Just read Eric’s post from a few days ago on freedom and thought I’d open another conversation on it. Recently, amidst my travels, I had been pondering about the true intention behind action. I found that ultimately we initially act in ways we deem morally “good” for selfish reasons. Our unselfish actions always begin with selfish motives, especially from a spiritual perspective. We believe that if we act “good” we will be free, but the very desire to act “good” comes from a place of selfishness. We give to others, meditate, practice, study, serve, etc, for the sake of our own freedom. I found that I had been looking at freedom as something outside of myself, something to attain, rather than something I innately had. I realized that this belief comes rooted in my selfish nature, it became funny to me that I believed I could “have” freedom. Freedom appears to be a state of “selflessness”, a recognition of wholeness and unity, not something to attain. It seems that this spiritual dilemma will eventually sort itself out… Maybe one day, rather than acting for my own sake, I will be acting good for goodness sake. Enough practice (or repetitions) acting good will make goodness our true nature, right? It was quite amusing to me that I found myself acting unselfishly for such selfish reasons. Would love to hear some alternate perspectives on this…