Listen to the introduction, narrated by Richard E. Bradshaw, PhD (1 min 42 s):
For something so obviously and forever present within each of us, the self is remarkably hard to define. At its most basic it is an awareness of being, an awareness of personal existence found in the center of each passing moment. Yet that self is never still. It is an ever-evolving dance of increasing awareness, and for that dance to continue there must be freedom: freedom within the mind from old ways of thinking and feeling, and freedom in the world to express what we discover.
These five chapters from Freedom: What It Is & How to Achieve It, Volume 1: Freedom & the Self follow that journey: from the long history of the idea that consciousness evolves toward freedom, through the self as a process rather than a fixed thing, to the question at the heart of the book: what is this experience we call freedom? Read the opening of each chapter below, and enter your email to receive all five complete chapters as free PDFs.
Chapter 2: Freedom & Self-actualization: History
Is the growth of consciousness toward freedom built into evolution itself? A journey through the teleological philosophers and cosmologists of East and West.
This idea of self-actualization as part of a broader process of evolution has been a consistent thread of thought within many traditions historically. In religion, philosophy, psychology and even the ‘harder’ sciences, across both East and West, ‘teleological’ theories of progressive expansion of consciousness toward total freedom as an innate aspect of evolution are easily found.
Chapter 3: The ‘Self’ in Self-Process
If everything in the cosmos is in constant flux, what is this self that feels so stable? Yogacara Buddhism, William James, the experiencing and narrative selves, and the question: is there a real self?
For something so obviously and forever present within each of us the ‘self’ is inordinately hard to isolate and define. What is self-evident is that the self at its most basic is an awareness of being, an awareness of personal existence found and focused within the center of each passing moment.
Chapter 4: Freedom and the Holistic Self
The theories of self drawn together into one holistic picture, and why inner and outer freedom are the conditions that let the self keep growing.
For this dance of expansion to occur however, there must be freedom; freedom within the mind from over-attachment to past ways of thinking and emoting which allows one to explore radically different approaches and responses to experience.
Chapter 5: Self, Consciousness & Relationship
How the ever-changing self and consciousness shape the reality we share with others: the quest for self, perception as cosmology, and freedom East and West.
From both East and West in our search for understanding of who we are, we ultimately return to a view of the self as a platform of awareness within which an ‘I’ as perceiver, perceives its experience as a ‘me’.
Chapter 6: What Is This Experience Called Freedom?
Freedom is something we feel before we can define it. The avenues of freedom, the nature of autonomy, and the four pillars of freedom.
The complexity of freedom arises from the fact that it has as many faces as there are cultural, social, and individual realities in this world. On the individual level, for each of us there exists a unique feel for what we perceive as freedom, a feeling that changes from moment to moment.
Read all five chapters, free
Enter your email and gain access to the complete chapters, and the full free library of articles, as free PDFs.
No spam. You’ll also get occasional new reflections and book news, and you can unsubscribe anytime.
Continue the journey
These chapters are five of fifteen in Freedom & the Self, the first volume of the Freedom Series. The complete book carries the inquiry on into beauty, belief, the modes of mind, and how to live freedom day to day.
Get the complete book →
Explore the Freedom Series →
Watch the companion lecture, A Tale of Two Selves →
