Do we have free choice?
Does choice imply ones freedom?
As long as you see yourself as separate from life itself than there will always be a sense of free choice.
But that very choice will always have its own limitations.
Have you ever asked yourself why do I choose?
Before you read on, ask yourself this question, when do I usually have to make a choice?
Isn't it only a confused mind that has to choose?
When you are certain about something no choice is necessary.
Is not your choices always based on reward and punishment - what one feels will give one the most pleasure, desired results, or a sense of security?
People say that choice is the expression of freedom, but it seems as though no matter what one chooses, one is always a slave to that choice and also the dualities of life.
How can that be freedom?
I choose happiness, and yet find myself sad in the process.
I choose pleasure, and yet pain inevitably comes with it.
I choose riches, and yet inward poverty becomes my lot.
I choose freedom, and yet find myself living in bondage.
As long as one has an idea, a formula, a concept of how life should unfold, isn't that a form of imprisonment?
So the first question we should ask is - who is the 'me' that chooses?
Is not this 'me' just a bundle of thoughts?
And contained in this bundle is ones memories, experiences, knowledge, opinions, prejudices, likes and dislikes, beliefs, and so forth - and according to that, one acts.
Can you see how the past is always the chooser, the decider, and the reactor, to all of ones life situations.
So all of ones actions are merely reactions, flowing from the past - so it is the past that is acting, and therefore ones action is never fresh, alive, and vibrant.
It's like one who is stuck in a pond without any fresh movement.
How is one to get out of it?
That is the wrong question, first see the fact that one is bound to the past.
The moment you are out of it, is when beauty, freedom, and love is recognized.
And through this recognition, every action - is always, the right action.
-Universal Roots