WHAT IS FREEDOM?

[Clifford Black]

Freedom

Recently, I had the opportunity to enter into a discussion about the subject of freedom.  After hearing what John had to say about the condition that is known as being free, I quickly realized, this nut does not have a clue as to what freedom might possibly be.  While thinking about what John was saying, it dawned on me that this may be a subject that needs investigating.  For most of my life I have heard people say things like: "I live in a free country" or "this (America) is a free country" on and on.  I am producing a web-radio show and I am thinking that maybe an interactive dialog about what some of us think freedom actually is could be quite interesting.  In other words, questions like: where did we get our ideas about freedom from.  Is the data that we have, true or false, is it (the data), based on belief or knowledge?  If you are interested in joining this discussion please leave a comment. 

B.

 

[Clifford Black]

The comments that I am finding on this thread are interesting more than I can explain.  Before I engage in this dance, I would ask that all of those who are truly relative to this interaction take the time to read and ponder what is posted on a blog that can be found by posting into the search at the BLOG TAG the word OJAI.  Here you can find a well written thought about freedom.  I think it wise to stay the course with this question about FREEDOM.  (B).

[Aaron (Al) Lewis]

This is just a tease: "To conclude I would suggest that you consider, observe, and be aware of the enslavement of your own mind. What has been said so far is merely an outline of the contents of the book, and if you are content with the outline, with the headlines, with a few ideas, then I’m afraid you will not go very far. It is not a matter of acceptance or denial, but rather of inquiry into yourself---which does not demand any form of authority. On the contrary, it demands that you should follow nobody, that you should be a light unto yourself, and you cannot be a light unto yourself if you are committed to any particular mode of conduct, to any form of activity that has been laid down as being respectable, as being religious. One must begin very near to go very far, and one cannot go very far if one does not know oneself. The knowing of oneself does not depend on any analyst. One can observe oneself as one goes along in every form of relationship, every day, and without that understanding, the mind can never be free."

[Ameedah Mawalin]

Hi Cliff, for me, freedom is the relentless, fearless, and peaceful ability to explore and thrive at my potential and whim.  My chains are lack of courage, KNOWledge, and self-confidence. Societal chains are so-called norms, mores, shackles, bars, territorial boundaries, laws, etc, or one can choose the freedom of death over punishment

[Clifford Black]

 

Namaska Ameedah, happy to be hearing from you and as we continue this thread maybe you can share more of your insights and thoughts about this and other issues. Thank You!

B.

[Aaron (Al) Lewis]

Dominique, one of the questions I had to consider was why, who and how they highjacked the struggle for freedom and renamed it the civil rights movement? The movement is over, but the great, great majority of people are not free be their own definition. It seems to me some strange things mystifying.

[Dominique Christina]

Ok so...the quote you offered was GREAT. And i'm with that. The problem I have...if one can qualify it as a problem, is that this stuff sometimes feels very...obvious. In other words, as I mentioned to Dr. Black in a phone conversation, sometimes I am jolted not because I don't know but rather because it is a thing that is apparent and clear and I am appalled by how far away I can get from that which is obvious and clear. Am I making sense? There are times when I am verrrrrry aware that I don't know. And in some cases, as is the case with this all-consuming idea of freedom...I get the sense that it is stuff I was encoded with before I got here. It is apparent and yet I have still lost my ability to remember that, or reckon with that on my own terms....I don't know. The codes get switched or I stop paying attention or I am lulled by a mass and a message that is always cajoling me into NOT knowing...sigh....I have no idea of I am languaging this well enough for it to make sense outside of my own head. I know I don't have the full scope and sequence of this thing called freedom. And yet I feel like I am not unfamiliar with where I will end up. In other words, I know I have to go the distance in order to find my way home and I will probably discover that I had home all along....thank you for your insights Big Bruh...means a lot to me. 

[Dominique Christina]

in response to the piece around civil rights...i find that the misnaming of things has always been the best agent of confusion. now...who benefited from that? whose agenda was that? am i being too machiavellian? dunno....

[Aaron (Al) Lewis]

There is it God! You see we are all born free. The problem is staying free.Now finish unplugging that attachment to the mother/the matrix and see what you saw.

[Brandon Imhotep]

From going to Dr. Black's class and reading the dictionary i learned that doom, dom, don, dona, lord and lady all mean "Law". I looked up Free and first found the Old English coming from the word Freo meaning "exempt from, not in bondage, noble and joyful." Freogan meant "to free, liberate, love". Gan in Old English means "go" as in gain (Middle French).

In other languages like Germanic and Celtic free mainly meant beloved, friend, to love, wife, to woo, peace. Sounds like those cultures either didn't have as much bondage or used a different term for bondage. Freedom is to be "from law" and THEN you can be love, be joyful, have peace, etc. Sounds like thief to me! Now i can true that some that spoke Old English where held in bondage and could gain liberation. I remember in school they would alway ask you "What do you want to be when you grow up?". The answers were always teacher, doctor, lawyer, policeman, fireman, sports, entertainment and sometimes pimp, prostitute, dopeboy and gangsta. The answers were never i want to own a school, doctors office, law firm, etc.  The teachers didnt encourage the thought of having a workers and owners mentality. My parents didn't either.... Lack of knowledge, poor teaching, mis/dis-education = men-tal bondage. Gladly ive been working hard to free myself from that! But i still have LAW! My other goal is to become free of debt. I didn't over stand the money system and how the "American dream" worked until the recession of 2008. I plan to make sure my future children have a way of life that they wake up and serve self. Tend to the garden, family business and educating their babies. I don't want my child to be in the hole in the prime of their lives... still serving massa! I can at least start them at zero debt and teach them on a level to have peace, love and be free from some laws.

When i think about the letters Cristobal Colon wrote back to Ferdinand and Isabel... the words describe a culture of peace and i think my ancestors knew the true meaning of freedom.

     So tractable, so peaceable, are these people that I swear to your Majesties there is not in the world a better nation. They love their neighbors as themselves, and their discourse is ever sweet and gentle, and accompanied with a smile; and though it is true that they are naked, yet their manners are decorous and praiseworthy.

    The King [the leader or chief"] observes such a wonderful estate in such a dignified manner that it is a pleasure to see. Neither better people nor land can there be. The houses and villages are so pretty. They love their neighbors as themselves and they have the sweetest speech in the world and they are gentle and they are always laughing. "
    "The Old Navigator, Christopher Columbus "

[Aaron (Al) Lewis]

B. where you been, missed you. You and Dom are actually talking about the same thing. On what to be when one grows up there are only two things a person can be and that is not to be or to be, all the rest are to do. That's another trick of the construct.

 

A

[Brandon Imhotep]

Brotha AL I have been "doing the work" & "trying to figure this thing out". I finally started reading Superman to man & The Five Negro Presidents. Will be back in class this wed or the next for sure... ive been sending a few people..... I took the knower/researcher skills that i learned from you and Dr. Black and i am flying..!

 

B.I.

[Clifford Black]

@BI & DC

You must remember this---The gate-way to freedom only opens for one person at a time. If a large number are trying to get thru at the same moment, it (freedom), will not happen.  What Harriet accomplished, was an objective reality that provided a pathway to liberty for "me" and me is the objective case of I. The subjective "I" is what this thread is all about. This is the real Underground Railroad.

Brother X said, "education is the passport to freedom".  This PERSON (X), showed us how to educate ourselves because he wanted YOU "to be" FREE.  Most people who have been educated by the system have been trained Not "to be" free.  Another very important aside is to understand that the teachers of the un-educated  are usually the under-educated and they receive their DEGREES from the designers of the construct. (B).