Religious Zen

Free as in free, period.

A man can be beaten, broken, imprisoned, tortured, mentally anguished, and any other number of things that man can do to his fellow man to cause him pain. But if they cannot pull his head out from the clouds, if they cannot cull his dreams and bring them back down to earth- then they cannot keep him from being free.

Freedom is not only a state of physical location, it is a state of mind. A state of soul. Only when a man is so downtrodden that he thinks, “It’s not worth the effort,” and pulls his thoughts and dreams in-line with everyone else’s- that’s when he has been beaten. He can be free only in name, not in spirit.

All one needs to do is fight. Not physically, no. Many stories have been told about the cancer patient who did not give up. They did not surrender to their condition. Then the next thing you know they have beaten it! Likewise, the patients who give up, they will die. In their heart of hearts, they stopped being free.

Not that there is anything wrong with giving up and shuffling off the mortal coil, but that is not the point of this essay.

Don’t ever give up. Don’t ever fit in. To fit in is to lose. Express yourself. Don’t let what others think of you effect you for one second. Don’t give up what you want to do for a cubicle. Don’t spend your whole life making somebody else rich- no matter how many HDTVs you can buy with selling your freedom. Don’t spend your whole life living someone else’s dream. Don’t let others tell you what your dream is. That is not freedom.

Find the point at which what you enjoy doing in life intersects with the real world, and make a living from that. There are so many opportunities for self expression and content that there is no excuse for not being free. In the end, it is all we have. They can destroy our homes, kill our families, hack off our limbs, but if they cannot destroy our hopes and wants and dreams, they have not beaten us. Not for one second. Not in a lifetime.

Freedom and promoting freedom in this post-modern revolution age is more important than anything. Anything.

What to do? There are no limits. There is no end to possibilities. Walk across the country, if you feel it. Create art, even if it is ‘bad’ art. Write, write, write, write, and write until you are satisfied. If you want to make a living from it write, write, write, write, and write until someone pays you for it.

Marry because you love, not because it is acceptable.

Don’t have kids if you don’t want them. Have kids only if you will love them. Don’t make your children a slave to ideals that you don’t even follow. This only perpetuates the cycle. Let them be free.

Sell your house, all your stuff, quit your job, and begin life again somewhere else.

These are only ideas. Ideas are limitless. They are probably wrong for you. Make your own ideas, and live them. As long as they are yours, you will be free.

Don’t spend one second of one minute suppressing the freedom of someone else. Never, never infringe upon someone else’s freedom to live

Who cares what religion they practice. Who cares if they are gay. Why do so many get so worked up over people they don’t know getting married? It only breeds slavery, and not freedom. They become slaves to their own ideals, and it does no good.

Don’t stop others freedom by putting them down. Help others out when they need it. Don’t be a drone in ant colony casually walking by, only following the pheromones you pick up with your antennae. Stop and say “Hi,” to a stranger. Or, better yet, just help people out randomly. This brings freedom.

There is approaching a singularity of like-minded individuals who only seek freedom- freedom of choice, of speech, of expression- freedom in every single way. If we can be free and coexist in harmony, then we have won.

Freedom, and love. Are they really separate to begin with?

Even with all this ranting and pseudo-poetic prose, there is still too many limitations with what I say. Don’t listen to it. It will only limit you. If you follow this to a T, then you are not free. Freedom is not gained from a guideline. Find your own manifesto, and be free. Don’t listen to me. Be free. That is the single most important thing.

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