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In the west, there's a myth that freedom means free expression-that to follow all desires wherever they take one is true freedom. in fact, as one serves the mind, one sees that following desires, attractions, and repulsions is not at all freedom, but is a kind of bondage. a mind filled with desires and grasping inevitably entails great suffering. freedom is not to be gained through the ability to perform certain external actions. true freedom is an inward state of being. once it is attained, no situation in the world can bind one or limit one's freedom.
-Jack Kornfield
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In The West, There's A Myth That

Jack Kornfield
In the west, there's a myth that freedom means free expression-that to follow all desires wherever they take one is true freedom. in fact, as one serves the mind, one sees that following desires, attractions, and repulsions is not at all freedom, but is a kind of bondage. a mind filled with desires and grasping inevitably entails great suffering. freedom is not to be gained through the ability to perform certain external actions. true freedom is an inward state of being. once it is attained, no situation in the world can bind one or limit one's freedom.
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Mean Expression Mind

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But myth is something else than an explanation of the world, of history, and of destiny. myth expresses in terms of the world - that is, of the other world or the second world - the understanding that man has of himself in relation to the foundation and the limit of his existence. hence to demythologize is to interpret myth, that is, to relate the objective representations of the myth to the self-understanding which is both shown and concealed in it.
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Wherever snow falls, or water flows, or birds fly, wherever day and night meet in twilight, wherever the blue heaven is hung by clouds, or sown with stars, wherever are forms with transparent boundaries, wherever are outlets into celestial space, wherever is danger, and awe, and love, there is beauty, plenteous as rain, shed for thee, and though thou shouldest walk the world over, thou shalt not be able to find a condition inopportune or ignoble.
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Freedom is indivisible, and when one man is enslaved, all are not free. when all are free, then we can look forward to that day when this city will be joined as one and this country and this great continent of europe in a peaceful and hopeful globe. when that day finally comes, as it will, the people of west berlin can take sober satisfaction in the fact that they were in the front lines for almost two decades. all free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of berlin, and, therefore, as a free man, i take pride in the words ich bin ein berliner.
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The heart of christianity is a myth which is also a fact. the old myth of the dying god, without ceasing to be myth, comes down from the heaven of legend and imagination to the earth of history. it happens - at a particular date, in a particular place, followed by definable historical consequences. we pass from a balder or an osiris, dying nobody knows when or where, to a historical person crucified (it is all in order) under pontius pilate. by becoming fact it does not cease to be myth: that is the miracle.
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How does one get rid of fear? ramana: what is fear? it is only a thought. if there is anything besides the self there is reason to fear. who sees things separate from the self? first the ego arises and sees objects as external. if the ego does not rise, the self alone exists and there is nothing external. for anything external to oneself implies the existence of the seer within. seeking it there will eliminate doubt and fear. not only fear, all other thoughts centred round the ego will disappear along with it.
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Does it follow from: 'turn ye' that therefore you can turn? does it follow from "'love the lord thy god with all thy heart' (deut 6.5) that therefore you can love with all your heart? what do arguments of this kind prove, but the 'free-will' does not need the grace of god, but can do all things by its own power....but it does not follow from this that man is converted by his own power, nor do the words say so; they simply say: "if thou wilt turn,telling man what he should do. when he knows it, and sees that he cannot do it, he will ask whence he may find ability to do it..." 164
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