Are Human Beings On Earth Free?

[native]

Is it enough though to just change our perceptions and thoughts, or do some external circumstances simply need to be changed if we are to be well?  Maybe I am underestimating the power of the mind.  I don't know.  I just struggle to believe that I or anyone for that matter can be well regardless of ANY circumstance, as long as a positive and balanced state of mind is maintained. 

I too am tired of feeling burdened by the world and also guilty for not believing that I am 'doing enough to help'.  What did you mean by not accepting our desires?  You mean in general, or did you have something specific in mind?     

Regarding desires, I meant we often suppress our true selves, our limits, or what we wish to be doing in favor of attempting to be a better person. It's inevitable. In other words we don't accept ourselves. If we can't accept ourselves, and if all is one, that blocked energy will reflect itself externally in my opinion.

"In the context of doing work in the disciplines of the personality, in order to be of more full efficiency in the central acceptance of the self, it is first quite necessary to know the distortions of the self which the entity is accepting. Each thought and action needs must then be scrutinized for the precise foundation of the distortions of any reactions. This process shall lead to the more central task of acceptance. However, the architrave must be in place before the structure is builded."

As far as perceptions go, yes I believe there are ways in which we can contribute actively, but that balance is for the individual to figure out. You bring up with issue of faith regarding circumstance. We react to catalyst because there is a lack of faith in place. The mind says that if I let this person go with their distorted perception uncorrected, it will have a negative consequence on the collective. But the distortions we encounter in others are also in ourselves, and so we get to that place of faith through dedication in learning to see ourselves in others.

Faith also embodies acceptance. Because if we can recognize our own distortions in others, and ultimately accept those distortions as being ok as a greater part of the self, we release control and reside in a place of faith. This responsibility we feel we need to have then falls away. An analogy is that by letting others be themselves and make mistakes, believing that they will eventually seek guidance when needed, we create space/freedom rather than restrict it.

So much of our experience revolves around holding onto things rather than letting them go. If we could learn to accept things more and more, then new expressions/transformations should come into being in my opinion. How will we ever discover something new if we continue to work with the same patterns?