Freedom Fighter

What does it mean to be a “freedom fighter?” What does it mean to “gain independence?” Do we even want independence? Maybe we want connection?

So what does it mean to be a “Freedom Fighter?” Being a freedom fighter means someone who will fight for freedom. For me, it’s not about bullying someone or some situation into submission. It’s not about showing power. It’s not about proving worth. It’s about “fighting” or overriding habits, constructs, attachments. Acknowledging that at one time, these habits, attachments, constructs were supports to that provided a “safe container”  for us to grow and evolve. And over time, like clothes, we outgrow them. The "safe container" can become a "prison."

When we feel locked inside a tyrannical container, whether it be our country’s pre-July 4, 1776 container, or the container we created for ourselves, it’s time to do what it takes to break free. Does it mean destroying the cocoon, or finding a way out of it so we can both exist? Does it mean preaching or beating someone into submission until they see you as the one who “Knows” or has “Power?”  Is my freedom based on someone else’s submission to my needs/wants/truth? 

I think Freedom is knowing yourself well enough to take responsibility for one’s choices, emotions, health, thoughts, actions, non-actions. And the freer I am, the freer we all can be, because my freedom is no longer contingent on the behavior or beliefs of someone else. And that is worth fighting for. And figuring out what it means to “fight.” As we move towards more equality and equanimity, we may still “fight” our way out of our prisons, but in the process, we will find that in order to truly be free, we may need to re-frame what it means to “fight” and understand that we are really only ever fighting ourselves. As Dennis Adams says, “It’s never outside of yourself.” And as hard as that can be to swallow or even grok, it applies. And what I’m really fighting is my own resistance to change. My own attachments. My need to have life “just so.” 

Being a freedom fighter means I am willing to see more choices. I am willing to choose another route. I am willing to wait. I am willing to act. I am willing to embrace or walk away. I am willing to say yes or no. I am willing to not know. I am willing to evolve independently of others, yet alongside of others. For me, freedom is being able to evolve myself as you evolve yourself. And one of the gifts of this freedom is that we can witness each other's evolution and learn from each other. 

Independence Day. Connection Day. Freedom is having both at the same time.