a sense of freedom

Freedom is a state of mind – not freedom from something but a sense of freedom, a freedom to doubt and question everything and therefore so intense, active and vigorous that it throws away every form of dependence, slavery, conformity, and acceptance.

People pursuing a spiritual path are usually seeking something. And when asked, what are you seeking?, some may say, I am looking for god. Others will say, I want to find truth or peace. But one of the most common words that people use to describe what they are looking for is freedom. I want to be free.

And in this quote from Krishnamurti, he's indicating what that means, what is freedom. Is it just freedom from a tyrannical dictatorship? Is it freedom from oppressive parents? It's easy to find small individual examples of ways in which we are not free. But as usual, Krishnamurti cuts through those small meanings of the word freedom and goes straight to a deeper meaning of the word freedom. He's talking about a sense of freedom. It's a state of mind. And this is a beautiful observation in itself. And really, it goes for the other things that we might be seeking as well.

Peace, for example, is a state of mind. It's not really an absence of war. One can feel at peace, even in very turbulent times.

And so it is with freedom. One can feel free, even whilst locked in solitary confinement. We're living here in physical bodies. There are some restrictions implied in that. I need to breathe air. I need to drink water, just to survive. I'm not free of those conditions, those biological necessities. And even if I'm living with some oppressive parents, it's still possible to be psychologically free.

Closer to this meaning of freedom is what academics might call freedom of thought. If a government tries to tell academic institutions, what they should think, the academics push back against this. It's sacred, a sacred human right, for the academic to be able to think freely. And of course, that's very threatening, challenging to a governmental regime. What if the academics conclude that the way the government is running things is bad? It's a threat.

And we as individuals also need to really recognise the importance of freedom of thought. And as Krishnamurti indicates here, that means we have a freedom to doubt and question everything. It's really an attitude towards knowledge and societal conditioning. If we just accept everything that our parents teach us, that society tells us is right, if we accept it in an unquestioning way, we are merely taking on board someone else's truth. It's not really our own truth. And therefore, deep within that knowledge or conditioning, within our own psychology, there will be some feeling of dependence. We will feel bound or enslaved.

And that's not to say the things our parents and society teach us is bad or wrong. However, our attitude is the important thing. If we just do what we're told without questioning it, then somewhere, perhaps unconsciously, we will be feeling in this state of conformance, or even feeling enslaved.

So it's important to question things for oneself. And we might come to the same conclusions as society, as our parents, our teachers. But then it will be our own truth, and it won't carry with it this same rather hidden flavour of dependency or enslavement.

So when we question things, when we inquire into things for ourself, it brings with it a sense of nobility. One is no longer automatically conforming to some model that has been presented to one. The feeling inside is more one of a revolutionary. I don't just believe what the government tells me. I question it. The same with all outer authority: if Krishnamurti says something, I question it. I look into it for myself. And this way, there comes this feeling of dignity, integrity. I'm not enslaved. I'm not dependent in that intellectual sense. My behaviour is not just coming from the need to conform.

So as Krishnamurti indicates in this quote, having an attitude of mind that doubts and questions, that inquires into the truth of things for oneself, having such an attitude brings a state of mind that feels free – there's a sense of freedom. It's not freedom from a specific thing. It's a general background feeling in the psyche, this sense of freedom. I am my own being, whatever that may be.

And I don't even rely on the conclusions I reached yesterday. I even question those. So today, I am born anew, fresh, interested in what today will bring, interested in who I am today, curious.

And in this sense of freedom there's a tremendous lightness of being. I don't know whether you've ever watched small children playing, just doing whatever they want, not really caring what other people think about them, not following some rules that some adults have told them. They're very creative and very free. And this is the feeling of life if we manage to find this state of mind, a state of mind that has a sense of freedom.