The Paradox of Seeking Freedom

[@simonaschmidt]

So glad to be done with the term enlightenment that is so loaded.

[@mindfulkayaker7737]

I agree with Rupert that we can’t stop seek happiness. But we can stop the expectation for the results of. Our seeking.

[@Pedro-s4k3y]

Personally I've never understood a word like happiness.

[@mindfulkayaker7737]

@@Pedro-s4k3y it would be better say “peace”

[@Pedro-s4k3y]

@@mindfulkayaker7737 so peace and happiness are the same?

[@jasonbecker4974]

In my own personal journey and experience, I would say that becoming enlightened was more of a homecoming than anything else. Remembering who I am and where I came from. Life is utter bliss in the wake of this remembering.

[@hemamalinirs1002]

Completely agree , until one is totally established in its natural state , seeking cannot stop !! Thank you Rupert , immense gratitude and love ❤🙏🙏🙏

[@Godly_Sharing]

The paradox of seeking freedom is a profound inquiry into the nature of liberation and the inherent contradictions within the pursuit of freedom itself. In the context of pure awareness, this paradox reveals the complex relationship between the search for freedom and the realization of its true nature. On one level, the pursuit of freedom often involves striving to escape from constraints, limitations, or conditions that are perceived as restricting one's sense of self. This seeking can manifest in various forms-whether it's seeking freedom from external circumstances, personal habits, or internal fears. However, this very pursuit can create a paradox: the more you chase after freedom as an external goal or as something to be attained, the more elusive it can seem. The essence of this paradox lies in the realization that true freedom is not something to be acquired or achieved through external means. Instead, it is a fundamental quality of pure awareness itself. In moments of deep presence, you may discover that freedom is not found in escaping or overcoming obstacles but in recognizing the inherent freedom that already exists within the essence of your being. This awareness reveals that freedom is not a distant destination but an intrinsic aspect of your consciousness. When you approach freedom from the standpoint of pure awareness, you begin to see that seeking freedom outside of yourself is often a reflection of an internal misunderstanding. The pursuit of freedom can inadvertently reinforce the very sense of limitation or lack that it aims to overcome. This realization highlights the paradox: the more you seek freedom as an external or conditional state, the more you reinforce the illusion of separation and constraint. The true nature of freedom is revealed when you shift your focus from seeking to recognizing. By turning inward and connecting with the essence of your awareness, you can experience the intrinsic freedom that is always present. This freedom is not bound by external conditions or achievements but is a direct expression of your fundamental consciousness. It is an ever-present quality that cannot be diminished or enhanced by external circumstances. Understanding the paradox of seeking freedom allows you to transcend the limitations of conventional pursuit and embrace the deeper truth of your being. It shifts the focus from an external quest to an internal realization, revealing that true freedom is already present in the essence of awareness. This understanding transforms your relationship with freedom, showing that it is not something to be attained but a fundamental aspect of your existence that is always available in the present moment. Ultimately, the paradox of seeking freedom underscores the profound insight that freedom is not a separate goal but an intrinsic quality of pure awareness. By recognizing this, you can move beyond the cycle of seeking and experience the deep, unchanging freedom that is inherent in the essence of your being.

[@levlevin182]

Before time there was awareness of time. So suffering is self inflection & self infection. So listen to Rupert & do your own thing.🕺🏼🌎😁

[@plumeria66]

As long as you’re in a body, you will have desires. Limitation creates dissatisfaction.

[@AlisonSalter-o9m]

I love it when Rupert opens the slightest crack into letting you see what goes on inside him haha...because he is such a closed book 😆 ordinarily and it is so rare! But occasionally if you are really aware and astute, you can pick up the faintest facial expression or moment of body language. His face from 3:13 when he's just said 'you have to choose your teachers carefully'...and then seconds later he realises he's just backed himself into his own corner and raised himself up onto his own pedestal, with that statement when the questioner tells him 'I did, that's why I'm here...and I've been to 10-20 others so it's a true compliment'. You could literally feel the speech bubble emerging from his mouth ''omg I just saved him and incriminated myself! I'm always trying to take myself OFF the pedestal and I've just offered to climb up the ladder to the podium." Maybe Rupert, the learning is for you to realise WHAT YOU ARE in this relative world. You are, a spiritual teacher as this character. The world repeatedly telling you that through other people's mouths...AND it seems, even your own! Believe it. Chop wood and carry water...in other words. You cannot hang out in the transcendent negating world of 'I am not a spiritual teacher' forever. You Are. It makes me laugh how God speaks through us! There is oodles to learn from this conversation! Mainly that spiritual teaching ties you up in knots until you cannot move...and you HAVE to let it go and wriggle to Freedom as an ordinary person. Much Love as Always xxx

[@ddlynndesigns]

I often see from the outside looking in, watching myself carrying on in all my human conditioning. A smile arises, and says: I know you! 😊😊

[@eldonscott9]

This is a fiction, nothing more.

[@samc6231]

To think the self is free is to be caught in the ego delusion, believing in an attainment of the separate self. To think the self is not free likewise depends on the concept of a separate self, subject to the otherness. The third position is that neither of the previous apply. The Gateless Gate discusses this in a stanza on being "one with the law of causation" and the Diamond Sutra covers this in a dialogue between the Buddha and Subuti. 🙏

[@sreevidyas-zw3tq]

നമസ്തെ ❤.... A malayali (An Indian)

[@bethhayes1]

I can't NOT desire freedom. I wish i could turn it off but it has always been with me. I have no choice.

