Freedom is a hugely emotive word that brings with it all kinds of confusion. Back in the 80s when bill was active as a socialist - stuck in socialist clinging, bill listened for the word "freedom" and judged the person who spoke of freedom as a person stuck in right-wing upadana. Upadana is a good Pali word to help us deal with the issue of freedom, it means clinging, and avoiding any upadana is a good practice for pathtivists, liberation and .... freedom.
 Ditthupadana
Following a pathtivist approach zandtao discusses a particular upadana - ditthi upadana - one word ditthupadana. Ditthupadana is clinging to ideals, and that quite simply could be the summative word for all that is wrong with what activists do, and why activists cannot work together. Activists have their own set of ideals, and they argue with each other hopefully making other people believe their ideals. For these activists there is an imperative - be an activist with a particular set of ideals. Because this fits in so well with upbringings of conditioning and conformity that asks for beliefs it is this imperative that divides grassroots activism, and enables the system-of-accumulation - divide-and-rule.
Socialism as a Ditthupadana
For the time bill was an activist he had a ditthupadana - socialism. As a socialist he was defensive because the system-of-accumulation did not want socialists - did not want activists advocating redistribution of wealth reducing accumulation. Socialists were in conflict with the system-of-accumulation, bill knew this, and fell into the delusion that many socialists have - all they did was right because the system-of-accumulation fought against them. bill further deluded himself that if the 99% banded together the 1% would be overthrown. This is a delusion zandbag regularly discusses, and is a theme throughout the pathtivist book - when it comes. Basically this was a delusion that followed from Marxist books, and whilst Marx has some very good economic analysis socialism is fundamentally flawed as activism. Even though the Trump admin tried to present No Kings as loony left or dangerous left, the 7 million were united not in socialism, not in "support for Gaza", they were united in anti-authoritarianism; essentially they were united in freedom but be very careful with that phrase as this advice points out.
So bill adhered to socialism - clung to socialism - socialism was bill's ditthupadana because conditioning and conformity still captured him in identification with a group. He spent his activism defending socialism and trying not to divide the movement - a fundamental contradiction. zandbag advice - compassion first.
Socialism and the system
There were many good reasons for socialism - support for all people etc. But there were many good reasons to avoid this ditthupadana, primarily the irony of Unity - socialism wanted to unite but it was used to divide. But there were bad things done in the name of socialism - particularly violence and revolution. When we see the system-of-accumulation for what it is, we can see that the system uses violence so when socialism advocates revolution it is calling on the system to use its violence. And it did, many ordinary people suffered; are we certain that there were any gains from any revolution? zandtao is not sure but he does know that the system-of-accumulation in the West uses this violence of socialism to divide - but they could not divide the 7 million of No-Kings.
Freedom Delusions
Now the problem is that we all want freedom of some sort, so when we argue for freedom we think we are united. We do have unity that wants freedom from authoritarianism, we want to be free to do what we want but then we become undecided because we also want to be free from violence and injustice.
Path Clarity
Here the path becomes so useful, the freedom we want is the freedom we get from following our paths. There is a specific spiritual word for this freedom - liberation. Spiritually it is also very clear what liberation means, and that is freedom from conditioning and conformity - the wonderful word bill got from Buddhadasa - atammayata; atammayata is freedom from conditioning and conformity. What this is is discussed in zeer-consciousness.
We have our starting point for activism concerning freedom - atammayata freedom from conditioning and conformity - the spiritual liberation of the path. Hence one of the many needs for developing pathtivism in the grassroots - the clarity it brings in our activism.
Are birds free?
We look at birds - are they free? zandtao can see a freedom as a bird that has a human mind that is in a state of atammayata; imagine the freedom of such flight with a liberated mind - such a fantasy. But with reality zandtao looks at birds but does not see freedom, he sees birds as driven by desire 24/7 and having no freedom. When we consider freedom we have to be free from delusion.
Kneejerk freedom from laws and regulations
As human beings the first thing freedom wants is to be free from laws and regulations, when we think emotionally our kneejerk desires want freedom from laws and regulations. And there is so much propaganda concerning freedom laws and regulations that we can become confused - and many accept this kneejerk freedom. This is why we need the starting point of spiritual liberation so we can be free from the propaganda (of conditioning and conformity).
So as human beings the first thing we think we want is freedom from laws and regulations, but that is only true if it is not meal time. When it is meal time we know the first thing we want is to survive. Then we reach a kind of tipping point within kneejerk reaction, if we have the money to survive then our priority can be kneejerk freedom - freedom from laws and regulations. Do we see this clearly? The path does because it has removed the filters of conditioning and conformity.
