How do you know personally when you are free spiritualy?

Is it when you wake up everyday feeling good with yourself

Is it when nothing bothers you anymore or you see everything as great instead of what is

Is it when you can experience passion to help others in needs

or is it a combination of many things.

I would like to know what your personal philosophy of what freedom of spirituality means to you.

wouldn't to be free spiritualy means one is not controlled by the flesh

there are those that make claims of leaving their bodies but can never provide any evidence beyond the experience being just a dream

Yes that is true if you are talking about a mind and body dichotomy.

Spirituality as a way of life concerns itself with aligning the human will and mind with that dimension of life and the universe that is harmonious and ordered.

Although I am interested in both I would like to see the different philosophies "spiritual freedoms" offer in the way of life.

in that case one can find spiritual freedom in soaking in a hot bath ...it sounds more like you are describing "contentment"

let's say that one could acheive an alignment with that which is harmonious and ordered in the universe then can you describe the benefits one may acheive from the experience beyond just being contented or a sense of well-being

I would say the things you've listed in the OP are quite good.

As far as being free from the physical body, I'm totally happy with shamanic journeying. It may be just a dream but as far as I'm concerned life is just a dream, so where's the difference?

I think what most people truly need to be free of more than anything is themselves.

The Seven Spiritual Laws as presented by Deepak Chopra will guide a person to spiritual freedom if they genuinely understand and practice these laws in their life.

Jesus taught the same seven laws. Unfortunately they have been so overshadowed by demagoguery concerning sin and salvation that his followers have been totally blinded to his real message.

and a hot bubble bath it shall be

Yes I need to order those dvd's. I would like to learn what he has to teach.

freedom of spirit....

Spirit has always been unencumbered...

only the illusion/delusion of confinement has 'held/contained' spirit.

Having silence at my centre... a stilled mind... a complete immersion in no-thingness..thats freedom.

trusting my knowing...allowing empathy, compassion, and heart to be the motivator.

To return to source, by simply opening one's heart, and stripping away the outer barrier/body..respecting it for it's purpose, however, not being attached to it...

that's freedom... detachment.

For me it's all of the above, and as well as that, it is to be open to other spirituality, to learn, and to adopt and discard as I go along. It's ever changing, so that at the end I might, and it is only a might, have reached the way I want to be.

I see true contentment and a sense of well-being as being the only spiritual freedom that a human can possibly achieve.

Some people need to believe in everlasting life in order to be content. Others do not.

Some people need to believe in a deity in order to be content. Others do not.

In other words, even an atheist can achieve spiritual* freedom. In fact, there is no need to believe in anything supernatural to benefit from the Seven Spiritual Laws.

*Note: Even atheists can wrap their mind around a concept called spirit. Spirit does not need to be eternal in order to be a valid concept. We all talk about people who are strong in spirit and weak in spirit. Spirit is indeed a state of mind.

Therefore it is meaningful for an atheist to speak in terms of spiritual freedom. And true contentment is freedom of the spirit.

You mentioned that you can achieve contentment by taking a hot bath. But will that physical act alone truly bring you contentment?

Also will it be permanent contentment?

If contentment is taking a hot bath then you can only find contentment when there's a bath tub and hot water nearby.

If contentment is a state of mind then you can take contentment with you everywhere you go and have it in everything you do always.

Freedom of self direction is the will. You are free to direct your attention to what you choose. You are free to form opinions as a result of that. You are free to have preferences. You are free to make decisions about what you will think, feel and do with your individual life.

Your life belongs to you. You are the captain. You are in charge. If you do not take charge of your life and if you chose to give it over to someone else and fall into a trap you believe that you can't get out of, you are the cause of that bondage.

Only you can free yourself.

Life is a constant struggle to free ourselves from the entanglements that we ourselves got into over many incarnations.

You can be a slave and your master may care for you well, but you are still a slave.

To be free, one walks away from bondage on all levels.

This is not to be confused with walking away from responsibility for others. If you have taken on responsibility for others willingly, your job is to teach them to be free of needing you, so that you too can be free.

A true master teaches his students to be free and independent of him. That is why guru's and cults and masters that want followers to remain with them for eternity are not true masters at all, they are slave masters.

If you are dependent on your master, you enslave him as well. Grow up and set your master free.

A true teacher will not try to control his students or imprison them with dependence on him, or tell them of the perils they will encounter if they should leave his charge.

A good parent teaches his child how to be grown up and independent in his own life, he does not wish to remain in control or in charge of his children.

Freedom is paramount for spirit.

Find freedom within yourself by accepting responsibility for yourself.

Set your beloved master free. Set yourself free.

Save yourself.

an that "Abracadbra" is my point ..anyone can reach contentment just by believing or saying that they reached it...

spiritual freedom doesn't exist beyond contentment... contentment is a frame of mind to accept that which one has no control over ...no control means no freedom ..spiritual or otherwise

You are free when you have no worries about what happens to you.

That sounds like freedom from worry.

In that case, a person who is about to kill them self is free.

In that case, a person who has lost all hope and cares not what happens to him is free.

Does not sound like freedom to me, it sounds like hopelessness.

Me??? I'm not free... I'm not even cheap...

seriously though...I'm not free. I'm bound up in love, tangled up in blue, and chained to my convictions.

But the flip side is that what I'm chained to, I was quite free to choose. My blues are actually best served when they're tangled. The chain of my convictions helps me to not lose them, or consider them for less than I value them.

I choose not to be free...Things that are free, eventually drift away...

Freedom is the realization that we are the major control in our own lives, we make it what it is. Attitude about the things in life we cannot change is the key to understanding ourselves.

I felt freedom when I let go of the shackles of man made faith based "rules" and got a personal understanding of what my personal accountability is for myself.

We all have to function within certain concrete rules. First rule is that we are responsible for our outward projections, not saying that we have to be pleasing all the time, but we must be true to ourselves all the time in our outward projections with all other life in the universe.

Second and possibly most important, we cannot ever never impose what we feel is right on anyone else regardless to how right we feel. In order for us to be free to make right and wrong choices we must give all others the same respect. Once we start limiting others based on our personal impressions of right and wrong we begin the shackling of ourselves.

Third, we have to recognize that regardless to differences in appearance, philosophy, faith, language, separation, etc... we are all the same living force struggling to live daily with what we are given and we must never discount another's life or chance to live.

Once we reach this stage of self recognition and respect then we begin to live free. Spirituality is a personal comfort zone for the soul of each human so freedom of spirit will never and should never appear the same for each individual, it is against the nature of spiritual freedom.

Don't feel bad, I'm not free either. I am chained to my responsibilities which I chose.

But at least I know that I am free to change my mind and be irresponsible.

But I chose to do the right thing, so I am bound to that.

And this leads us deep into the philosophical jungle of freedom archetypes.

The freedom to control.

The freedom to accept.

The freedom to post.

The freedom to be.

The freedom not to be.

The freedom to list freedoms.

The freedom to be enslaved.

The freedom to work.

The freedom to pay taxes.

The freedom to fart.

The freedom to walk away.

you forgot one!

The freedom to choose a God I hope you like the following suggestion below

http://mingle2.com/topic/show/192181