Going Forth on the Fourth

Reimagining our freedom

Photo by Spenser Sembrat on Unsplash

"No one outside ourselves can rule us inwardly. When we know this, we become free." – Gautama Buddha

I hope you don’t mind an early post this week, as it’s a holiday weekend, and I’ll be away from technology. Maybe you will be, too!

Here in the US, the 4^th of July is, for many of us, a holiday of hot dogs and fireworks. We have long ago diminished the meaning of it – a celebration of freedom from the tyranny of the British Crown – in favor of a different meaning: the freedom to go to the beach or the state park or just a day off from work.

However, I would like to suggest that our 4^th of July weekend take on a different note, reminiscent of another holiday of freedom, Passover, and an exploration of what freedom actually means, in a spiritual context.

The Jewish holiday of Passover celebrates freedom from slavery or liberation. It tells the story of the Israelites going forth from Egypt, a metaphor for a narrow or limited consciousness, towards the Promised Land, or consciousness attuned to the Divine in all its abundance and expansion. Buddhist thought considers liberation, or freedom, similarly: as freedom from the constricted mindset of suffering towards Nirvana, or a unity with Ultimate Reality. Hindu, Daoist, and even Christian teachings also see freedom as a release from our own restricted misconception of reality to see and understand the bigger picture, however defined.

This year, our 4^th of July is overshadowed by tumultuous world events, many of which appear straight out of a Biblical story of tyranny, power and conquest. Our own consciousness feels hijacked by fear and suffering. It’s increasingly difficult to find joy, peace, freedom. We feel powerless and hopeless.

In other words, we have allowed ourselves to be narrowed by our fear-based perception of what is happening, or what might be happening, what has happened or will happen. We have imprisoned ourselves, made ourselves slaves to a mindset of oppression and doom. In doing so, we have given Pharaoh the power to control us. All we have to do is keep believing the story.

In the early days of the founding of the United States, the framers of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence used the Biblical story of Exodus as an inspiration for the American national story. In a 1776 letter to his brother, Cesar Rodney, a member of the Continental Congress and signer of the Declaration of Independence, was explicit in his reference. Rodney recalled how “The Israelites met with crosses and disappointments in their journey from the land of bondage to that of liberty, but by a steady perseverance and Divine assistance they at length possessed the Promised Land.” According to historian, Stuart Halpern, Rodney likened that journey to the American one; not without struggles, but with a divinely-assisted goal that would lead toward liberation and freedom.

I’m not suggesting we revert to a nationalist or fundamentalist pipedream, but something more universal that defines freedom as a different way of seeing. The early Americans saw themselves as moving towards something, not away, and held the hope and belief that it was possible. That’s the first step towards freedom: changing the way we think about our situation. If we remain mired in fear and helplessness, caught in a struggle “against,” not “for,” we will never get to where we want to go. As Aung San Suu Kyi once said, "The only real prison is fear, and the only real freedom is freedom from fear."

Thus, I would like to suggest that we take some time this holiday weekend to envision what freedom would look like if we oriented ourselves away from the narrative of suffering, fear, and gloom and saw ourselves as going forth towards something bigger, better and more liberated. What if we saw ourselves, like the Israelites and Founders, as moving towards something: a mindset of pro-, not anti-, away from the endless “fight against the present” towards building for a future. What if we really understood ourselves as having agency and strength, resilience, and hope. And what if, on a deep spiritual level, we trusted whatever we understand as the Sacred or Divine, to guide us?

I’m not saying that hot dogs and fireworks aren’t fun, and I intend to enjoy a party myself, but I challenge all of us to explore this 4^th of July as our own personal liberation from the consciousness of fear and bondage to one of agency and freedom, as the first day of our own “Forth of July” on the journey towards something brighter and better.

"None but ourselves can free our minds." – Bob Marley