Back in the year 2000, I started my own quest for freedom. I de-registered myself from my European country and became officially a guy without a home. Before doing that, I registered a truck on my name, got a carnet de passage for it (kind of a passport for cars to travel the world) and got a fresh 5 year travel passport and a fresh international driving license.
I felt relieved to “escape” from governmental control and obligations like tax, voting, medical insurance. My truck was classified as an old-timer from 1967 and was not allowed to leave my home country. My plan was simple. I would drive the truck out of Europe and nobody would ever find out. They never did and I made it all to India hoping to disappear between the 1 billion people there.
It gave me a sense of freedom but oh my God, I was totally not free. The truck was only allowed for 6 months. The classic Indian tourist visa is only valid for 6 months. Every 6 months, I had to drive out of India to Nepal, stay there for some months and enter India again with a fresh visa. Indian bureaucracy is horrid, I was probably less free from paper-obligations than I was in my home country.
I could get rid of my truck – I actually did 7 years later – but there was still the issue of visa. I entered the black visa market and got myself a visa extension for 5 years. That worked nicely until the guys who supplied me the visa got busted. I managed to escape to Nepal by entering through the smallest possible border post, got myself a brand new passport through the Belgian embassy, got myself a brand new Indian visa and entered India again through that same small border post.
It was a full 3 years later that I had to fly out of India because of a family emergency and guess what? They busted me, they knew all about me! Freedom my ass, I was nowhere close to it.
Freedom of governance
I am talking about freedom from anybody telling me what to do and what not to do, freedom from anybody knowing what I am doing. If you want this kind of freedom, there is a lot to be sacrificed as you shouldn’t have any registered belongings, no bank account, etc…
It is extremely difficult to live this life in countries where you need a visa as you will have to say goodbye to your identity/passport as well and disappear under the masses. There is a very nice book called “Shantaram” by Gregory David Roberts. It is an autobiography of a convicted Australian bank robber who escaped and tried to survive like this in India. One of the best reads out there but maybe a bit too extreme
What about living this life in your own country or countries where you don’t need a visa? Welcome to the gipsy world! People who live on the streets are free from governance but many fail the next obstacle in the quest for total Freedom
Freedom of need, Freedom of addictions
The next obstacle is to not need anything, to be free of any addictions. Living the simple live. Living from what the moment brings you. This is where the quest for Freedom can bring you the first glimpse of happiness
Some movements are getting really close to this concept. One of them is the rainbow family core, they are all over the world, travelling around going from one free rainbow gathering to another, doing some busking on the road to survive, living from the land, all beautiful people I must say.
Some starting information can be found at https://www.welcomehome.org but the best experience – not the easiest one – is to join one of their gatherings. I would strongly advise to look for a smaller gathering in a small country.
Are you ready for the last step in the quest for Freedom?
Freedom of the mind
Freedom of the mind, what is to be understood about that? We are all kind of victims of our thoughts. We all have thoughts, that is perfectly ok. The problem is we identify with them or we stay with them, we hook in them, we get lost in them.
Training your awareness is the key to attain this freedom. I have spent many years doing yoga and meditation not really knowing what to expect from it. It is a very slow process that is barely noticeable. The highest fruit I got from it, is the realization that the quest itself is the biggest obstacle.
Did you read that last phrase? This is the big treasure I have found and want to share with you. The last step in the quest is to let go of the quest. Nothing can illustrate this better than the following poem.
“Freedom Xiv” by Khalil Gibran
And an orator said, "Speak to us of Freedom."
And he answered:
At the city gate and by your fireside I have seen you prostrate yourself and worship your own freedom,
Even as slaves humble themselves before a tyrant and praise him though he slays them.
Ay, in the grove of the temple and in the shadow of the citadel I have seen the freest among you wear their freedom as a yoke and a handcuff.
And my heart bled within me; for you can only be free when even the desire of seeking freedom becomes a harness to you, and when you cease to speak of freedom as a goal and a fulfillment.
You shall be free indeed when your days are not without a care nor your nights without a want and a grief,
But rather when these things girdle your life and yet you rise above them naked and unbound.
And how shall you rise beyond your days and nights unless you break the chains which you at the dawn of your understanding have fastened around your noon hour?
In truth that which you call freedom is the strongest of these chains, though its links glitter in the sun and dazzle the eyes.
And what is it but fragments of your own self you would discard that you may become free?
If it is an unjust law you would abolish, that law was written with your own hand upon your own forehead.
