Freedom - what does it entail?

[7luminaries]

Originally Posted by Gem

Only the bound can be freed.

How about...free your mind...so you can realise your heart was already free...

[7luminaries]

Originally Posted by Xan

Iblis asked, "Can you tell a lie from the truth,
you who are filled with illusion?"

Mu`awiyah answered, "The Prophet has given a clue,
a touchstone to know the base coin from the true.
He has said, "That which is false troubles the heart,
but Truth brings joyous tranquility."

- from Rumi: Daylight

very nice...thanks!

[sound]

Dogmas or systems of thought
that tell you to rise above your emotions
can be misleading .. even, in your terms,
somewhat dangerous.
Such theories are based upon the concept
that there is something innately disruptive,
base, or wrong in man’s emotional nature,
while the soul is always depicted
as being calm, perfect, passive and unfeeling.
Only the most lofty, blissful awareness is allowed.
Yet the soul is above all a fountain of energy,
creativity, and action that shows its characteristics
in life precisely through the ever-changing emotions.
Trusted, your feelings will lead you
to psychological and spiritual states
of mystic understanding, calm, and peacefulness.
Followed, your emotions will lead you
to deep understandings...

~Seth-Jane Roberts~

[sound]

Each flower on a hillside
looks out with its own unique vision of the world,
and each consciousness does the same thing,
fulfilling a position impossible
for any other consciousness to fulfill ...

~Seth-Jane Roberts~

[sound]

Warning - The following image may disturb some people. It is an unborn child reaching out and grasping the surgeons finger during an operation in utero. The child lives on today.

The state of grace
is a condition
in which all growth
is effortless,
a transparent,
joyful acquiescence
that is
a ground requirement
of all existence.
Your own body
grows naturally
and easily
from its time of birth,
not expecting
resistance
but taking
its miraculous
unfolding
for granted;
using all of itself
with great,
gracious,
creatively
aggressive
abandon.

~Seth-Jane Roberts~

[sound]

To fill the hour ... that is happiness.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson~

[Gem]

The Freedom of the Moon by Robert Frost

I've tried the new moon tilted in the air
Above a hazy tree-and-farmhouse cluster
As you might try a jewel in your hair.
I've tried it fine with little breadth of luster,
Alone, or in one ornament combining
With one first-water start almost shining.

I put it shining anywhere I please.
By walking slowly on some evening later,
I've pulled it from a crate of crooked trees,
And brought it over glossy water, greater,
And dropped it in, and seen the image wallow,
The color run, all sorts of wonder follow.

[sound]

Nice choice of verse Gem ... love it! ... you are on a roll today lol

[Gem]

Heaven is so far of the Mind by Emily ****inson

Heaven is so far of the Mind
That were the Mind dissolved
The Site -- of it -- by Architect
Could not again be proved

'Tis vast as our Capacity
As fair as our idea --
To him of adequate desire
No further 'tis, than Here

[sound]

Well times are certainly changing ... I will take the liberty of expressing my thoughts here in this thread about freedom while it lasts. Let me say first off that this is not meant to be inflammatory.

No more sharing poetry and prose which has inspired people down through the ages, which may well include quotes and passages from the bible? Under the new rule we wont need the quotes forum anymore i guess. The nature forum will be limited to pics that members have taken. All images and verse used to honor loved ones in the remembrance and tribute thread will be deleted. This thread will be decidedly empty of content ... there will be lots of posts which don't make any sense without the image which supports them. Thats life here now i guess ... not sure what it means for me yet ...