This July, Lou has invited us to explore the topic of freedom through our practice.
Very topical for me at this moment. As I write this, I am constantly being interrupted by Pepe, a little kitten that I brought to my house with an idea of finding him a permanent home. As he jumps on my computer, I am instantly experiencing a reduced sense of freedom. But as he purrs and climbs on me, I am also sensing an extension of my capacity to care – give and receive love. And I am not sure I want to let go of him.
In many spiritual conversations, that Lou beautifully summarizes for us, freedom is referred to as letting go – of internal limitations, desire to control, attachments. And in many political discussions, and particularly in the USA, freedom is often understood as “freedom from” – from external constraint, interference, control, limitation. Sometimes this perspective comes closer to each other in ways that may overlook our fundamentally relational human nature.
How do we practice freedom in the lived experience of inter-connection? How is freedom related to care? How do we as individuals stay in relationships without losing ourselves? And how do we build new systems of collective care, which nurture both our authenticity and belonging?
In these summer months, I invite you to investigate how freedom and care are related.
The number 7, the frequency of July, sits at the edge – between the material world and mystery. As does the idea of freedom. Threshold thinking rather than fixed definitions.
The abstract ideas of letting go need to be implemented in the context of inter-connected lives on this planet, held alongside another dimension of freedom – the capacity to remain present, to commit, to care, to participate in relationships without self-abandonment.
So, what does freedom mean for you in the different communities you are part of?
What should you let go of and what should you commit to even more fully?
Where do fears and the desire to control prevent you from letting go, and where do they prevent you from committing?
Maybe we cannot mentally know freedom. Maybe it lives in our body, in a sense of aliveness and expansiveness we feel when we choose from love and not fear? Maybe freedom is not only the capacity to let go, but also to stay consciously with what does not easily let go of us.
With much love,
Ivana Liv Daspree