Comments on: Choosing Spiritual Freedom

By: Jim Tolles

Jim Tolles — Thu, 17 Sep 2020 17:50:35 +0000

Yes. There's nothing to fix in the world that can make the ego happy. We only unlearn the problems we create in ourselves.

By: Paul Johnston

Paul Johnston — Wed, 19 Aug 2020 20:37:51 +0000

Exactly – people can spend so much time worrying about avoiding "discomfort" (and often a very minor discomfort, like getting rained on), that their appreciation of the present moment gets strangled by an anxious need for certainty (e.g. "I'm not going out if there's a chance of rain"). If the minor discomfort happens, their idea that this thing is intolerable causes them to react with aversion, rather than simply appreciating what's there. Sometimes rain can be soothing. It's the idea that doing/having certain things, whilst avoiding other things else will make you happy that (ironically) makes you unhappy. You're always struggling to "fix" the world in order to make it so, and then struggling to preserve what you have (and you're not going to win that one!)

By: Jim Tolles

Jim Tolles — Wed, 19 Aug 2020 15:45:37 +0000

Thanks for the comment, Paul.

It's interesting to consider how most people are actively trying to limit the amount of life that they have. They don't want to be free. They try and try to limit life to only the happy and pleasurable stuff, but that primarily creates a whole lot of suffer. When we unlimit ourselves and embrace the freedom of pain and discomfort, we end our suffering and also tend to be happier anyway.

By: Paul Johnston

Paul Johnston — Wed, 19 Aug 2020 15:11:03 +0000

Yes, spot on Jim. At no point will anything in the physical world ever be permanently "fixed" or "sorted out". Even in the imaginary "happy ever after" scenario, the physical body is still going to decay and die! Once I fully accepted/realised the merely temporary nature of any "thing" or situation, a huge load of anxiety and urgency lifted, and my appreciation of life increased massively.

By: Jim Tolles

Jim Tolles — Mon, 06 Jul 2020 17:47:42 +0000

The ego uses every threat in the book to scare you from freedom, but freedom is not scary. The ego is scary. Go deeper in your inner work.