There is No Freedom Without Knowledge.
From Knowledge Comes Understanding and Power.
One of the dictionary definitions of freedom is
"The power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants".
Another definition is
"The state of not being imprisoned or enslaved."
Now let's answer this question, it is not clear cut! When I look around in the West I see two things happening, in particular in the UK, USA and many parts of Europe. We live as free as a bird in many ways. It is sometimes even shocking to see the extent to which people are left to their own devices so long as they obey the law and pay their taxes. We are not guided as to what to do with our time or our lives, how to eat well. Most people are free to choose whatever they want to do and think.. at least based on the knowledge and options they have been given. But, is it fair to say that the first definition is pretty well met? Are most people free to act, speak or think as one wants (within reason)? This question ties in with the second definition... and now things start to get a little more shaky!
To say people are enslaved is a heavy notion to bestow on a populous! Aside from actual prisons, most people seem to live freely and can move about as they see fit. .. that is if they have time aside from work and family. I mean most people have bills to pay, and worse still mortgages to cover every month or they can lose their homes! The current tax rate is at around 30-50%, plus probably at least around another 30% or more in hidden and extra taxes applied to goods and services, and more! People are basically working their asses off to pay most of it directly to the government with almost none of it coming back into their community. Not only that but it is also fair to say that the system itself is rigged against the average person in that they are paying banks and very large companies most of their money if not all of it. In effect most people are working full time to pay the government and top 1% of corporate entities.. mostly in the form of loans. If you don’t pay you can go to prison and or have all of your personal items stolen from you. In my opinion this is a form of slavery, and especially so when you understand the workings of the media that complement the entire system of Laissez-faire Capitalism. Here is where the problem deepens and why in my opinion we are actually mostly enslaved.
I started this post by saying there is No Freedom without knowledge. This is so true because we need to know the truth about our world, and the reality we live in to really know what our potential is and indeed what we really want out of our own sovereign lives. The current paradigm in which we live is that we are fed a constant barrage of brainwashing and misinformation from the media that seek to control, manipulate and hide every truth about our world and our real potential so that they can continue to rule and reap the rewards of unlimited and unmetered power and control. The truth is we have no idea what freedom really is, because our minds have been shut down and captured by fear. Freedom is much more than about where we go each day, or what we can say. Freedom starts with knowing the truth about our world, and ourselves. Freedom starts in the mind and ends in the mind, and so no matter where you are or what you are doing, you always have the potential to be free if you can only overcome your programming and socilaisation and discover the truths of this world.
So now we get to the crux of the issue. Our world is being systematically destroyed in every sense by big business and powerful corporations that rule and control everything. These days big business also controls our governments, and most politicians are business men who are also involved in the worst kind of bribery and corruptions that end up defining our laws and our world. Making money has now superseded all other priorities for most of the developed world, and we do so with no supervision or control. The system conspires to keep these things a secret. Even the very few systems that were put in place to protect and help us, such as the FDA, Food Labelling, The World Health Organisation, Doctors, Teachers etc.. have been totally subverted by Laissez-faire Capitalism. I could write a hundred posts on how Laissez-faire Capitalism has robbed us of just about everything that is sacred in this world. They control our media, and they spend billions of dollars to ensure that we continue to buy their inferior products that usually make us ill and addicted. The quality of our food and vegetables is case in point with the quality and nutritional value of food being totally ignored by companies in favour of profits by using cheaper chemical based products. Store bought vegetables taste bland, and have very little prana or nutrition in them. They are covered in poisons that would kill you if you ate it raw, and yet people queue up to buy them.. totally oblivious to what a proper tomato tastes like. I have worked in a commercial fruit breeding company as part of my Biology degree. The actual taste of the fruit ranked lowest in priority, with yield, uniformity, shelf life etc etc taking a lead and top priority in all the breeding programs.
SO here is my answer to this question of the week. There is too much freedom in this western world.. but it is not with the people. There is FAR too much freedom for big business and our governments to do as they please and openly lie to us every day. Our government and businesses hold secrets so big that the entire system would collapse if they were to get out and be revealed. They prey on the average person like vultures, and we are powerless to do anything about it because we do not even know it is going on. Our system needs to change. It needs to be responsible for its actions! It needs to give up the endless drive toward profit and power and allow its people to start thinking about better ways to live and allow our world to flourish instead of rot and die away. We are at a precipice of our very survival according to many scientists because big business has been allowed to roam free, ravage the planet and do things like burn oil and coal in the worst ways. We could easily have run our world on clean energy since many decades, but they can not control that and so they have suppressed it. We could have had unlimited free energy years ago, and cars driving on water, if it weren’t for big business. That is just the very tip of the iceberg, but the point is clear... We will never be free until corporations and governments are accountable for their actions ... our system needs a radical overhaul. Who knows when that change will come, or what it will take for a system change.. but it starts here.. on the blockchain, people sharing their truth and spreading the knowledge that will eventually allow us to reclaim our real Freedom.
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There is no freedom without virtue, for sure. We do not have enough freedom right now.
great answer, all the freedom is in the hands of those who rule and hold power and still so many do not see this. They have become bewitched by what they have been told and have lost the ability to see how things really are. xxx
There you go, you have basically written my answer haha. But I'm sure I wouldn't have written mine as well as you did. I completely agree with you that freedom comes with knowledge but we aren't aware of the truth of so many things so we have limited knowledge and that doesn't lead to freedom. Going to pen down my answer now.
thank you dear! lovely to see you here also!
Boom! Totally agree with you on this and I feel our points are very similar. One love to you @eco-alex <3
Powerful post! I particularly loved this bit "Freedom starts in the mind and ends in the mind." So true, its up to us to be free, freedom comes from a spirit of mind. ☮❤
Great @eco-alex, it's a very good article .
The experience of truth is neither a thought nor a feeling. It is a vibrating and a throbbing of all the vital components of your entire being. But and other thinks freedom for is a spiritual dimension because you are moving into the unknown and perhaps, one day, into the unknowable. It will give you wings.
Thanks you for sharing this post :)
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Wow excellent question of the week Alex. I've been on my slave job for the last few days, this is why you've not seen me around but yes I totally understand and I could talk as well forever about the big corporations and banks and governements and all the things they are raping from us.
So many of us don't see that we are enslaved, I mean I keep my enslavement here and there, I do go back to my job and all that for health insurance mostly here in the USA. I'm not sure if I'll find time to write about this because of the job (lol) but hopefully I will have time to read a few answers.
Thanks for all you do Eco Alex and yes the people controlling the slaves do have too much Freedom that's for sure!
thank you so much ! lovely comment!
there is a saying ignorance is bliss..
im sure i dont agree!!
<3
Sorry to be so late replying (again!). You're welcome.