Freedom as compassion
So we come to an important understanding of spiritual liberation - compassion - freedom from suffering for all. What happens to freedom from laws and regulations when we bring compassion and survival to freedom? For some, personal freedom still dominates consideration of freedom but sadly many of those people are defiled with greed. They see freedom from laws and regulations as benefitting their personal freedom - their greed. And there are many such people because we live in a system-of-accumulation. The system-of-accumulation defends the greed of the rich because there can be no accumulation if there are not some people who are happy to be rich and greedy. In the system-of-accumulation there are rich people who want to become richer so they argue for freedom from laws and regulations because their greed will get richer and the system-of-accumulation will be free from laws and regulations.
Accumulation wants no regulation
In a financial system accumulation can function like a bully, when money is needed accumulation has the power and can dictate. The economics of daily life as well as the morality of daily life needs regulation to protect the planet and life in general. Accumulation invests in propaganda such as supporting youtube platforms when they promote freedom; this is primarily because there is a ditthupadana on freedom - a belief in the principle of freedom from laws and regulations. The Trump admin deregulates and has backing from the system-of-accumulation, but this is also true for many with right leanings who are essentially bought off by accumulation. There are significant advocates on the web who are sponsored by accumulation simply because they help promote the principle of freedom first - without consequences.
Characteristic Inconsistencies of ego
Whilst finance supports freedom from regulation, rich people actually want laws of human conduct. The rich with their power and influence use the law to benefit themselves, a law characterised by the phrase - one law for the rich. The courts present themselves as equitable and just but the reality is that they benefit the rich who can afford the best lawyers; there is an excess of laws that these lawyers can manipulate for the benefit of their rich clients. Whilst accumulation sponsors many of the people whose ditthupadana supports freedom at all times, the reality for their rich sponsorship is that they want laws to protect themselves but they want no regulations enabling the bullying-by-accumulation within the overriding economic system. Idealism based on the free principle is manipulated by business and finance who don't want regulation yet want to be protected.
So the system-of-accumulation includes sponsorship for freedom but avoids any sponsorship for humanitarian action. There will be sponsorship for authoritarians especially those scapegoating immigration but there is no sponsorship for humanitarian media. Benefaction can simply be a tactic of accumulation where the benefaction benefits the system-of-accumulation, and where most people cannot be aware of what is happening. This is a key attribute of the media - to create confusion, and accumulation chooses its investment to ensure continued confusion. This confusion is characterised on the web by small players having sponsorship to promote freedom narratives that benefit deregulation, and such people tend to believe what they are saying but will lose sponsorship if their line deviates. It is hard to find the truth in all media.
Ego can be recognised by characteristic inconsistencies as with the egos of the rich who want deregulation for their accumulation but increased law and police protection for themselves. For such people there is no guiding principle it is simply greed; this is kilesa - defilement not ditthupadana. Look out for inconsistencies to see the presence of ego, to recognise what is not path.
Ditthupadana of freedom is not freedom
Clinging is not generally recognised as an approach of conditioning and conformity but when we cling to our pasts, cling to a set of thoughts, cling to a set of rules we are not free. What about idealism? Are we free when we are being idealistic or are we just following a set of rules of those ideals? These approaches exist throughout our society and its conditioning and conformity. zandtao uses unrecognised words to help people through this confusion. No upadana means to try to avoid any form of clinging, and the specific word for clinging to an idealism is ditthupadana. All people should be free is a noble sentiment but law and regulation can be there to protect us - to protect the planet. Being free from law and regulation is a bully's charter whether bullying-by-accumulation in the economic world or being physically bullied by military might that can be bought. We need a form of freedom but not a freedom that enables bullying.
When we follow the spiritual path we can find liberation that is free from conditioning and conformity from our upbringing and free from being restricted by societal infrastructure. This liberation is a characteristic of consciousness that brings with it compassion, wisdom and creativity. zandtao suspects that those who are deeply driven by a desire for freedom are unconsciously searching for this liberation but conditioning conformity and sponsorship pull them towards the bully's charter that passes for freedom. The bullies want freedom from regulation so they present regulation as a restriction of freedom but liberation sees the benefits of some regulation of those whose motivation is the greed and profit of accumulation - no matter what the human cost.
Be liberated, be free from restriction, be free from conditioning and conformity but recognise the freedom in right-minded law and regulation. Don't pick a side, choose liberation.
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