What makes a person free? What's the secret?

What makes a person free? Each of us at least once asked himself this question. There are many definitions of the concept of "freedom", as well as a huge number of points of view on the topic of who he is - a free man, what are the criteria for this state. Let's try to figure it out.
One can regard freedom from different points of view. A prisoner in prison is far from free, because he can not leave his cell, but a journalist who quietly travels around the country also complains of harassment. He is deprived of freedom of speech. Here is a teacher in a rural school. He is hampered by material problems, he must constantly think about how to feed himself and his family. What kind of freedom can we talk about? However, a successful businessman is a hostage of circumstances - the state does not allow him to develop his business, puts the sticks in the wheel.

There are many more such examples. All these are the external causes of our lack of freedom. So the society and the whole world are organized. Created for the good of man, he gradually turns him into his slave. Conditionalities and rules pressure people from all sides, often penetrate not only into the external manifestations of our life, but also into the inner world of each person, not giving him the opportunity to realize one of his main freedoms - the freedom of thought.

It seems that it can be simpler than a free thought? Nobody can forbid thinking. Even if your brain generates ideas that are not reliable from the point of view of the government, society or family, no one will know about it (unless, of course, you yourself do not inform everyone about them). But what is the problem, then, why is freedom of thought so important?

"Freedom has nothing to do with the outside world: true freedom is not political, not economic: it is spiritual, it is not in your hands, and what is not in your hands can not be called genuine freedom."

These are the words of Osho, and it's hard not to agree with them. What makes a person free? Without money it is difficult to live, they give a certain freedom, but the means can easily disappear. The state that oppresses you can leave, but this does not mean that in another country everything will be smooth. Do you have the right to speak openly all that you think? Achievable, but here there are pitfalls. Everything that happens inside of us can not be taken away, spoiled, lost, only if we do not want it. A free man is an inwardly unlimited individual, in harmony with himself and with the world.

Here we get to the most interesting and important point of our reasoning. What makes a person free? We saw that the keys to the desired state are within us. But what can prevent us from using them?

There is an opinion that the main enemy in achieving a person's freedom are the ideas he accepted as a given (most often in the process of upbringing and education). These are external conditioning, transformed into his own opinion, but in fact not related to what he really wants, feels and thinks. It is not so important what the message carries these ideas, positive or negative. If a person does not understand that it is not he, but only a thought, an idea, he can not become free.

Refusing your beliefs is not necessary, you just need to understand them. This also applies to children's complexes that do not allow us to develop, and religious beliefs that prevent us from understanding what we really believe in, and our schemes for a correct life. Because of the latter, we are often in the constant planning of the future, forgetting about the present, strive not for what we want and can, but for what we somehow want to want.
What makes a person free? We found the answer. Self-awareness is separate from ideas, self-seeking, inner work. You need to constantly be aware of yourself, do not act mechanically, be here and now. This is true freedom.