So what is freedom anyway?
Why did braveheart yell it at the top of his lungs while being tortured to death?
Why is it (the word freedom) now associated with being a red neck and a racist
With a confederate flag next to a don’t tread on me bumper sticker?
And do those of us that say we want freedom really understand what that even means?
Is actual freedom possible or will there always be a cage of resentment and fear we are forever doomed to work our way out of?
No doubt, like us humans
Freedom is vast and contains multitudes
On some level one could conclude that Jesus came here
Just to teach us that ultimate freedom is possible for us
On the other side of repentance and forgiveness
Because real freedom isn’t just about being able to tweet without getting shadow banned
Real freedom is freedom from the oppression of the mind
Freedom is an inside job
Freedom is defined by Webster as the quality or state of being free, such as: the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action. liberation from slavery or from the power of another. boldness of conception or execution. a political right
Boldness of conception or execution stands out
Cause to be bold one needs to
Be somewhat fearless
To be fearless one needs faith
To have faith one needs to connect with God
To connect with God
One needs to forgive and repent
To forgive and repent one needs to observe the mind
And see how we are more than our thoughts and beyond them in fact
Which gives birth to this appeal for freedom
With a movement towards God
On the vehicle called forgiveness.
In some way you could even argue
That freedom is God
Or God is freedom
You heard it said all the time that God is love
But true freedom
Or the state that allows one to just be present in the now
Without being damned by the past or
oppressed by the future
Seems to be a hint at the real nature of God as well
2
There’s no overcoming the abstract nature of the big words and concepts such as freedom or love or God for that matter
But it’s interesting to try
And like a map
Can send us perhaps in the right direction
In this time
Of division
And online battle around the concept of freedom
And all it’s sub categories
Medical freedom
Freedom of speech etc.
By protecting our freedom
It is possible that we are walking into a bigger and even more oppressive cage
Of fear and resentment
And the annoying key to that cage is called forgiveness
It doesn’t mean we don’t defend our rights
Or be bold with concept and execution
It just means we don’t judge or condemn or hate others while we do that
Our battle is spiritual not with flesh and blood
Or as Jesus put it
Forgive them father for they know not what they do
We can protect and fight for our freedom without falling into that trick of satan
Trapping us into the bigger cage of non forgiveness
Because what we want is freedom externally
And freedom internally
We don’t want other people telling us what to do or how to live
And that includes people from our past who maybe told us we were no good long ago and are still telling us that from our own internal voice
The self shaming voices that certainly disallow boldness in our actions
The only way to overcome those voices is through forgiveness.
So how do we forgive then?
3
I was at Jam For Freedom where people who faced and resisted the recent tyranny of our times all came together to celebrate and encourage freedom with each other around music and panel discussions.
We all lived in tents in the English countryside for a few days together basically hanging out and vibing
As with any baby festival it was partially a comedy of errors and organizational snafus
But in spirit it was a smashing success
It’s interesting how these two sides have come into being over the concept of freedom
Those who resist tyrannical movements and all of their guises of control
And those that comply and defend those movements as necessary for the “greater good”
So many of us on both sides lost lifelong friends, family and even careers on this battlefield
And accumulated laundry lists of resentments in the process
Perhaps we on the side of resisting tyranny
Protected our freedom on one side of what freedom means
While walking ourselves deeper into a cage on the other-side of what it means to be free
One simply cannot be full of anger and hatred
And at the same time consider themselves free.
I was invited on my friend Patrick Henningsen’s panel to discuss the effects of cancel culture
That came as a result of speaking your mind
And I brought the discussion back to forgiveness
And how these resentments we carry bind us to the devil’s will
And trick us into being in step with the same forces we think of ourselves as fighting against.
Nothing is more dangerous than righteous anger
Or justifiable rage in keeping us trapped and far from the freedom or the real freedom we seek.
Jesus said
Forgive them for they know not what they do
And when he said that he wasn’t condoning what they were doing
But he was seeing beyond
The flesh and blood of their actions
And up-leveling his viewpoint into the realm of the principalities or spiritual nature of what they were doing to be able to forgive them
In other words they weren’t even in control or at the helm of their own actions
And from this viewpoint forgiveness becomes possible and pragmatic
And when we see clearly that freedom is only possible in the spirit of forgiveness
We find our motivation to override the ego which thrives off of anger and resentment
And take this utterance from Jesus more seriously and apply it to our own world and lives
Forgive them for they know not what they do.
I hit a nerve at Jam For Freedom
Discussing this concept
And even singing the Ho’oponopono mantra with the crowd
I love you
I’m sorry
Please forgive me
And thank you
Our society encourages division
And hanging onto resentment is encouraged by both sides in the battle for freedom
Those who resisted and resist tyranny
And those who comply by insisting their freedom isn’t really being threatened at all
But perhaps the side who resists tyranny are even more guilty of keeping alive the resentment of the past
As they do have righteous indignation on their side
Many of us lost quite a lot
And the narrative of this time in our history has completely flipped to almost full support of those that resisted and continue to do so.
But what is real victory here?
I would argue that the final blow in this battle against psychopathic control
Is to forgive
Only through forgiveness are we all the way out of the cage of what happened to us and our world.
Forgiveness doesn’t mean
Compliance
It doesn’t mean there shouldn’t be consequences
It doesn’t mean
No longer fighting for freedom
Or boldly speaking up again when the next wave of control inevitably comes
Forgiveness just means letting go of the hatred that poisons our own world and hearts
Forgiveness just means true liberation
And seeing the battle for what it is
Spiritual in nature
Forgive them father for they know not what they do.