For thinkers like ME....please read!

Inner Freedom is Real Freedom

By Remez Sasson

Freedom from the compulsion of constant and endless thinking is real freedom. Your mind thinks from the moment you wake up in the morning until you fall asleep at night. It gives you no moment of rest. It creates thoughts and also receives thoughts from the world around you. This habit is so strong and deeply embedded that nobody even thinks of overcoming it.

In this state you are not free. You may live in a free country and you may have financial independence, yet the mind keeps chaining you to a contant flow of thoughts and mental images, many of which are useless and futile.

The mind is a creator and receiver of thoughts, and it also constantly produces mental movies. We act like spectators with eyes fixed on a screen, watching pictures moving on the screen of the mind. These moving pictures are so real that we never question their validity or whether we need them. Our life, habits, actions and reactions are all strongly affected by what goes inside our mind. It is only by silencing the hectic of the mind that we are able to enjoy true peace and true freedom.

If you were able to watch the activity going on in the minds of people, you would have seen a very interesting spectacle. You would have seen that each and every person is living in a kind of imaginary mental world created by his/her thoughts. You would have seen thoughts created by different minds floating through space and being picked up by other people, who think these are their own thoughts. All these thoughts are constantly programming the mind of the person thinking them, and causing the affected person to behave, act and talk in accordance with them. So where is freedom?

You may live in a free country, yet in your inner life you may not be free. You enjoy real freedom when you are able to accept or reject thoughts in accordance with your will, and being able to impose silence on your mind, when there is nothing to think about. This is of course mastery of the mind.

Only when you are free from the compulsion of constant thinking you become free. You switch off the engine of your car when you arrive to your destination, because there is no necessity for it to keep on running. Why not do the same with your mind? Why let the mind keep thinking uselss, futile or negative thoughts, at times when you don't need to plan, solve problems, study or work? When there is nothing special that you need to think about, why not enjoy inner silence - inner freedom?

Imagine your mind being calm, like a calm lake with no waves or ripples, free from the compulsion of involuntary thinking. In this state of calmness and quietude you become conscious of your inner self, which is usually hidden by the constant flow of thoughts and mental images. In this state you are aware of your inner being - spiritual self, and happiness and bliss emerge from within you.

How can one gain inner freedom? Through concentration and meditation, being calm, and developing detachment and the ability to filter and sift thoughts, without getting involved and swept by them.
Make your mind quiet and you will enjoy real freedom.