From International Viewpoints (IVy) Issue 4 - December 1991
 
How to gain more Freedom
By Per Schiøttz, Denmark

You often hear people moaning and groaning like: "Free me from (this)" 
and "Free me from (that)". If there really are many things in a 
persons life, that he wants to be free from, then he, for sure, isn't 
a happy person. Freedom is not freedom -from- something or other or a 
whole lot of things. Freedom ought to be freedom -to-, do, be or have 
what you like.

Opinions and Facts

Between people it often happens that one person gives his opinion 
about another to him. He might in his turn take the opinion as a fact, 
and can thereby loose some of his freedom if the opinion is limiting. 
Example: "It's dangerous to travel". (-a fact- is something that can 
be proven to exist by visible evidence. An -opinion- is something 
which may or may not be based on any facts. LRH in Data Series 1R).

Suppression

If Daddy tells Peter: "You are stupid" and Peter somehow buys this, 
and later acts accordingly, (knowingly or unknowingly) by not taking 
the education he wants to, then we are talking about suppression. 
Peter will lose some of his freedom, at least in choice of education. 
Everybody is daily being bombarded with others opinions about this 
that and the other. We love to give good advice to each other and 
every time we tie a connection to others opinions, and act on them, 
i.e. do not follow our own ideas and listen to ourselves, then we 
loose some of ourselves and become weaker and less and less ourselves.

Integrity

Integrity means wholeness; undivided or unbroken state; not marred or 
violated; uncorrupted; honesty etc. etc. (see Tech. Dic.). If a person 
keeps his integrity, then he hasn't given anything of himself away. He 
exists as a whole, as himself. If he compromises with his own honesty, 
own wishes and own 'reality' on himself, then he loses integrity. If 
he adopts others opinions about himself, and thereby gives some of 
himself away then his integrity is smaller. You could say that he has 
shrunk, he is less himself.

Some people live to such a large degree for others and on others terms 
that their own personality disappears. In Fig. 1 the smaller and 
smaller circles demonstrate how a person become less and less himself. 
The more he runs his life based on others opinions, commands and 
orders, and take onto himself their characteristics, behaviour 
patterns, ideas and thoughts the less free he is and the more he 
looses his own identity. He will listen less and less to his own inner 
dialogue, his intuition and feelings. The result will be self-hate, 
self-deception and self-denial and again less freedom. We all do this 
to a larger or smaller degree depending on who in the environment we 
are relating to.

Ethics and Philosophy

All people have an ethical code by which they live. It's their own 
guide-lines for what they consider is OK to do in life. It could be: 
"I will not shop lift" or "I'm OK and have my right to be here". 
Anyone has these on a more or less conscious level. Suppression or 
loss of integrity and thereby freedom is a result of lack of ethical 
code or philosophy. If you have, as part of your ethical code: "I will 
listen to others opinions, and carefully consider if I should make 
them my own", then you have a chance to not blindly accept others 
commands, ideas, perceptions etc. and thereby lose integrity and 
freedom.

If you want to start personal enhancement by joining any form of 
therapy or auditing, then it is very important that you are very sure 
that what you want to take up and handle is in fact your own ideas, 
thoughts, behaviour patterns etc, that you start treating and 
improving on. If it really is others opinions, ideas, thoughts, 
behaviour patterns etc. which you have borrowed, then it is waste of 
time.

Your own

It is possible to disconnect from other peoples, other organizations 
or other associations ideas, thoughts, behaviour patterns etc, when 
you find out that it is not really your own. If Peter feels suppressed 
by Daddys saying: "You are stupid" then it's the fathers opinion and 
not Peters and he ought to disconnect from this opinion, realize that 
it is not his own, and return it to the father with a "Thanks a lot 
for the loan". Please notice very carefully that he doesn't disconnect 
from his Daddy!!! Only from his opinion!!!

There can be a tiny little danger that he disconnects from something 
which really is his own. If so he will never get it handled as he 
doesn't believe it is his own, and why then do anything about it? But 
this tiny little danger is very easy to get around once the principles 
are understood and with a bit of drilling - as needed.

Procedure

First of all you have to realize which persons you feel have caused 
you to make yourself smaller. For each and everyone of these you find 
all the different ideas, thoughts, behaviour patterns, commands, 
unethical acts, beliefs etc that you have taken from that person. 
Thereafter you actually do the disconnection, a cut off all the things 
written down. If there is something you have already disconnected 
from, then acknowledge yourself for that. Finally you sign this 
"document". The whole procedure can take some hours pr. terminal.

When this has been done you need to find out what is missing on your 
own personal written or unwritten ethical code that caused you to 
allow your integrity to be lessened. It is written down as an addition 
to your ethical code. If you then in the future keep this ethical code 
in, then it will work as a guarantee that you will never again in the 
future lose your freedom in that way.

In Fig. 2 is an example of a handling Peter has done concerning his 
father. It's a very typical every day example from a situation which 
is very common.

Results

When all the persons on the list have been handled in this fashion 
then you should experience a greater feeling of freedom. It feels like 
growing as a being. You feel it a little for each terminal you 
"handle". If you feel nothing then you have not fully disconnected 
from all there is to disconnect from, or you have disconnected from 
something which really is your own.

Is it difficult? If it seems difficult to disconnect from anothers 
ideas etc., then another approach is needed first. What has happened 
is that you have got your own personality intermingled with the others 
to such a large degree that it isn't possible to find head or tail in 
all this. You can't see what is yours and what is Daddys. But don't 
give up, get hold of someone who will and can give you a hand. It has 
to be a counsellor or auditor who knows this method very well and who 
has studied the background materials very carefully.

More Freedom

When you have completed disconnection to all you have taken from 
others and as a result hereof felt this wonderful increase of freedom 
and growing, then it's time to start looking at what you want to 
change which is your own stuff. Time can now be spent much more 
effectively in that you only handle what you really need to handle 
with yourself. And there will for sure be things to handle, namely the 
things which are your own and which had to do with the stuff you have 
now disconnected from.

Freedom to....

Your new freedom should result in freedom to do new things, to become 
better in doing the things you want to within your area of interest. 
So "Free me from...." is only valid when it is not your own stuff you 
want to be freed from. Your own dung heap is your own responsibility 
and only you can handle it. But with all the different attacks we can 
launch on it today with all the enormous arrays of processes and 
procedures and handling we have today there is no reason to not being 
able to increase your abilities and expand your personality and 
enhance your freedom.