Volume 1 and Volume 2 of Freedom: What it is and How to Achieve it, consist of a series of essays forming two distinct but connected narratives. The first narrative which is contained in Volume 1 focuses on the complete human experience, of how spirit expresses itself within a physical environment, how the self we perceive as personality and ego comes into being and how that self interacts with other selves to create the relational world in which we play out our individual and collective dramas. The second part, Volume 2 of the narrative dwells upon the task of humanity upon this planet, a task that requires self-actualization toward a state of awareness and level of consciousness more other-concerned than self-concerned. This other-concerned state of awareness is one which will hopefully catapult humanity beyond its present acquisitive mindset that has created the ecological crises we and the other species on this planet presently face, toward a more parsimonious and sharing state of awareness. The characters in this narrative consist of people, circumstances, ideas, theories, environments, histories and time itself as the platform upon which these characters play out their drama. The reader will see the same characters time and again playing off against other characters in different scenes in the human drama, revealing differing aspects of themselves, allowing the reader to slowly build a deeper understanding of each of their parts in this narrative. As in any good story, it is the characters themselves and the interaction of their personalities that create the dynamics of relationship from which the story comes and connects the string of minor narratives that slowly build up to a complete, complex, yet ever evolving narrative fabric. Within this fabric the differing coloring of the differing characters blend together to create a collage of intertwining rhythms of meaning and message, of history and future, of cause and effect. With each new essay, each new small plot within the larger story, the meaning behind the actions and effects of each of these characters upon other characters and upon the whole evolving story will hopefully take the reader to a more diverse, holistic understanding. Some of the main characters that travel with us on this journey are freedom, the nature of the self, self-actualization, and sustainability, all of which color the relationship between the self and environment. Within the interactions between these four characters other characters come to light such as beauty, truth, belief and focus which help strengthen and deepen the color in the fabric. The generic message within the fabric is of who we are, we in the sense of all life, of why we might be here upon this physical plane of existence, of what our possible destinies might be, and of why we are not able to see these most obvious of things in our daily lives. Thus, the journey across these two volumes take the reader from spiritual origins through our personal and societal odysseys toward our ultimate spiritual goal on and with this planet we call Earth. Although there is a loose thread of continuity of subject and theme throughout the various sections and subsections of these two volumes, each section attempts to be a complete insight into some aspect of freedom and its relation to the nature of self and self-actualization, the ecological matrix in which we all exist, and the kind of relationships which might lead to that magical goal, ecological harmony and sustainability. Sometimes the same message may be repeated within differing contexts and from differing perspectives to garner differing insights on the part of the reader, insights that will help form that thread of continuity across differing landscapes of meaning. The final insight these volumes hope to purvey is that freedom and the search for freedom permeates our entire lives and all differing experiences we go through in life. For Kindle ($3.99) or paperback ($12.50) editions of Freedom: What it is and How to Achieve it, Volume 1: Freedom & the Self, see: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07WC4DH1W. For Kindle ($3.99) or paperback ($12.50) editions of Freedom: What it is and How to Achieve it, Volume 2, Freedom & the Ecology of Relationship, see: https://www.amazon.com/Freedom-What-acheive-Ecology-Relationship-ebook/dp/B07WVW7YC6/ref=sr_1_3?qid=1567285819&refinements=p_27%3ARichard+Bradshaw&s=digital-text&sr=1-3&text=Richard+Bradshaw
In Volume 1 of this two-volume series we examine the relationships between personal and societal freedoms and various aspects of the human experience. We look at some of the philosophical meanderings of teleological theorists who believe that consciousness and its material vehicles evolve together. We learn that as the physical bodies housing consciousness evolve into more complexity, from the most primitive to the sophisticated bodies of humans and other advanced creatures presently on Earth, the consciousness within these bodies expands toward higher insight and capability. We examine the ‘self’, how it develops and what, moment by moment, perpetuates the sense of self-hood within an individual. We also take a look at relationship, of the nuances of relational interaction arising from differing attitudes, belief systems and emotional expressions. Change, uncertainty and safety are examined in relation to the need for, or aversion to freedom. We delved into the natures of beauty, truth and love, of how these three are paths on the way to greater freedom, and of how freedom itself is not only the instinctual drive behind self-actualization, but one of the primary characteristics of higher states of awareness and elevated consciousness. In light of the above, the assumption is also made that we as spirit are on this Earth to engage in creative self-transformation. That self-transformation finds its reflection in the slowly evolving creation of a possible utopia on Earth, a utopia that begins in the minds and hearts of every living being moment by moment and expresses itself outward upon society and the living ecological niche in which we are nurtured. We argue that utopia is not a static thing but something that needs to be renewed every moment, within our hearts and minds, our actions and behaviors, in loving, open, perceptive relationship to all life around us. Thus, the first book of this two-volume series examines who we are, what our capabilities might be, and what possible potential lies ahead of us. On a very basic level, we conclude that we are ‘spiritual beings having a human experience’, and that the only limits on consciousness are self-imposed; that we create and perpetuate our own realities, our own experiences, moment by moment. As a result, each of us is totally responsible for what fills our awareness and our response to what we perceive every moment.
In Volume 2, Freedom and the Ecology of Relationship, we expand this enquiry to what the developing ‘complexity’ of our ‘human vehicles’ and of the consciousness that inhabits these vehicles have created in the social and ecological milieu surrounding us at our present moment in evolution. From there we will look at how the ever-increasing change in this complexity is currently guiding us in new and unexpected directions toward a future we can only now catch a glimpse of through the yet unrevealed potential of humanity and its creations. These future changes will, as always be driven by the search for both inner and outer freedom, the freedom to expand and evolve, to self-actualize, not only personally in our beliefs, attitudes and behaviors but in our institutions, which reflect the collective character of those the institutions serve. As past beliefs, levels of knowledge and the institutions grown from them are seen in the light of future creativity, discovery and innovation, their frailties and weaknesses will become apparent. Though once useful, they now must go the way of all outdated tools of humanity, tools that have given us so much but now are only holding us back from further advancement. We are at another crucial crossroads of change now, one made even more vital than those which have gone before simply because of the incredible rate of change and potential within us as a species and the civilization we are creating. This new crossroads is being created by new ways of thinking about who we are and where we fit in this complex world...
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for Kindle ($3.99) or paperback ($12.50)
