We are immersed in a constrained society. A system that dominates and manipulates us through consumerism, mainstream media, reality shows, movies, and TV series, and now also through social media. We have been programmed since we started school. We are told how to dress, how to think, how to behave, what to believe, and who we need to become. There is no room for critical thinking or being sovereign.

You have been frowned upon since childhood if you connect with your intuition and follow your heart. You are rejected from the group if you dare to be different. You are censured if you question the official speech. You are taught to conform. You are even threatened if you do not follow the rules. You are forced to comply with whatever the so-called authority commands. You are groomed to be a soldier, never a leader of your own life. You are led to believe that you are insignificant and that whatever you do does not really matter. You are indoctrinated into believing that you are your body and material achievements. You are told that your value is directly related to your wealth. You are conditioned by fear from very early on.

This cold and cruel world apparently has no transcendence, depth, kindness, compassion, imagination, spirituality, or brotherhood. Survival of the fittest, they tell you — no room for the sensitive, the empathetic, or the spiritually oriented beings.

Such a well-designed game that we take it for reality. No wonder so few people in every generation can awake from the dream.

All this leads to a conditioning of our mind based on the environment in which we move in the form of fears, anxieties, attachments, sorrows, dissatisfaction, and frustration. A spiral from which it is complicated for us to get out, even when we become somehow aware. Especially since we have internalized the programming and made it our own.

We tend to adopt the stern judge as part of our own mind. We become used to living with these internal monsters that fill us with toxicity and wither us from the inside without realizing that we can free ourselves from them. We have assimilated them as automatic habits. Unfortunately, we have internalized beliefs based on continuous repetition and exposure to enculturation. This ends up determining who we believe we are.

Having the first sparks of seeing through all the lies and programming is extremely tough. It takes much humility to accept that you have been duped. Learning how social engineering works helps you not to take it personally. Understanding how the ego plays tricks on each one of us is paramount to grasping the nature of life in this dual world. Becoming aware of the extent to which we act automatically can be disturbing, but it is the gateway to liberation.

What is true freedom?

In the West, we believe that freedom belongs to the external sphere: Expressing ourselves when and how we want; Doing whatever we wish, regardless of others and the consequences; Achieving all our desires according to our plan.

This is a basic, narrow, and very biased perspective of freedom. It actually ties us to our desires and clinging, always trying to fill a cup that is not supplied from the outside and, therefore, generates great suffering.

True freedom does not come from being able to carry out specific actions at our whim.

Actual freedom begins with the awareness that you have been programmed all your life and can liberate yourself from those invisible chains.

Real freedom appears when you do not identify with the ego and its fake stories.

Absolute freedom comes when you awake from this simulation we take as real life.

Only then can you see the illusion of Maya for what it is, waking up from the sleepwalking state we mistakingly take as independence.

True freedom is an internal state of peace, balance, and equanimity that nobody and nothing can restrict or grant. It is never a consequence of money, recognition, or power. It flourishes when we cultivate wisdom and compassion. When we can see things as they really are, when we take the perspective of our higher Self, when we follow our inner guidance, when we see the Oneness of all.

*Author: Mónica Esgueva

Source: Mystic Minds on Medium