Freedom is the freedom of reality to reveal its dynamism, to express itself as form, as formlessness, as both, or as neither. No single feature and no combination of features can exhaust the potential of reality. It is a mystery without end. Reality is always revealing itself by knowing itself; and knowing reality and living it becomes the fulfillment of our life. The purity of reality expresses itself to us, through us, and as us, all at once. Our life becomes the life of true nature—the purity at the heart of reality—living consciously and expressing itself as us, using us by being us. This is the miraculous heart of human freedom. – Runaway Realization: Living a Life of Ceaseless Discovery, Introduction
When we are our True Nature, the fact that we don’t know whether the next moment will be the same or not is no longer something to contend with. We are completely unconcerned about whether it is going to be the same or not. We have no need to hold on to the past or to get attached to the fresh and new. We recognize that whatever arises in each moment in the play of light in all its luminous forms is none of our business. We become a dynamic flowing, free presence. And that is true freedom. – The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, Ch. 14
When we are being completely depressed or being completely enlightened, what is common to both states is that we believe we have to be that way; we believe there is no way out. That is the lack of freedom. Freedom means that we are free to be anything at any moment, and we are also free from having to be it. So there is no holding on to anything; there is a total embrace of whatever arises, whatever happens, whatever reality appears to be. However reality appears is Total Being—that is its liberating power. Fully experiencing and totally realizing any experience whatsoever—of any form, shape, or kind —is how we begin to understand Total Being. Whether we’re experiencing true nature or an egoic manifestation, if we fully embrace it and are totally immersed in it, if we understand it and inquire into it, we will recognize the perspective of Total Being. – From Runaway Realization: Living a Life of Ceaseless Discovery, Ch. 8
Our spiritual realization is more complete when we bring our realization, our presence, our compassion, our clarity and understanding into interaction with others. This includes how we talk with one another, how we respond, how we touch, how we allow ourselves to be touched, what we do and don’t do and how and when we do it, so that our life with other people can express the inner freedom we have attained. True inner freedom is not abstract. Freedom means the freedom to express the qualities of our nature, the freedom to express our love, our joy, our kindness, our strength, our intelligence, our sensitivity. Freedom does not mean just that we feel light, happy, and free. That is wonderful, but it is only the beginning of inner freedom, of enlightenment, of realization. – A. H. Almaas, The Power of Divine Eros: The Illuminating Force of Love in Everyday Life, Ch. 5
There is bound to be suffering. There’s no other way. But it’s possible to be free from suffering when there is no desire to be free from suffering. There is a possibility of freedom, but it will happen only when there is no desire for freedom. Ultimately we need to drop the desire for freedom. This doesn’t mean you can now go about eliminating your desires. What you can do is understand the movement of desire. If you look at yourself in your meditation you’ll see that your mind is moving around, your emotions are moving around. When you’re angry, what are you angry about? You’re angry because what’s happening is not what you want to happen. You don’t like what’s happening. Somebody does something you don’t like, or you experience something you don’t like. Ultimately, anger is based on rejection. When you’re sad, why are you sad? You are sad because you lost something, or because something is not happening the way you want it to happen, or something you want is not there. So sadness is based on rejection. All emotions are based on the rejection of what is now, and your thoughts are the same way. Complete freedom means no personality at all. Complete freedom means essence—no mind and no emotions. – A. H. Almaas, Diamond Heart Book Two: The Freedom to Be