Living Freedom Archive

“End the privatization of the Earth and her resources,” and make the ownership of these, as well as the things of human creation, commonly held for the benefit of all.
The private ownership of the Earth and its resources, spells disaster for much of the rest of life on the planet, human and other, and, […]

Of course the easy freedom to talk about is the type absent in countries like North Korea or Burma or for blacks living in the Southern US before 1970.
The more elusive type doesn’t lend itself to being so easily pinned-down, like trying to hit a mosquito with an arrow.
This type of freedom seems as much […]

My country of Burma—a poor nation of 52 million people in Southeast Asia—has suffered under harsh military rule for over four decades. It is no wonder that freedom is the most precious and desired value for people from all walks of life in Burma, especially for the political prisoners—more than 1,200 of them locked away […]

Freedom is a vision that should be achieved in personal, social and international context.
On all these levels freedom means more than the mere absence of physical freedom. An all encompassing understanding of freedom always contains human rights, social justice and maintaining the natural environment.
Such a freedom can be obtained by practicing compassion, honesty and nonviolence.
Let […]

Senada is close to sixty, maybe a few years older. The hell she has lived through has taken its toll. The deep sea of grief she navigates has put her off balance — not broken her indomitable spirit, but sent her off spinning through eddies of unfathomable memories. Glaucoma has rendered her nearly blind. […]

Starting ‘close to home’ helps me begin to grasp the meaning of ‘freedom’ in other parts of the world where it involves life or death.
In my world, I value my freedom of thought. It means the freedom to search for the truth with as little outside pressure or manipulation as possible. It means […]

Freedom is the most precious thing to me.
I experience it as the garden in which love grows.
When I feel free I feel joyful,
and spontaneous feelings to reach out in caring, creative,
and sensitive ways to others without separation naturally arise.
Freedom has many dimensions.
There’s relative freedom and ultimate freedom;
inner freedom and outer freedom;
freedom to … freedom from […]

I am a great believer in actions following words, and action often means sacrifice.
And what are people, all the activists, myself included, really ready to sacrifice in order to follow their words?
Freedom is a bit like good health, we’re often acutely unaware of it while we have it, and once it’s gone it’s all we […]