Real Freedom requires Surrender
ungrip·@wwf·
0.000 HBDReal Freedom requires Surrender
<html> <p>I've been speaking and teaching for well over a decade to those curious about freedom. I've seen many who want to be free but are not ready to pay the price for freedom and do what it takes to be free. To explain this process, I need to explain what surrender REALLY means and to do that I need to explain the concept of will and ability.</p> <p>We live in a universe where free will reigns, meaning we have the ability to live our lives as we see fit. We were given the gift of self-determination by Creator and we all used that power to become feudal serfs to the war lords of the planet. We still have free will to reverse that decision if we chose to engage in that journey and process. However, over time our ability to be free has been significantly diminished making it harder and harder to do the work to accomplish freedom. That ability rests with our intellect, physical body, emotional body and spirit. Being very young, very old, struggling with physical constraints, etc all take away from our ability to do the work which has negative impacts on free will. But this does not make it impossible when we form families and clans so that we can work together. There is always a way to work around these constraints. </p> <p>Over time, we all have drifted into one of four scenarios depending on our will and ability to be free. </p> <p><img src="https://i.imgsafe.org/22/22f9dca147.jpeg" width="480" height="480"/></p> <p>If we lack the will and ability to be free (lower left), then we have resigned to being a slave and will most likely remain a slave until we find a way to change both. </p> <p>If we have the will but lack the ability (lower right), then the individual is most likely already engaged in training or other activities to compensate for the lack of skills or relationships he / she needs. The family or clan can be built to augment any vulnerabilities they have within their ability set.</p> <p>There are some individuals who have the ability but lack the will (top left). These people could easily be free but they don't want to be. They completely lack the will to even contemplate the idea. </p> <p>Those with the will and the ability (top right) are most likely already free or well on their way to getting there. </p> <p>The vast majority of people are in the lower or left quadrants with a few people finding their way to the upper right. Obviously there are a million shades of gray and that our assessment of ability and will is not so black and white as I literally displayed in the picture. We are all at different stages depending on where we are in our lives. But what does it take to get into the upper right quadrant? What does it take to acquire the ability and the will to be free? </p> <h1>Surrender </h1> <p>I believe that we all have it within ourselves the will and ability to be free. I have no doubt about that statement. But how do we get there? I am reminded of my own surrenders in my life. There were many, but two big ones stick out in my mind when writing this post. The first surrender I did happened in 2000 when I was at the peak of my depression. Between 1998 - 2000 I had been hospitalized six times as a result of my depression. Each time I was in the hospital I was detoxing off of one pharmaceutical psychotropic cocktail and being doped up onto another. I was addicted to pharmaceutical drugs as I blamed my body and everyone else for my problems and absolutely refused to accept responsibility for my own behaviours, health and relationships. I lacked the will to change yet I was perfectly capable of doing the work. I was stuck in the top left quadrant and refused to learn. I lived my life my way and it did not matter how many people confronted me about it and I thought they were all idiots! I dug in my heals and refused to listen or contemplate what was being said. I avoided confrontation at all costs as it was easier for me to hold this position in my life. It was my way or the highway.</p> <p>However, my depression got worse and worse. I attempted suicide and was nearly successful. Yet that was not enough to break my stubbornness. Though 2000 and into 2001 I finally hit rock bottom. I was a tired and broken man. I had lost my family, friends, home and nearly every possession I had. I was confronted with a choice.</p> <h1>Change or die</h1> <p>At that point I decided to change as death was my motivation. I did not realize it at the time, but that is the very moment that my will shifted and that put me into the bottom right quadrant. My willingness to learn took a sharp turn but I quickly found out I lacked the ability and skills. I decided to do the work despite the pain, sadness, anxiety, fear, anger, frustration and all the other emotions and feelings I was going through. It was a painful process but I had a dogged determination and refused to quit as the alternative was death. I found a courage that I did not know I had as I confronted my own behaviour, belief structures, relationships, self love and every other detail within my life. EVERYTHING was on the table. No sacred cows. It all got examined and evaluated as it all pointed to my own inability to hold healthy relationships with myself and others. With the shift in my will power, I then acquired the abilities that I was missing my whole entire life and I found my way to the top right quadrant. I did not realize that I also lacked the abilities to hold a healthy relationship, which actually meant that I was in the bottom left quadrant for the majority of my life. Despite my intellect I had no idea what healthy relationships were all about. With my surrender to change, I acquired both and it saved my life. </p> <h1>My second surrender</h1> <p>This surrender occurred in 2006 when my wife and I decided to sell everything and move off grid. Because we both went through the first surrender process already and reconciled our relationship on top of that, we already knew what it would take. We had the will but again lacked the ability. But that did not stop us as we decided to acquire the ability along the way. We took a leap of faith in ourselves, in Creator and our ability to work out the problems as they come. We surrendered our colonial, feudal slave life in exchange for freedom. We walked away from a way of life that has gripped the vast majority and took a leap of faith in Creator to provide for our needs. Over time we have build the skills and ability to have a healthy relationship with Mother Earth and that in turn provides for our needs. We have found a sense of freedom in our relationships because my wife and I healed ourselves and reconciled our relationship with ourselves and each other. </p> <p>This surrender process starts within and it is critical as the surrender shifts our will to learn, change, adapt, grow and acquire the ability to life a new, healthier life. </p> <p>I'm not talking about people deciding to make New Years resolutions. That is not the type of shift that I'm talking about. This is a profound leap of faith where we are prepared to let go of everything and start all over again. It is like walking out the front door and never coming back. It is like hearing we have terminal cancer and changing our life style to address the illness. That is what I mean by surrender. That is what is required if we want to be free. This is a life changing, life altering leap of faith into the abyss. </p> <p>I'm talking about finding the courage within ourselves to turn our lives completely up-side-down and start all over again. I had to do that in order to heal from my depression. My depression was not a result of chemical imbalances in the brain, but rather was cognitive behaviours that I fixed by completely changing how I see myself, behave and act around myself and other people. Our slavery to the system was not a result of being chained to a desk, but rather was the result of our unwillingness to take full responsibility and accountability for our lives and choosing to be completely dependent on others rather than living independently! </p> <p>I've been a witness to thousands who are interested in freedom but are not ready to surrender. They fear losing what they have and are not willing to walk away from it all to acquire what their heart is yearning for. A surrender involves doing a lot of mourning as we say good bye to an old way of life. I stand on the other side of working through two profoundly significant surrender events in my life. I am forever grateful and if I had to do another surrender I would leap with both feet and complete faith in myself and Creator. </p> <p>I know many people who refuse to surrender and I pray that they find it within their hearts to take that leap of faith. But the battle drums of war ring strongly and it is hard to silence those drums. But if we want peace and freedom, those drums must be smashed and we walk away from the battle field. I too beat on those drums as I fought through depression and my first surrender helped me leave the battle which saved my life. </p> <p>End the war! Surrender to what Creator is wanting us to learn so that we can Graduate Life with Honours! </p> </html>
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