'Huffington Post: Gangaji...The Call to Freedom'
July 7th, 2009
I recently visited the lively, beautiful city of Berlin. It was my first visit,
and I brought with the visit what the word "Berlin" has meant to me. In my mind
Berlin is a city that has lived at the center of extremes.
In the 1930's it was a pleasure capital of hedonistic fulfillment. In the
1940's, it was the center of Hitler and his Nazi followers' diabolic
implementation of the Third Reich's new world order. In the 1950's and 60's it
was a main focal point of the cold war standoffs between Russia and the allies
of the United States, filled with John le Carre' intrigues.
And finally, in 1989, when the odious concrete wall separating East and West
Berlin began to be demolished, it became the proof of freedom's ultimate
uncontainability. A symbolic city in our collective history, and a strong myth
in my own mind.
As Eli and I walked through the city, with its many beautiful trees and
remaining elegant pre-war buildings, we noticed there were still places where
the Wall has remained in place-perhaps as a reminder of history. It is a
reminder of Berlin's history of course, and also of the history of all
countries and all individuals.
There is within us a dynamic call to freedom. It demands expansiveness of mind
and spirit so that we can discover what is not bound by concepts formed in the
past. It allows creative exploration past our mental borders. And while
political and social freedom is to be firmly supported everywhere, the freedom
of our own spirit is not limited by external repression. The spirit of inquiry
and discovery is silent and has no form that can be externally subjected to
regulation or containment. Yet the forces we see at play in the world of
history are also at play in the thought processes of our own minds.
The uproar in Iran confirms both the strength of the universal call to freedom
as well as the repressive forces unleashed when that call threatens the status
quo. There is a status quo in our own minds as well as in the governments of
the world.
Freedom's call is usually initially met by our own mental tendencies of
repressive containment. We may be called to freedom in the deepest sense, and
yet resist that call by our own mental internal guards and censors. Our fear of
the unknown can harness our creative, free impulse to soar. We build imaginary
walls of separation to try to control what is allowed in or out, and then we
cry out against those walls.
We too often substitute doubt for true questioning, and then suffer from
self-doubt. We decide what we should feel or think, rather than simply
discovering what we are feeling and thinking. We search for people to love us
rather than exercising our freedom to love boundlessly. We try to be who we
think we should be rather than discovering who we really are.
With willingness to see our repressive tendencies, we also can recognize that
no wall-concrete or imaginary-can finally keep the thrust for freedom at bay.
We can choose to ignore the loops of thought that try to keep us definable and
small. When we refuse to continue to follow the dictates of constraining
thoughts, we have the attention necessary to directly meet fear. In meeting
fear directly, we discover it to have no real substance. We have the capacity
to open our minds to the unknown. An open mind is free.
And we can see that freedom of body, mind, and spirit requires vigilance. The
force that builds walls of separation, within our own minds or towards others,
requires particular types of thoughts - thoughts of control, protection, and
punishment. When we allow the cry of freedom to arise within us, it penetrates
all thought in its promise and revelation of limitless spaciousness of mind.
Ultimately the Berlin Wall was brought down by its builders and maintainers by
their recognition that it was destructive to the people. It was demolished
peacefully; a time of celebration. No war was necessary, no lives were lost.
Likewise in our own minds, no war with ourselves is necessary to stop our
repressive thoughts. When we tell the truth to ourselves, we see that our walls
of protection, containment, and punishment do not serve us. If we open to all
of ourselves, rather than partition off the good parts and the bad parts, we
discover the open mind which is integral, free and whole.
It took some time for the concrete wall of Berlin to be breached; how much time
does it take for an imaginary mental wall to fall?
Gangaji is holding meetings and retreats this summer in Amsterdam, Copenhagen,
Berlin, Baden-Baden, London, Dublin, and Dorset. Read more about Gangaji's
events and catalog of books and videos online.
