WHAT IS FREEDOM?

What does freedom mean to you? Is it a life devoted to leisure? Perhaps it means not having to do a specific thing - looking after your parents or children, or working in a particular job, or perhaps not even having to work at all?

This is the category into which most people fall, for, when asked, most of us would say that we could be really free "if only we did not have to ............", or "if only we had ...........". However, all of these wishes leave us "hooked" to a vague and uncertain outcome that may never materialise. Until that outcome comes about, we remain trapped, dissatisfied and unhappy with the current state of our lives.

Freedom for Toltecs, is somewhat different, and is described in the books of Théun Mares, a Toltec author and teacher.

Toltecs know that life is too precious and valuable to be wasted on hopes for tomorrow. Life is happening today - right here, right now. The future is far too unpredictable, and the outcomes we desire may never materialise. How many people limp along in their jobs, because they only have 5 or 10 years to go before their retirement, consoling themselves that they will then be able to do what they've always wanted? Yet, even if our dreams do come to fruition, the sad truth is that the freedom we have sought and fought for still tends to elude us - as most millionaires discover. Even with a million dollars in the bank, we find that we still have the same fears, the same relationship problems, and the same deep sense of regret that we could have lived life to the full, instead of having frittered it away.

Yet, through our social conditioning we have all been taught to live for tomorrow, and so most people spend their lives waiting to win the lottery of life - waiting for that big break, that romance, that promotion - that is going to transform their lives from a mediocre existence into an exciting adventure.

Toltecs, on the other hand, teach that freedom is not escaping, or waiting for life to give you a better break. Instead, freedom is an attitude of mind. This attitude of mind will enable you to rise above the belief that you are a victim, and will imbue in you the knowledge and certainty that you can take charge of your life's circumstances. Far from waiting for life to happen to you, you can instead take action to start materialising your dreams.

One of the most debilitating beliefs that people today hold, is the belief that the problems in our lives stop us from realizing our full potential. The warrior knows that whatever his or her life's circumstances, or whatever problems have arisen, they have not come about as a punishment but as an opportunity for growth. Therefore, one of the most truly empowering aspects of the Toltec teachings is discovering how to use one's challenges as well as one's shortcomings to turn one's life around, rather than allowing them to weigh one down.

Many of the basic Toltec concepts and techniques described in Theun's books revolve around recognising and then changing our beliefs and our behavior.

These are just some of the techniques and how they can help:

• The technique of "stalking our perception", teaches us to become aware of our beliefs, our thought patterns, and how these manifest in our behavior.
• The process of "recapitulation" enables us to identify the origins and causes of our behavior patterns, to start dismantling the beliefs that cause them and, through this, to come to terms with our past.
• Through the technique of "not-doing" we learn to break free from those destructive behavior patterns that are ingrained, and that manifest in myriad different and obscure guises.
• Words are powerful tools that literally shape our world. Toltecs teach the correct approach to and use of words as we work to transform our lives.

Once they are grasped and put into practice, these seemingly simple techniques invariably yield greater and greater depths of empowerment and understanding, and they end up by being truly life-changing.

Perhaps the essence of freedom is knowing that whatever happens to us, we have a choice as to how we will respond in any situation, rather than dangling like a puppet on the strings set up for us by our social conditioning. The problem with dangling like a puppet or victim is that we not only debilitate ourselves, but also those around us, for all of life is interconnected. If you uplift yourself, you automatically uplift those around you, and if you shoot yourself in the foot, you automatically let all those other people down too.

Toltecs teach that we cannot force other people to change; we can only change ourselves. But through constantly working to uplift ourselves we can, and do, work miracles in the world around us.