WF:
Way of Freedom

As a serious seeker reads the many, many pages of written Teaching, he or she will often see the term: Way of Freedom.

The Way of Freedom is occasionally simply referenced as the acronym WF, and is the name given to the fundamental Path or Way of life that is offered by our organization, and in which all serious seekers and students of the one Higher Life find themselves engaged, to various degrees of depth and pervasion.

The Way of Freedom, or WF, is not a list of superficial behaviors to do or not do, but arises from, and is founded in, a single and powerful intuitive understanding. That understanding, or direct insight and feeling, is given by Grace, in response to a sincere, deep, and powerful passion for the one Higher Life. Merely reading the words on these pages, will not provide intuitive understanding.

As a seeker or student reads the various chapters and essays of the Teaching, he will notice other more-detailed definitions of intuitive understanding, with specific terminology depending on the context, but, simply stated: Intuitive understanding is the seeing and feeling of your selfishness, clinging, and self-will, on both subtle and gross levels, and how to let it go. You are an ego, the island of separate consciousness, the center and origin of limitation and suffering, and you are always clinging at least on subtle levels, using your natural self-energy. You first cling to yourself, and you then cling to all that feeds and protects you, both within and without. You, the ego, are limitation and suffering, and you are always engaged in self-feeding and self-protection, on both subtle and gross levels. The ego is the static state of separation and fear, and the ego continually compels the subtle and gross actions of self-energy in the form of clinging. You are a separate being, and you are always "holding on for dear life."

It is precisely you, the ego, the separate consciousness that you are at the core of the brain-mind, as well as your subtle and continual actions of clinging, that prevent the Higher Life, that prevent you from living with greater freedom today, and that prevent you from eventually Realizing Perfect Freedom or God-Realization. The Way of Freedom is the means by which clinging is allowed to unravel and fall-away, and is how the ego itself, the origin and cause of all clinging, is allowed to weaken and eventually dissolve in Ego-Death and Perfect Freedom. The Way of Freedom is essentially a life of profound Sacrifice, Faith, and Prayer, and, as you study and as your understanding and attempting deepen, you will eventually see and feel how all three - Sacrifice, Faith, and Prayer - cannot be separated, and, moreover, how they are fundamentally the same way of life, the same Way of Freedom.

The natural, selfish, empty life of fear and clinging, compels the subtle and gross actions of self-feeding and self-protection, and it is all nothing but limitation and suffering in both state and actions. The natural selfish life is in direct opposition to the Way of Freedom, which is the allowing of the fear and clinging, allowing the actions self-feeding and self-protection, allowing the natural state and ways of limitation and suffering, to fall-away, and weaken, and eventually die. The Way of Freedom is Unnatural, because it arises by Grace from the Transcendental or God, and is exactly opposite to how you are naturally tending to live in every moment. The Way of Freedom is of God, and is by the Grace of God, and is led by God, from beginning to end. The Way of Freedom is opposite to the Godlessness and self-manipulation found in religions and spiritual paths and practices, in that the seeker surrenders to the lead that is given by Grace, in intuitive understanding. Self-manipulation arises from the state of fear and from the resulting self-will, and is the action of clinging, while the surrender inherent within the Way of Freedom allows fear, self-will, and clinging to dissipate, allows limitation and suffering to fall-away, and weaken, and eventually die. The Way of Freedom is opposite to religions and spiritual paths, also because it is not about self-feeding and self-protection, which merely perpetuate the limitation and suffering.

Why is the one Higher Life termed the Way OF Freedom? Why not simply call it the Way TO Freedom? First: From one perspective, God is Itself Freedom. The Way is founded in God, and arises from God, and is led and conducted by God, from the very beginning; therefore, the Way is OF Freedom, or OF God. Second: The serious student begins to realize greater freedom from the very moment he is given intuitive understanding; therefore, he is not only moving toward freedom, he is not only moving TO freedom, but he is realizing greater freedom now, and the Way he is currently living is, to some degree, already OF freedom. The one Higher Life, the Way of Freedom, is not merely linear, is not merely a hierarchy and sequence of separate personal transformations, but is an unfoldment, much like the blooming of a beautiful flower: the flower is already a flower, even when not fully bloomed. The beginning student is already realizing greater freedom, his being and life are already to some degree OF freedom, even though he has not yet Realized Perfect Freedom in true Ego-Death, God-Realization, and Incarnation. Therefore, the Way OF Freedom is much more accurate than the Way TO Freedom, because it acknowledges both God and the greater freedom that are inherent within every stage of the Higher Life, even while the student is moving TO the Perfect Freedom of God-Realization and Incarnation. Both OF and TO can apply, but OF better represents the entirety of the one Higher Life. The Teaching is about both the Way OF Freedom and the Way TO Freedom, but Freedom, relief from limitation and suffering while the body yet lives, is always the central message.

From the very beginning of the Way of Freedom, from the very beginning of Grace in the being and life, from the very first moments of understanding, the mind increasingly realizes greater clarity, rationality, depth, focus, and peace, and the heart increasingly opens with a power of love, compassion, embracing, generosity, conscience, and gratitude that most never know. The entire being and life of the serious and uncompromising seeker, are positively transformed from the very beginning of the Way, in greater and greater freedom of mind, heart, and consciousness, on the Way to Perfect Freedom.

But, the Way of Freedom, the truly Spiritual Life, is not primarily about you. The one Higher Life is not mainly about self-improvement, even though the being and life are greatly and positively transformed along the Way. The Way of Freedom is about the gradual and eventually Perfect Incarnation of the Transcendental, God, or Freedom. The Path is not about making a Spiritual you, but is about allowing the stuff and ways of you that are preventing the Incarnation of God, to be Removed or Changed. You, your stuff, and your ways, are the limitation and suffering that are opposite to God and that are preventing God. Along the Way, the mind, heart, body, and life undergo profound and positive changes and improvements, but that is not the goal. The overcoming of your suffering will rightly compel you to seek Freedom and Happiness, and in the end that is indeed Realized, but that is not the overriding objective. The Incarnation of the Transcendental, God, or Brahman, is the goal, and the mind, heart, body, and life just happen to be made better in the process.

The serious seeker is giving himself to God, and is not expecting God as a gift to him.

Life is short, and there is a better Way: the Way of Freedom.

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Be open to opportunities to do good for someone else today.

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