[@innerlight617]

Here is what Nisargadatta said about end of searching: "-My search ended there. In search for the truth,i found that my 'I' had no existence. I found out that this 'I' was not individual but the Universal 'I'. The real 'I' was the entire existence,without any individuality. With this finding ,my search ended there. What existed was not 'I' but Brahman."

[@Ganeden_Y]

The "I am" and our experience go together because the self is formed by our unique experience. It's not possible to be/exist without experiencing except in profound meditation or deep sleep devoid of dreams. The "I am" isn't the sum of everything, "All that is" is something else called GOD, I am not neither are you "All that is".

[@Louloute-h4x]

@@Ganeden_Y In my view, only God can say that He is everything. Each of us has some of the qualities and abilities of the Most High who Himself comprises all of us.

[@ddlynndesigns]

But! Who is Braham? Again, the attachment to someone else's statements & beliefs. Acceptance comes to mind 😊

[@Aed516]

So this Hindu guru/yogi is saying that what existed was Brahman (God). That's easy facts. How can a grown human being deny God? You must be insane. Which you (atheists) certainly are. Always, easy, must be easy, will always forever be easy. God is easy :) Easy I say.

[@Mrrinal99]

I don’t know what is it but this is sure we are connected in a larger consciousness and one large mind ( source ) bcz I had the same question and confusion about this today and wanting to understand that and see I got the answer ❤ am just grateful 😊thank you 🙏🏻

[@hazelr992]

Because he already is

[@Ms.coconut928]

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@ela.elaela9076]

Dzień dobry,czy można prosić o rozszerzenie automatycznych napisów o języku .POLSKI .. DZIĘKUJĘ.❤..

[@germanlearning6951]

And hungary please

[@Pedro-s4k3y]

this fable explains freedom. A badly fed wolf got talking to a guarding dog that was well fed. The dog told the wolf that his owner kept him well fed and what the dog had to do was to look after the owner's sheep and keep the wolfs away. So the dog suggested to the wolf why didn't he come with him and work for his owner. So the wolf agreed. On the way to the house the wolf noticed a mark on the dog's neck. So he asked him what is that mark. The dog replied that is the mark of the collar the owner puts on me sometimes to tie me. So the wolf asked him, "so you can not go from here to there whenever you want?" The dog replied, "on occasions". The wolf said "that is no freedom", I want to go wherever I please so he said good bye to the dog.

[@CraigAnderson-h2h]

To seek anything, including freedom, means you don't have it. Next issue is, how do you know what it is if you've never had it?

[@lureup9973]

Yeah it’s like saying to Elon musk, you don’t have money because that’s what you seek, stop seeking it and you will find you already have it, doesn’t really make sense….he knows he has it..but still seeks it….instead, the concept of what the money does for him is what he is truly looking for does, and he probably doesn’t realize it’s always available to him because it can only come out of himself. The money is just an idea that he uses to feel what is inside him and has always been there, or it couldn’t ever arise in him. So maybe the real truth is we are here in these meat puppets to know what it’s like to not know these things we think we are here to find…or maybe I’m just slipping off into another egoic delusion.🤪

[@paulward2333]

​@lureup9973 Maybe. But isn't it great fun? It's like a dance; we see the Idea, reach for it, and end just off target, but soooooo close. Again and again again. Nothing you don't know for yourself by now (which is good, because I am not articulating it well at all here), but I wanted to offer some encouragement. Our continual dancing with all our egoic delusions is how we get better at telling them apart from IT.

[@lureup9973]

@@paulward2333 Yeash!!!

[@phk2000]

All is one, there is not two. You know it already, you know it’s true. You can look and look but there’s nothing to find The truth’s just been hidden by the chatter of your mind. Oneness is here, now - not somewhere above Oneness is All, oneness is LOVE. See it and a smile in your heart will appear Your life filled with JOY and nothing to fear.

[@yerberohamsa]

Could one say that suffering is a result of ignorance and seeking happiness is the reaction? Then once happiness is achieved one does not seek it anymore.

[@hulkhogan8190]

Do non living entities have consciousness

[@abdulrashid-iy8lt]

Consciousness has taken form as non living beings Nothing can exist without consciousness How anything living or non living will be born? From which thing non living will take their existence? From which thing non living beings will be born? (from consciousness) Consciousness is imagining or dreaming all living and non living beings including me and you Consciousness is imagining me and you and this whole universe

[@dainawambua2357]

Only consciousness is conscious.

[@hulkhogan8190]

@@abdulrashid-iy8lt in this regard, how close awareness and consciousness are

[@malabuha]

It's a good question. Living and non living things exist in consciousness. They are essentially made of consciousness. It's a god - son of god kind of relationship. Something like chicken and the egg dilemma, perfect for debates and beating empty hay 😅

[@abdulrashid-iy8lt]

@@hulkhogan8190 awareness and consciousness are same and one but nisargadatta maharaj use consciousness as consciousness of particular form and mind for example consciousness of being a human but awareness is used as ultimate absolute last thing For example awareness is aware of consciousness which is consciousness of being human

[@milenapjeranovic]

❤❤❤

[@alfreddifeo9642]

🙏

[@stevebrown6215]

Look from the view point of freedom rather than seeking freedom.

[@colefiler1429]

Posted 15 minutes ago? Nice

[@Azizah_1988]

إبحث عن الحريه الى أن تستقرفي طبيعتك !!لم يجدي نفعا هذا التعليم لآلاف السنوات أشعر بغرابه لسماع هذا من روبرت ،، ترويض الإيقو لآلاف السنوات لم يأتي الابنتائج السلحفاه ،، تعليم موجي رامانا اوشو كن في طبيعتك ولن تبحث عن مصطلح الحريه