Most people would say that the following statement could only have been made by a demented person. “Virtually all of the members of our human species are enslaved and have never known true freedom.” Nevertheless, several hundred essays have been written in the content of the Simple Reality Project on this theme and those essays have been supported by several hundred highly insightful and thoughtful people. Here’s one more!
No one can be said to be free if they are enthralled within a narrative based on illusions rather than reality. Furthermore, that dominant worldview determines an identity that is also not consistent with the facts of who we are. And finally that identity has virtually all members of our species experiencing existential anxiety which leads to self-destructive behavior.
Not only individuals but communities and nations can be “enslaved” by institutions enthralled by the illusions of an identity unable to distinguish reality from illusion. For example the paralyzed government in Washington has trouble identifying or responding to the problems facing the nation. In a letter to The New York Times, Jacqueline Maguire laments that the pundits analyzing the challenges facing the nation had written:
“Not a single word about military spending.
Not a single mention of the Wall Street bailout or the Fed’s lending of trillions of dollars to banks at near-zero interest.
Not a single word about money in politics.
And they complain about a rising ‘commitment to entitlements.’
Good lord. What a doozy.” (1)
We have to agree with you Jacqueline! But now what do we do about lacking the freedom of awareness?
Insight # 175: Sukha is the state of well-being that manifests itself when we have freed ourselves of mental blindness and afflictive emotions. Georges Bernanos
Link:
- Freedom on this blog and in print in The ABC’s of Simple Reality: The Encyclopedia of Self-Transformation, Vol I (2018), pages 199-202, by Roy Charles Henry.
Reference:
- Maguire, Jacqueline. “Letters.” The New York Times Sunday. December 29, 2019, page 8.
