🎈 True Freedom isn't What Society Says

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"True freedom comes with realizing what the mind is like when you stop pretending you’re controlling your experience." — Sam Harris

I used to think of freedom as merely financial, geographic, or circumstantial, but now I see it more through the lens of psychology.

Freedom is a state of mind, says my friend Peter Sharp in a dramatic video of him dancing in a fountain.

And he’s right.

But true freedom is not the ability to think freely, feel more emotions, or even choose your thoughts. It’s the opposite.

True freedom comes with relinquishing control over the mind.

Let me give you some context. When I began meditating, I thought I had absolute control over my mind. I was in charge. I was thinking the thoughts. I was feeling the feelings.

But this wasn’t true.

When you meditate, you learn that thoughts, feelings just appear—without explanation. They emerge from nowhere.

Freedom lives in your response to these random perceptions.

You know what people who aren’t free do? They try to control the mind. They get frustrated. They try to force their body into this feeling or that thought.

But me? I prefer freedom—the freedom to let my thoughts and feelings emerge suddenly and mysteriously, and then fade.