Chapter 12 Human beings are being deceived by the concept of freedom

The Essence of Happiness and True Freedom

2.2-The.Essence.of.Happiness.and.True.Freedom Chapter-12 Human deceived concept

Today, let us continue to explore the subject of the truths of life.

We would begin with the discussion about the freedom in a general term.

Rousseau famously said, "Man is born free, but everywhere he is in chains."

From the perspective of a human being, much credence is invested in the right to act arbitrarily within the scope of legality and morality, which they refer to as freedom. In consequence, as long as they do not violate the freedom of others, they can do whatever they wish, and that is considered freedom. However, from the perspective of a society, freedom comes with restrictions; therefore, we must restrain ourselves, and discipline ourselves in order not to violate the law, not to go against morals of society, and not to interfere with the freedom of others.

When a person is exercising his legal and moral rights, and at the same time, feels hindered or restrained by others; that is, one is subjected to control from actions of another man. In consequence, one encounters coercions and threats, then by definition, his freedom is violated or deprived by someone or some people who live in the frame work of that society.

Please note that this freedom lies in the word "want"; that is to say, "what I want to do". "Want" means, "willingness, liking, interested in something”, and the willingness, liking, interested in something are driven by karma and under the forceful impact of habitual karmic, they produce emotional and psychological attachment.

When a person is driven by karma and the habitualness of it, try as one might, they are under the suffering of existence. However, with the lack of wealth and conditions to satisfy his karmic drive, their suffering of existence will continue, in addition to the suffering of not getting what one wants.

If one has enough wealth, as well as the conditions to fulfill his desires, if one is still hindered, restricted, or controlled by others from engrossing in his pleasures, one too will experience the suffering of existence and the suffering of not getting what one wants.

If a person's desire to do something is in the stage of liking, the suffering of existence and the suffering of not getting what one wants is not strong, that person still has a degree of restraint over himself. Kant said, ‘’freedom is not about doing what you want to do, but to refrain from doing what you want to do”. In the same manner, ‘’ freedom is not on the basis of desire, it is self governed’. The freedom that is mentioned by Kant is a freedom in the stage of liking.

If a desire becomes a favourite hobby or a habit, the compulsion will turn into annoyance, what one may feel is not only the excruciating suffering of existence, but also the suffering of existence and the suffering of not getting what one wants. During this time, if one still acquires freedom, it’s difficult for them to contain themself. They would do whatever as they wishe, violate others freedom and disregard the feeling of family members, friends or colleagues.

If a person's desire has become an addiction, the suffering of existence and the suffering of not getting what he wants will be excruciating. During this time, if they still acquire freedom, it’s impossible for them to contain themself, one might be driven into insanity. Deep hatred will encompass him when they are not satisfied, and they might bring harm to others, or steal and rob from others. As the famous saying goes, "be free or die".

Under the influence of karma and the forceful impact of karmic habitualness, human beings make choices and mistakenly thought that these come from their own will, own preferences and perceive them as freedom. Actually, the bottom line is that they are only temporarily relieving the suffering of existence.
In other words, human beings seek for freedom because of the suffering of existence. Subconsciously, human beings wish to temporarily eliminate the suffering of existence, so they follow their karmic habitualness and do as they please to alleviate suffering.

Most human beings are ignorant and just want to be free. In reality, human beings are deceived by freedom.
When human beings are free to do what they want to do, karma is constantly being practised, which enhances the karma of "wanting to do". As the karmic habitualness increases, the suffering of existence will increase, and so the karmic habitualness needs to be repeatedly performed in order to temporarily eliminate the suffering of existence, and this action will lead to a vicious circle.

In consequence, the suffering of existence in human beings amplifies; it leads to a more severe pain and more suffering of change (pleasure). The worsening of the severity of the situation will eventually cause human beings to fall into the abyss and become inextricable as if possessed by a demon.

Kant once said, "Freedom is not about doing what you want to do, but the ability to refrain from doing what you want to do." That is to say, "the so-called freedom is not merely following your mind, it is self mastering." However, what is referred to as freedom is causing us to feel unease. The price of this freedom is the loss of self-mastery.

In fact, the freedom of which Kant speaks is not real freedom. Even though one can choose not to do what one wants to do, one still has the suffering of existence. True freedom comes with the absence of karma, which consists of the "wanting to do", but it comes with the freedom of what actions to adopt and to avoid, without any negative emotions of suffering of existence and suffering of not getting what he wants.

For instance, smoking. A person who has never smoked has no karmic habitual of "wanting to smoke" and can freely choose whether to smoke or not to smoke, without experiencing the suffering of existence and pain.

And a person who is addicted to smoking has the karmic habitual of "wanting to smoke". When someone wants to smoke and is able to do it, he has the belief that he is enjoying the freedom of smoking; when a person wants to smoke but unable to fulfill the conditions, that person will feel that their freedom is unrealized, at least temporarily; when he wants to smoke and is not allowed to smoke, he may have the feeling that his freedom is being controlled or violated.

When this person tries to quit smoking, although there is still karmic habitual of "wanting to smoke", but rationally he does not want to smoke, and behaviourally he also restrains himself from smoking, at this time he will experience the suffering of existence and pain. However, the cravings will gradually diminish, so will his suffering of existence and pain.

When this person successfully quits smoking, there is no more karmic habitual of "wanting to smoke", no suffering of existence and pain, thus freedom is reclaimed

Human beings consider the right to temporarily eliminate the suffering of existence and the relieve of pain as freedom, but in the process of acting freely as they wish, the greed and karma habitualness will grow. As we are always full of wants and needs, desires and karma habitualness will escalate and the objective conditions to realise the freedom will be increasingly challenging. To make the freedom come true, it is inevitable to interfere or even violate the freedom of others. Then, their own freedom will be restricted, coerced and not allowed. In this case, human beings will eventually lose their freedom due to the pursuit of freedom, which is certain to happen.

Actually, the freedom human beings pursuit is not the true freedom. True freedom is the ease. At ease of doing something or not doing it. There is no suffering of existence and no pain involved. There is also no issue regarding freedom, with or without. This state of mind is the mind at ease.

So how can we be at ease? We shall continue to use smoking as an example.

When a smoker begins to smoke, even though they have a karma habitual of “wanting to smoke”, but rationally they refuse to smoke and behaviourally they are in control; at this moment, one is experiencing the suffering of existence, the suffering of not getting what one wants and the suffering of love and parting. Nevertheless, if the strategy is right, with perseverance, their addiction to smoking will gradually disappear. When this person has quit smoking, they will lose the “ wanting to smoke “ of karma habitualness, so the suffering of existence, the suffering of not getting what one wants and the suffering of love and parting will cease as well, one regains ease of mind.

Therefore, in order to truly eliminate the suffering of existence, we should only use the correct method to loosen the karma and reduce karmic habitualness, instead of just blindly following the karma habitualness to temporarily ease the suffering of existence. This is the major misconception of most human beings.

If we just follow the karma habitualness to realise our temporary freedom, the outcome is the expand of karma habitualness; and through this vicious circle, we shall lose our freedom in the end.

Of course, on the path to achieve ease of mind, we need virtue. This virtue is about the seeking the truth and reality. To put it another way, human beings need to have the virtue to learn wisdom and master the correct methods. To acquire this virtue, we should follow the sages, do good deeds and accumulate merits, and to increase blessings; from there we shall learn about wisdom and gain our ability, master the correct methods and let true ease of mind ignite within us.