Today, the nation is celebrating its 71st year of freedom. 71 years since we overthrew a power that usurped our land, our lives, our so called freedom. But, let us allow ourselves to look at freedom in a slightly different light. Have we really found freedom? Or are we still looking for something, something out there, that will make us happier, richer, more loving, smarter – basically, in some way, better than we currently are? Maybe it is time to consider what we really need to do to feel free. Maybe it is time to look into how we truly define freedom.
In the book This Matter of Culture, J. Krishnamurti in his inimitable style, has discussed at length ‘the problem of freedom’:
‘I would like to discuss with you the problem of freedom.’ he says. ‘It is a very complex problem, needing deep study and understanding. We hear much talk about freedom, religious freedom, and the freedom to do what one would like to do. Volumes have been written on all this by scholars. But I think we can approach it very simply and directly, and perhaps that will bring us to the real solution.
I wonder if you have ever stopped to observe the marvelous glow in the west as the sun sets, with the shy young moon just over the trees? Often at that hour the river is very calm, and then everything is reflected on its surface: the bridge, the train that goes over it, the tender moon, and presently, as it grows dark, the stars. It is all very beautiful. And to observe, to watch, to give your whole attention to something beautiful, your mind must be free of preoccupations, must it not? It must not be occupied with problems, with worries, with speculations. It is only when the mind is very quiet that you can really observe, for then the mind is sensitive to extraordinary beauty; and perhaps here is a clue to our problem of freedom…
…Please see this, for it is the real clue to the understanding of the problem of freedom. Whether in this world of politicians, power, position and authority, or in the so-called spiritual world where you aspire to be virtuous, noble, saintly, the moment you want to be somebody you are no longer free. But the man or the woman who sees the absurdity of all these things and whose heart is therefore innocent, and therefore not moved by the desire to be somebody – such a person is free. If you understand the simplicity of it you will also see its extraordinary beauty and depth.’
And it is in this beauty we revel and urge each child to revel. It is this sense of freedom that always thrives at Touching Lives. Each soul at Touching Lives is welcome to redefine freedom and free themselves from themselves. You too can reach this freedom. Come, join us in filling this world with free thinkers, lovers, doers, decision makers. Let us shine our light upon our own life and upon this world.