often make no sense unless one also takes into consideration that some people simply have a pathological need to deny their own fears by projecting them on others. This point is developed rather well by the late Wilhelm Reich in his seminal work “The Murder of Christ” where he states quite simply that the crucifixion was a symbolic murder of our love nature by the jealousy of those who are impotent. By our love nature, Reich was referring to our ability to go beyond what restricts us in order to embrace what allows us to grow in harmony with the surrounding world.

In a more contemporary context, the right to seek our freedom has been hidden in the controversial moral minefield of the debate on abortion. The Supreme Court legislation of Rowe v. Wade is neither an affirmation nor a condemnation of abortion. The legislation simply gives each individual woman the power to choose in terms of her reproductive rights. Any argument made about the status of a fetus is specious in so far as those who make such arguments have a very definite fundamentalist moral agenda they wish to promote. They argue the sanctity of life yet they support politicians who are against social services and promote a war driven economy. The irony of the whole situation rises to a crescendo when those who profess to be pro-life allude to the fact that they are soldiers for God’s Will. The right of choice is unalienable and it is the cornerstone of true Freedom beyond what any government or notion of God can give us. Christ did not die for anyone’s sin; he simply provided us with an illustration of how we may work to redeem ourselves. Aleister Crowley wrote, “Sin is the word of restriction,” though I think the concept of “Sin” is nothing more than a synonym for experience.

At this point one might confidently say the foundation for being “Free” rests in the awareness of the stifling limits of our learned behavior and the knee-jerk mechanical responses that result.

The average person’s inability to understand “Freedom” arises from the simple fact that most people are basically unaware. The Philosopher P.D. Ouspensky once remarked that before we can begin talking about “Consciousness” we must first realize that without recognizing it we are all essentially unconscious. From birth we are made subservient to the awareness of our parents, no matter how limited that awareness may be, and after that we are socialized to conform, educated to repeat, and ultimately programmed to follow and obey. Aleister Crowley adds that true independence begins with original thought, which results in being labeled a “Rebel.” If this rebelliousness continues and one gains followers the next step is to be branded a “Devil”. If over time one’s uniqueness is then generally recognized and accepted by the majority the result then becomes “Greatness.” While I generally acknowledge Crowley’s view, his line of thinking can be misunderstood. In a general sense “Greatness” is a relative term, usually understood in most cases to mean either large or exceptional. In regards to understanding “Freedom” greatness is essentially irrelevant. Freedom is not an exceptional state it is a natural one. Slavery is an exceptional state because it consists of an artificial restriction upon a natural situation. It is therefore more important to first understand in what ways we are not free before we can ever hope to be “Free.”

If Freedom is a natural state then why would revolutions need to be fought and blood shed in order to preserve something that generally exists? The simple answer is because it was in someone’s interest to convince another party that such a dynamic was necessary. Freedom has much less to do with exterior events than with interior awareness. The writer Maya Angelou once asked, “Why does the caged bird sing?” The bird sings because it is the creature’s nature and such behavior cannot be suppressed short of killing the animal. William Faulkner’s comment at the end of “The Sound and The Fury” regarding the slave woman Dilsey was that “She endured.” Freedom endures because it is incontrovertible. Dilsey as a fictional metaphor of the Blacks in the Southern U.S. endured because her Spirit was never broken. Freedom is initially as immaterial as a thought, yet everyone knows that what we think of the world essentially changes its meaning and structure. If our thinking is manipulated or controlled in some way then our behavior will reflect that. The average American has been conned into believing they can have “Free Time” even though their ignorance and addiction to comfort makes a “Free Life” in the purest sense virtually impossible.

The next important thing to realize in the pursuit of true Freedom is that those who are not Free will often actively work against you. If this is not realized, any subsequent attempt to disengage from the domino chain of cause and effect that enslaves others will fare no better than expecting your reflection in a mirror to do something different. The reason for others resenting the attempts of someone they know trying to be Free initially stems from the fact that most people at some point in their life rebel out of an ego driven self-righteousness that is always doomed to failure. Once they have had a chance to experience the resentment of others and reflect upon their own fear, they usually end up conforming and adopting a cynical outlook as they continue through life thwarted and frustrated. It is their mortally wounded ego and inability to grow from failure that causes them to resent the aspirations of another. In short, they have simply let their fear get the better of them and every time they see someone else face up to fear it becomes an uncomfortable reminder of their own cowardice. The conformist mentality has never been able to evolve past the initial mistake of having a knee-jerk reaction to being confronted with a challenge. They just don’t see that reacting to criticism based on insecurity results in subservience to the will of our adversary. If someone comes up to me on the street and say’s, “you’re an idiot” and I argue about it then I am an idiot. If I am willing to first take responsibility for my emotions and insecurities and then for my choices, up to and including rejection by another, then the possibility exists for me to be Free.