You cannot erase it by burning your law books nor by washing the foreheads of your judges, though you pour the sea upon them.
And if it is a despot you would dethrone, see first that his throne erected within you is destroyed.
For how can a tyrant rule the free and the proud, but for a tyranny in their own freedom and a shame in their won pride?
And if it is a care you would cast off, that care has been chosen by you rather than imposed upon you.
And if it is a fear you would dispel, the seat of that fear is in your heart and not in the hand of the feared.
Verily all things move within your being in constant half embrace, the desired and the dreaded, the repugnant and the cherished, the pursued and that which you would escape.
These things move within you as lights and shadows in pairs that cling.
And when the shadow fades and is no more, the light that lingers becomes a shadow to another light.
And thus your freedom when it loses its fetters becomes itself the fetter of a greater freedom.
Take care,
bub
And while your here, check out this other great content on the ecoTrain.
In 2003 we set off on our adventure into freedom. Building a offgrid home in Hawaii. Sounds like a great adventure. Thanks for sharing.
Oh yes, Hawai, excellent choice :-). I am a bit curious and love your Steemit name, will follow you...
Thank you. I will follow your adventures as well. 🦋
Excellent post my friend, your quest for freedom took you far and wide and although you had to fight for that freedom with the visa police I still believe you are stronger wiser and freer.
Being free from addiction is my next big one, I have kicked all my habits except one, sugar, for some reason I can't seem to stay away from the sweet stuff.
Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for your nice comment Mark. If we pass by in Portugal next year, i will bring you 5 kilo of homemade raw cane sugar. That's on the Indian "advised food" list, lots of minerals. If that's your only one, i would say you do very, very good.
Thank you @bubke yes I have heard of this raw cane sugar, I think my friend had some once, is it really dark with a strong taste?
what kinda job you did for your living expense or buying fuel for yr truck
Good question:-) I had money when i left, learning to make biodiesel on the road. In India, we did some kindergarten and a special kind of massage when the money was finished. It is kind of hard work trying to survive like that in India, we barely managed. I used to be a software developper and picked up that work again a while ago. It's one of these jobs you can do from anywhere, makes life a lot easier :-)
Great post! I want to take my family off the grid too. Maybe with a car like you did. Very interesting to read about your experiences. Followed.
I don't post so much, doing more of a curator job but i see it really helps to find similar minded brothers and sisters on Steemit, great! It helps in getting a more narrowed curation feed. You get special reward, you became my 200th follower today, hiep hiep :-)
"Those guys give violent crime a bad name."
My favorite Shantaram quote
We are all 'likeminded' passengers on the ecoTrain. What an adventure. Thanks for sharing.
Amazing story bub.. Yoy really do have a free adventurous lifestyle.
Bubke. Fellow. Yes. <3
Great minds think alike :-)
Shantaram is a great read. I'm guessing that about 80% it actually happened to the author. Certainly some fiction worked in, but overall it has the feel of truth.
I agree 100%. Thank you for commenting! Your name sounds like a female soldier but you are a man? Just curious :-)
Had a look at your posts, no resteems and inter!esting, will keep an eye on it, cheers
Yeah, I'm a guy. I just suck at coming up with usernames.
Talk about food for thought.
Will have to read this again at a later date and then probably again after that.
A lot to try and sink in here.
"Thinking out of the box" is a challenge and when I think I can, then I know I can't, because the box is always around us.
;) Excellent story mate.
Many boxes in boxes in boxes in boxes :-) Read again and again, i guess you are talking about the poem, there is much more in there than in my writings :-) Thanks for your funny comments!
Excellent topic and excellent story @bubke. It brought back memories of my time in India. I think there is something to this, letting go of worshipping quest or, at least being aware that it can lead to a distracting result. Thanks. Resteemed!
I remember reading a David Alexandra Neel book as a Teenager and one passage that stuck with me regarding karma was the idea that all actions are bound by either chains of gold (good) or iron (bad)... so the attachment to the acts is what actually causes the boundaries (since they are self imposed/ reinforced) Same idea in Seva or Karma Yoga.... We are not the Doer. If you think you are... enjoy the sweet or bitter fruits for identifying with your role in the play. nicely done @bubke ! To freedom!
There is a lot in that comment, another wise steemian around, what a great platform :-)
The Happy Dog Agrees ;)
:-)
That's definitely the funniest comment I ever got
That's definitely the shortest comment I ever got