INDIVIDUAL AND SOCIAL LIBERATION
The ultimate liberation of the human being is a collective task. Except for the Robinson Crusoes, who suffer their own enslavement, most human beings are by nature social beings. The Buddhist ideal of the Bodhisattvas proposes liberation as a common goal for all beings, without exception.
Social progress depends fundamentally on knowledge, education and their dissemination, which do not bring liberation directly but may facilitate it. In ancient Athens, only those who freed themselves from common necessities of daily life could devote their time to philosophizing. The gap between the most powerful and the humblest may become narrower precisely through the expansion of knowledge and participation in its development and dissemination.
For this reason, teaching and learning are the most revolutionary tasks for those who want to dedicate themselves to the welfare of others and help free people from the crushing burden of extreme poverty, which does not even allow them to lift their heads and look at the sky. Sharing and exchanging knowledge is the most human attitude.
Virtue and nobility of character do not consist in having a lordly demeanour, but in sincere action, without barriers of class, race, gender or social status. Abstract service to humankind consists of concrete, individual service to our fellow human beings. This is a necessary step in learning how to serve, since it is not possible to serve humankind without first serving the people around us.
A piece of bread, a coin, a word, an uplifting idea, offered directly, is worth more than anonymous donations to fashionable NGOs. But serving in this way is not enough either, since the ultimate goal is to serve all humankind, which is a necessary preliminary step towards finding God in Nature.
The Patricians, the Warlords, the Nobles, the Hierarchs, in short, the self-proclaimed enlightened Leaders, who have no more light than what they attribute to themselves, are the children of separatism, individualism and pride, always concerned with being acknowledged and imposing visible "signs of submission" on others for this purpose, as is typical of courtiers.
Likewise, its opposite — false modesty, self-flagellation, and the subsequent feeling of being a redeemed sinner — consists of hidden forms of excessive ambition, a sort of "investment" intended to obtain benefits in the other world in exchange for giving up this one. Whoever seeks liberation in this way will never find it.
My immediate liberation does not lie in the pursuit of unattainable goals, lures placed along the path of my ambition, but in a perfect communion, in the profound feeling that recognizes divinity in Nature, in myself, in my brothers, in my little brothers, the animals, and throughout the entire expanse of this wonderful universe, undergoing its own heroic evolution.
Instead of lamenting my many shortcomings and my hundred flaws, and beating my breast, what I have to do is simply work on reforming myself, because selfishness, self-centeredness and the ignorance inherent in this conditioned self are the source of millions of mistakes. Therefore, I will focus only on defeating the Real Destroyer, the Selfish Ego, and then the entire enemy army of my faults will be destroyed.
My liberation from the tyranny of the self is achieved without seeking it, without mental efforts at concentration, without repetitive chanting of mantras, and without Byzantine analyses of philosophical concepts. It is achieved by putting my hands to work and bending my back in the task of freeing others from my ignorance and their own. There is no liberation in the high towers of pride of those who only see nothing but themselves.
Liberation is a serene and inner joy that makes the kingdom of heaven begin here on earth. You don't have to die to see heaven.
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