What does it mean to be a liberated being?
We’re always hearing people say they want to be free. And yet, when you ask people to describe what freedom looks like, they have a hard time envisioning it or view freedom solely through the lens of financial freedom, or other external, material sources.
While money can provide financial freedom by offering us more appealing lifestyle choices, funding what we feel called to do, manifesting our visions and helping us leave unpleasant or dysfunctional circumstances (abusive relationships, stifling jobs, etc.), there is something more fundamental than money at play that allows us to have and make these choices: unconditional love of ourselves.
When we have unconditional love for ourselves, we hold an inherent sense of worthiness: that we’re worthy of love and belonging without condition; that we matter, no matter what. This is what gives us the power to create what we feel called toward (healthy loving relationships, bodies, businesses, work, wealth, social movements, etc.) and the power that allows us to leave or reject what doesn’t serve us.
Having money without unconditional love for ourselves, for example, won’t completely allow us to break free from dysfunctional relationships; we wouldn’t believe we are worthy of relationships that value us since we wouldn’t even value ourselves.
Having money without unconditional love for ourselves won’t allow us to build movements since we would believe we’re not worthy of realizing the world we envision; be susceptible to naysayers for fear of losing or not getting love or acceptance; or be distrustful that what we do has any impact at all.
With unconditional love of ourselves, however, we hold an impenetrable power to see beyond fear, doubt, or even societal challenges to our worthiness and potential. It gives us the power to actualize our true nature—beings that are here to grow and create—and the power to align ourselves with and commit wholeheartedly to a consciousness that’s more truthful, expansive, harmonious and just – no matter if it’s popular or not.
We can go so far as to say that unconditional love of ourselves is liberating for even those of us who are actually in prisons or in bondage. By no means do we want to make light of or romanticize physical incarceration or bondage, but unconditional love allows those of us in prisons or bondage to see themselves as much, much more than inmates or slaves—more as beings with worth and purpose, despite what society espouses and enforces, despite the conditions.
Unconditional love of ourselves imprints in us a true sense of worthiness and power. It allows us to accept ourselves without limitation, and when we can do that, we get in the practice of radical acceptance, true presence and non-attachment, all of which enables us to embody unlimited and invulnerable freedom. What can be more liberating and powerful than believing we’re worthy of love and belonging without condition, actually experiencing love and belonging without condition, and knowing we matter, no matter what?
When we embody this kind of inner freedom, we have the power to realize all types of societal freedoms—equity, opportunity, justice—because we believe we can and that we’re worthy of them, no matter what. We are also better able to hold unconditional love for others. It’s why it’s the source that drives changemakers, luminaries, visionaries, and serves as a catalyst for the conscious evolution of our world.
So how do we cultivate unconditional love for ourselves?
As the saying goes, the truth shall set you free. There are sacred beliefs, regarded across the world and belief systems as universal truths about life and the universe, that when internalized, pull us toward unconditional love, and open the pathway toward liberation:
We are one; we are part of and one with Life, Source, God, All-That-Is, The Great Mystery.
We are spiritual beings having a human experience.
Here at DEPTH, we will explore these truths further as they not only guide us toward true freedom but, as a result, embolden our vision of evolving our world into one that’s more conscious, expansive, harmonious and just.
