On True Freedom (Part 2)

(Continued from last time)

★A Real Example Showing That the Cause Lies in Yourself

So I looked around the earth to see if there was a concrete example that would help you recognize this more clearly and with real feeling, and there was.

It’s the reasons people give when they change from one job to another.

The reason for changing jobs, which becomes the trigger for thinking “I want to change jobs, I’m going to change jobs” and taking action: if it’s a reason in accord with truth, the change tends to go well, and if not, you tend to hit the same wall again.

What that means is that when the reason for changing jobs is a backward-looking one, similar unpleasant situations with the same cause, and thoughts of wanting to run away, appear again. When the reason is forward-looking, the more concrete your thoughts of what you want to do, the more you accomplish them, set even higher goals, and clear those too, spending fulfilling time that surely leaves proof that you lived.

Backward-looking reasons are ones that spotlight the negative side in some way: because you dislike that boss, because you don’t get along with your coworkers and work isn’t fun, because a colleague who started with you got promoted first and you feel small, because that job pays more than this one, because this job doesn’t suit you in the first place, because your commute is too long and you want a job close to home, and so on.

Most people who change jobs have reasons that fall into this category.

In that case, until you notice that the cause lay in how you use your thoughts, you end up changing jobs again and again, and it can be hard to taste stable happiness.

And the opposite pattern, the forward-looking reasons, is when you have a solid goal or purpose, like wanting to accomplish such-and-such, or wanting to make such-and-such come true.

In that case, it goes without saying that the more concrete the goal or purpose, the better.

The reason many people on Earth, while having dreams and hopes, couldn’t give them concrete form, or had no dreams or hopes at all and smoldered aimlessly with the power of life going to waste, is that they fell unknowingly into the pitfall of a pattern of thinking (ideas) that seeks something else because they dislike something, and kept running around inside that pit, or repeatedly trying to climb out and sliding back down.

Or else they deceive and lie to their own hearts, “I don’t like it, but I have no choice because it’s for such-and-such,” getting through the days by fooling themselves.

When you clearly understand these principles of what leads to what, anyone can live without going astray, show the creativity that wells up from the source of life, and lead more fulfilling days.

★Freedom Is Within You: Your Freedom Is Up to You

True freedom follows the same principle.

The stage of consciousness that wants to be free from something is a state of having fallen into the pitfall of the pattern of thinking (ideas) I just mentioned, or a state like wandering in the cave of dualistic opposition without knowing where the exit is.

Only those who can take this fact to heart, “Ah, so that’s how it was,” obtain true freedom and can enter a state in which they keep their lives shining without being swayed up, down, or sideways by anything.

Listen.

Whatever state you’re in now, never deny the way you are at present.

And comparing yourself with others and swinging between joy and sorrow is nonsense too.

Your life is the one and only existence in the universe, not something that can be compared with anything.

Your present character, position, and environment were made by your past thoughts, words, and deeds, including previous lives.

Just as that is a fact, it’s also an undeniable fact that your present thoughts, words, and deeds are what create your destiny in the future from this very moment on. So if you keep using your consciousness in a way that keeps the future shining, you won’t create unfreedom in your life and settle for an uninteresting life you produced yourself; you can make the most of the power of life you’ve been given and realize yourself more and more.

Our talk may sound abstract, but it’s a talk that grasps the fundamental reason of things and changes the standpoint of your consciousness from the essential part. So when you apply it to your life, keep that in mind and try living with the intention of changing yourself fundamentally.

For if you just do that, the scenery and stage of your life will surely change into something dazzling, completely different from the past. (The end)