Many philosophical and spiritual traditions from different eras and cultures overlap.
I’m listening to Rudolf Steiner, not an easy feat as the language and philosophies of the1920s are very different to how we process information now in our society of sound bytes and fleeting attention spans.
Steiner’s teaching on “Freedom” resonates with the Buddhist idea of the Middle Way.
Steiner’s philosophy of freedom emphasises inner self-awareness, ethical individualism, and spirituality to achieve true personal and social liberty with consciousness being crucial to unlocking personal freedom.
The more aware we become of our thoughts and actions, the more we gain the capacity to act with real insight – rather than out of habit or because we’re being manipulated by something external.
Mind boggling stuff if you consider how many of society outsource almost every aspect of their lives to so called “experts”.
I don’t have sovereignty of my mind, body or life choices, I’ll just believe the “expert” over there and I can get back to watching Netflix or mindlessly scrolling.
The Buddhist Middle Way describes the middle ground between attachment and aversion, between being and non-being, between form and emptiness, between free will and passivity.
“Middle” means to investigate and penetrate the core of life and all things with an upright, unbiased attitude.
We investigate the problem from various angles, analyse the findings, understand the truth thoroughly, and find a reasonable conclusion.
Two great minds, two thousand years apart, articulating consciousness, self- responsibility, curiosity and freedom.