Not everyone will be forthright in their rejection of our attempts to be Free of what imprisons them. There is also the situation of someone rejecting my choice by trying to make me feel bad and saying their rejection is really based on their love for me along with a concern that I am hurting myself. In a case like that one needs to look very closely at how that person is living their life. If they are generally following the herd and their actions reveal a fear of taking responsibility for their Freedom, it is then necessary to seriously consider if that person is merely trying to manipulate you to keep you in the same quicksand.

Manipulation is an insidious act is because it often leads to feelings of guilt on the part of the recipient, who then unwittingly directs their anger at being unaccepted into self-hate. This is why guilty people are often angry and/or inclined to confrontational behavior. Or else the guilty individual will identify with their oppressor and blame anyone who doesn’t also see the logic for why they have given their power away. Lemmings run over cliffs and peer pressure exists in human groups because it is easier to surrender one’s responsibility and hide in the perceived safety of the collective rather than to acknowledge our insecurities and work to develop an original character of our own within the group context. This whole dynamic of the status quo and conformity can get so convoluted and complex that for the average individual the notion of “Free Will” becomes hopelessly misdirected into either regular, socially accepted periods of escapism or “the climb to the top” otherwise known as “Being a Winner.” The individual who is “Free” needs only to be happy with who they are, for they realize anything else is tantamount to turning tricks for a master. As a result, attempts at non-conformity by the average person often end up having a hollow, canned quality that usually finds expression through some sort of trend. When I encounter angry young men that mimic song lyrics as they walk in the street or ride the train I want to ask them, “Did you make that up yourself or are you conforming to some image that was designed to manipulate you by providing a vehicle to hide your fear and insecurity beneath a disguise of rebellion?

An interesting exercise to engage in at this point would be to take a meditative moment and try to find one thought in your head that originated within you and wasn’t implanted by some external source. The headache you will probably get is equivalent to the cuts the prisoner suffers when he or she finally decides to scale the barbwire fence that imprisons them.

Now that we have a general perspective on what Freedom essentially means in terms of individual behavior, what can one do to change if one recognizes they are not Free? We are now ready to discuss the concept of “Will.”

Freedom is only possible when the desire for it or our “Will” has been identified and developed through hard work. There is no “Initiation” or “Special Healing” that will instantly establish and strengthen the will. We must work diligently to dismantle the mechanisms that have been set up to thwart our natural development from when we were children. Aleister Crowley wrote of a concept he termed “The True Will,” which is not to be confused with either simple ego or desire. One’s True Will represents the intrinsic “I” instead of the many “I’s” that arise as a result of the stultifying affects of education and conformity that are thrust upon us almost as soon as we exit the womb. Crowley went on to say that if one can successfully identify and follow their True Will then that individual shouldn’t fear what they may encounter on their path because whatever arises will represent their destiny. What this means is that once we know who we are then it finally becomes possible for us to freely choose and fully “Be.”

Like anything else in life, the discovery of One’s True Will is a process and all transformational processes operate on the Law of Three or “affirmation, denial, and reconciliation.” What this effectively signifies is that the obstacles in life or “The Denying Principle” constitute the road to growth, enlightenment, and freedom. Every person we meet and every situation we may find ourselves in represents a “Hazard” on the way to self-discovery. We can only find out who we are by experiencing what we are not. When this level of awareness has been acquired our “Will” has been activated. The result then becomes the ability to recognize that all the obstacles to understanding the true nature of freedom are in fact necessary to living a truly free life.

Perhaps some readers may feel that I have spent a lot of time listing the things in the way of Freedom and not enough time on how to be “Free.” The reason for this is because no one can give you freedom. You are not “Free “ because a designated “Master” or “Author” has told you about what they think “Freedom” means and you have followed those instructions. One is Free when responsibility has been taken for the work necessary to find out who you are apart from what anyone else expects you to be.

Freedom is not possible if we assume we already have it. We must constantly question the reality thrust upon us and continually ask ourselves, “Am I serving a truth or a master?” A truth is the ultimate balance of any situation and will always challenge us to do and be more. A master may be a person or an idea, but if we follow that sort of lead unquestioningly then our seeming choices will be nothing more than conforming to a set of predetermined variables.
 

Article Reproduced From: www.rumormillnews.com/

All Pictures Added By Gnostic Liberation Front