How can there be freedom without money or self-determination?

Question

I'm saying that our freedom in the US is dependent on other people's decisions. If you want a job, you can try your best, but you're not free to do that job necessarily. Only the rich seem to be free.

Answer 1

The rich are no freer than the poor, and the location of our bodies makes no difference either.  No matter how much money we have or what country we live in, we are susceptible to pain, suffering, depression, disease, and death.  This is the reality of our material existence.

True freedom is also called liberation, and liberation refers to non-attachment.  From the spiritual vantage-point we are like a balloon that is tied to the ground by thousands of different ropes: family, ideals, desires, emotions, conditioned thoughts, responses, etc.  Our personalities are nothing but stacks and stacks and stacks of judgments and pre-determined conclusions.  All these things weigh us down terribly, and alienate us from the true nature of ourselves, which is unrestricted freedom and incomparable lightness.

A person can become totally free at any time under any conditions by destroying desire and resting in the peace of a still mind.  In this state pure, positive, ecstatic energy wells up from within one's deepest core and brings with it such pervasive happiness as can never be known through mundane, material pleasures.  Such a person lives in the absolute realm of the Devine Self and is almost completely free of all pain and suffering.

Answer 2

yes, there can be freedom without money. determination do  help.intelligence is supreme. that makes the mere go. if you are super intelligent, then money comes autmatically.

Answer 3

Freedom means being able to seek the job you want, not a grantee that you will get it.

Freedom is basic rights and the power of choice, not insured results.

Being free to chose has nothing to do with the outcome of a choice.

Answer 4

Good Point. What other kinds of freedom are there?

Answer 5

Freedom is a relative term as with most everything else.

The rich are less free then the poor for they must guard their treasures.

The working class of people are in fact slaves to the Industrial Empire for they must conform to industries needs as with the latest oil prices. The dependence on oil is a product of our industrial development one which we are committed to at all levels. We have at our finger tips an acceptable alternative, Hydrogen but the proved science is being sure pressed by  the task masters, we are free to take it upon ourselves to use this alternative but for the lack of knowledge available to us through the suppression bu this same task master. For the 20th century there has been a systematic removal of all attempts to make progress in the development of this energy source as with the buy out an removal of a hydrogen system in 1932 by Garret as in Garrets Gadgets where a devise was created to run a car on hydrogen (water).

For those who are willing to free themselves there are a number of systems that can be used and developed check it out by Googling Hydrogen.

Answer 6

You can be as free as you want to be, regardless of the country you live in. It's just that you have to earn your freedom. You want a specific job, then do your best and it's yours. But DO your best  do not TRY your best. And don't waste your time on blaming others for their wealth.

Watch "kung fu panda". You'll get it there...:)

Answer 7

it seems every day new laws are made....to control us...we have lost the right to govern ourselves to decide the best for us...I don't think more money helps....I'm running into the bush ty....

Answer 8

You're conflating several varieties of freedom here.

You always have freedom of action, assuming you're willing to accept the negative consequences of those actions.  You're free to eat nothing but cheeseburgers, but you have to accept that you'll likely gain weight and die sooner than you might have otherwise.  You even have freedom when there's a gun to your head... assuming you don't mind dying.

But...

You can't have freedom from consequences (though some people seem to believe you should), and nobody escapes that, rich or poor.  Wealth can grant you more options, but that doesn't necessarily increase your freedom.

Answer 9

America offers its citizens many unique liberties.  However, all societies consist of laws, social mores, and power structures.  

The farther you move away from society, the less you have to abide by these rules.  

Monks free themselves by living in isolation and disavowing all worldly possessions.