when there is freedom

And when there is freedom, there is energy; and when there is freedom it can never do anything wrong.

Until one has started tasting liberation for oneself, until one begins to feel what it means to be free, until that point, we don't really realise just how much energy we are consuming in our acting. We're all hiding: hiding from ourselves, hiding from each other, playing games, acting out roles, trying to be what we think other people want us us to be, or what we should be, worrying about what other people think of us, with a chronic anxiousness somewhere deep down inside us. All of this consumes a vast amount of energy. It's exhausting.

So when for a moment, we find ourselves free of all that. Then suddenly that energy is available. That energy can flow in creative ways. And this is really what we are, in so far as we are anything at all. We are a flow of energy.

Unfortunately, for most people, most of the time, that flow is constrained. And the energy is put to use in ways that are not beneficial, either to ourselves or to wider society. There's a sort of mass insanity in the way we humans live, ordinarily. When through our seeking and through good luck that in insanity disappears for a moment, within oneself, when, at least briefly, we are free of it all, the whole nonsense of being a civilised human being, and what that requires, when for a moment all of that is put aside and we are free, suddenly the energy within us, the energy that is us, can flow as it will, can flow freely.

And it's a tremendous energy. This is perhaps why we are slightly afraid of it, slightly afraid of who we really are. If unleashed, it feels like this energy could move mountains. And of course, it feels like we are not really in control of it, once we reach a state of freedom.

This freedom is really a freedom from our own ego and super ego. It's a freedom from needing to control ourselves. It's a freedom to simply be, in the moment, spontaneously, in whatever way is natural, in that moment, not following rules, not attending to what we should be, not worrying about it at all, just being whoever we happen to be in the moment.

So there is a tremendous energy available and flowing in this state of freedom. And in this lovely quote from Krishnamurti he goes on, "And with freedom, it can do nothing wrong." And this, you might need to take on as a matter of faith to begin with, because this is the great fear: if I don't control myself, there's this immense energy and anything might happen. Perhaps I'll start killing people or doing some terrible damage somehow. There's this fear. It's based on assuming that our controlling ego is all that's stopping us from being a total tyrant. Because without this sense of control, there is anarchy, anarchy in its strictest sense and that means no rules and no knowing what might happen. But the amazing thing is, rather paradoxically, if we surrender totally to this space of freedom, of anarchy, and the energy that is released with that, the amazing thing is that that energy can do no wrong.

In this state of freedom, the energy that we rather farcically label I, or me, is simply part of the huge energy field of existence. This energy is flowing, flooding and ebbing, curving one way and another. There's a huge dance going on and we are part of that dance. And once the ego is out of the way, once the control freak has surrendered, then the energy that we are can do no wrong. Of course, the thinking mind, the controlling ego mind, refuses to believe this. Because that controlling mind has created our shadow, has suppressed all sorts of urges within us. And we are afraid that that shadow side will somehow erupt and cause a lot of harm and suffering in the world.

Ironically, though, it is the controlling way of being in the world that leads to that shadow expressing itself in harmful ways. We project all that darkness onto other people and then make enemies of them. It creates that antagonism and leads to all the hostility in the world, whether it be between husband and wife, or one nation and the next. All of that comes from the controlling egoic way of living.

Once we're in a space of freedom, it's true that anything might happen. I can't rule out anything. It's even possible that someone in a space of freedom might kill another human being. It's possible. I doubt that it's ever happened. It seems very unlikely. Anything is possible. But it's very clear in this space of freedom that everything that is expressing itself through one is exactly what is appropriate in the moment. It can never be wrong. The energy of freedom can do no wrong. It is paradoxical, of course, and the logical rational mind won't be able to figure it out. But this has been the direct experience of everyone who has tasted freedom. And this will be your experience, too, the day you also become this freedom.