December 4
You are not what you see — you are the one who sees. Take away the single thought 'I am bound', and no fetter remains. You are not free at the end of the path; you are free as soon as you stop thinking yourself unfree.
Ashtavakra Gita (freely rendered)
Listening mode
You are not what you see — you are the one who sees. Take away the single thought 'I am bound', and no fetter remains. You are not free at the end of the path; you are free as soon as you stop thinking yourself unfree.
"I have no choice" is a remarkably comfortable sentence. Perhaps you say it when you agree yet again although you're tired, or when you stay where you actually wanted to leave. Some limits really are fixed. Often, though, there would be a choice, just a costly one: trouble, uncertainty, a conversation you would rather not have.
Between impossible and costly lies a great difference, and the sentence blurs it. It takes a burden off you, but the decision along with it. As long as you are bound, you don't have to answer for anything, not even for staying.
If instead you say, "I'm doing this because the price of the alternative is too high for me," nothing changes outwardly. You do the same as before, with the same tiredness. But now the staying belongs to you. That can be lighter. It can also be heavier, because the circumstances no longer hide you.
Sometimes you then notice that you would long since have been willing to pay the price. Sometimes, too, that you want to stay and had simply never asked yourself.
