Freedom.
That scene from one of my favorite movies, “Braveheart”, immediately springs to mind. The one where William Wallace is brought into the public square for execution. He is offered clemency (a quick death by beheading) in exchange for declaring himself the king’s loyal subject. He refuses and is strung up, first by his neck, then by his wrists and ankles and pulled until his bones dislocate from their joints. He is then tied to a cross and disemboweled alive. Refusing the taunts of the executioner to accept subjectivity to the king, he yells with a piercing roar that silences the crowd…"Freeeeeeeeeeeedom!".
Freedom. Is that not what our most inner human need is? The freedom of choice, of speech, of religion, of beliefs, of Life.
I know that if I were to be granted one super power, it would be to fly. How I look at birds, with envy, at their ability to soar to the heavens, play in the clouds and still come down to earth to feed and rest.
Like the mythological story of Icarus. When Icarus took flight on his feathered wings, the exhilaration was so intense that he decided to try and reach the gods in the heavens. So he ignored the guidance to fly at a moderate height and eventually the sun melted the wax that binded the feathers of his wings, and Icarus plummeted and disappeared into the frothy sea below.
Ok maybe not the best story to use as an anology for flying - I was going for the historical human desire to fly like the birds, but ultimately it seems that in our pursuit for freedom, we mostly are always met with opposition.
I feel like flying today. To be able to glide and drift on currents, to be able to feel the cooling air wrap around every part of your body, to be able to just feel afloat and…free.
Freedom is a birth right. It is not something that should be fought for. But over the ages, we have seen mankind battle each other for this and murdering or torturing those who fought back.
With all the wars and fighting going on around the world, I often wonder if these people actually still know what they are fighting for. Take the Middle East, they have fought for thousands of years, over what? For the promised land? For religion? Does it really matter anymore now? The prospect or concept of peace is something so far removed, that i wonder if they even know what it is, seeing that for all these years they have just been engulfed in war, death and destruction. How can you fight for peace if you have never even lived a day in it? I wonder if they even want peace, or if they just want to carry on fighting, as they have always done, and have only even known.
Its sad to know that we have not learnt our lessons from the past. Perhaps it is just our time on this planet to go through these vicious cycles or war and restricted freedom. And it is hard to justify or understand the political situations that are going on if you have only ever lived where you have been given your own freedom.
I have included an extract from the Prophet for his take on freedom…
“Ay, in the grove of the temple and in the shadow of the citadel I have seen the freest among you wear their freedom as a yoke and a handcuff.
And my heart bled within me; for you can only be free when even the desire of seeking freedom becomes a harness to you, and when you cease to speak of freedom as a goal and a fulfillment.
You shall be free indeed when your days are not without a care nor your nights without a want and a grief, But rather when these things girdle your life and yet you rise above them naked and unbound.”
I need to find other ways to fly, and resist the urge to jump off things! Maybe I just have a fear of being locked and bounded in an emotional and spiritual cage and this realization urges me to find the earthly freedoms that I do actually already have. The freedom that my cherished friends grant me. The freedom of the love that my family gives me. The freedom of being in love.
“Just living is not enough... One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.”
May you always feel the sunshine of love, carry the freedom of being alive and may you always hold a flower in your heart to remind you that wherever you are, you are always surrounded by the beauty of your earth and her inhabitants.
May you fly on your wings of your own freedom!
Peace, Love and Freedom
Orangeblossom xxx
