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How free are you"Well", you might say, I'm pretty free I live as free as anyone. I have freedom of speech, freedom of movement, freedom of thought. Yes, I'm pretty free. But are you, really? You may not be imprisoned behind bars unable to come and go at will, but are you really free'? Or is there a hidden prison keeping you down. Most of us have attachments; we form attachments to thought, ideas, objects, possessions, and people. pets, things, beliefs and ideas to an alarming degree. To such a degree in fact that if anything should happen to any of' our attachments we would be devastated. If' this is you, then you are not free.

If we are going to live a free life, we need to travel much lighter on the road. We need to lay down heavy burden worldly goods, attachments to people, places and belief systems and all things, that are, enslaving travel and us light.L had an experience once that changed my life. I could see a fire travelling toward my home. lt was 48 degrees and the tops of the trees were exploding into flame. This blaze was coming fast and 1 ranaround like Mr. Bean for a while trying to decide what to save and then burst into tears. In this moment of not trying, I made myself look at exactly where my priorities lay, what out of everything in this house could I not bear to lose. It was one of those moments when there was no time to waste and yet time was immaterial.

I thought and decided I took myself and my four cats, the rest of the family were safely elsewhere, and skedaddled. The house was saved but I had changed. Suddenly it had less meaning. I did a burn up of my own later and got rid of' a lot of things that before the fire I could never have parted with. Now, five years later I am still pruning down, letting go of attachment to the material and none material and the mind hates it. The mind attempts to gain security by attachment to things the more things, the more secure we feel but, and this is the big question. When does secure become prison. So just in case you may have an attachment or two you may like to take a minute to think about your freedom or lack of it. You may wish to observe yourself.

Are you lost in the destiny of your own confusion? Are you attached or detached? Are you free or imprisoned'? Are you in tune with your own spiritual self or filled with the last thing you saw, heard, or read. Are your relationships purely a security investment? Is there something that you need to give up but cannot bear to let go of? One way to see your way through all of' this is to withdraw into the inner self. Into the perfect silence and contemplate non-attachment. If you can do this daily you will begin to see exactly what needs to go and what you can keep. Then begin to prune, gently at first and feel how much lighter you feel.

Clarys