The 4th of July is here again. The attendant dialogue evokes the founders’ dreams and demands for independence and all it implied: liberty; autonomy; self-determination; self-reliance; freedom.
We come to meditation practice perhaps seeking greater calm, better health, and a respite from the stresses of life. But we eventually realize that our deepest desire is also independence — not so much from external oppressors, but rather from the suffering we inflict upon ourselves; from the ways in which we make ourselves crazy; from our inability to accept, let go, and remain present for what is actually happening; from our hobbled capacity to embrace reality in all its glory, terror, perfection, and brokenness.
Just as humans the world over have fought and still fight to become independent from unhealthy power dynamics in relationships at macro and micro levels, we must bring this same courage and passion to our practice if we wish to free ourselves from our dependence upon our untrained minds, the stories they tell, and the deleterious effects these stories have on our well being.
So we practice in order to cultivate reliance upon our truest selves — rather than on some external or even internal authority — by utilizing our direct experience and our mindfulness as our wisest teachers and most trustworthy allies. We practice to release our intentions, words and actions from the restrictive domination of concepts, habits, craving and addiction. We practice to employ kindness, unconditional love and wise understanding as antidotes to the suppression and limitations created by our own greed, hatred and delusion. We practice to learn how to truly live…hearts open, minds awake, beings free from suffering.
It’s really all the same — freedom within, freedom without. Just as labeling our pain as “The Pain” rather than “My Pain” helps connect us with the universal nature of suffering, we can remember that peace and freedom come in many forms and exist on many scales, and that we must consistently work to develop these qualities and capacities within ourselves if we have any hope of manifesting them also in the world. If there even is any difference after all.
So on this anniversary of a certain kind of independence, I wish us all freedom from the ways in which we bind, suppress, capture and imprison ourselves, and each other. I wish us independence from whatever forces keep us small, afraid, angry, blind, and immune to the truth of our inter-being. And that our efforts may ripple out in whatever magical and tiny and large ways they tend to do, out into the universe, for the benefit of all.
May all beings be free.