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Spiritualminds.com Articles
In Search for Freedomby: Daniela E. Schreier
Expatriates and World Travelers: In Search for Freedom
In my search for freedom, I traveled many roads. I visited faraway countries and learned that no truth is absolute. I had the privilege to learn about different cultures and to appreciate diversity. Yet I did not find freedom until I searched inside myself.
Freedom resides within. My journeys around the world helped me to focus on the pilgrimage to “the self.” When we connect with different people, different beliefs, and different cultures, we reestablish a connection with parts of ourselves, with parts of our being, with experiences and exposures that we previously were not aware had occurred. Each new encounter, each challenge, and each experience reveals a new side of “the self” and leads us further on the way to self-discovery.
Learning to belong to none but God—the universal power—and yet to be part of the ocean of life is an art that is well-practiced in India. It immediately becomes obvious to the seeker, yet it takes a traveler time to achieve this awareness. Upon my arrival in Chennai (Madras), the capital of Tamil Nadu, India’s largest southern state, I experienced insecurity, confusion, and fear of the unknown. Back in 1996, I was not ready to confront a “different reality” or a different “rhythm of life” from what I had been accustomed to during my prior years in Europe and Southeast Asia. I did not believe that two opposites could lead to a peaceful existence. Like so many of us, my need for an “absolute” reality prevailed: right vs. wrong, good vs. bad.
I arrived in India as a business traveler from Singapore, a busy and dynamic country. Progressive and fast-paced, Singapore reconfirms herself day after day as one of the leading economic powers with unique “Switzerland status” in Southeast Asia. And I was part of her mechanical, organized, precise, and efficient business world in our postindustrial society. I defined freedom as the “capitalism” deriving from free economic forces, and I equated life quality and wealth with material possessions and job achievements.
My relationships were defined by my job, and I was professionally caring, yet cold. I was a businesswoman focusing on the outcome. Profit meant success on both a professional and personal basis. What else could there be?
Surely, from time to time, the job got stressful. Many times it did not fulfill my life: It was not enough. My definition of freedom back then was making enough money to retire. I obliged my longing for peace and my sadness and retreated for an occasional weekend holiday to Bali or Phuket, dream locations for many, yet I could never quiet my need for more. My reality was that I had a life and a job (or a life that was my job) to return to, not next week or in 10 days, but on Monday morning.
I have gone through many changes since then. Step by step, life initiated me to experience cultures and worldviews very different from that of the driven businesswoman. When my assignments started to bring me to the “mother of all countries,” India, I experienced a world in opposition to mine, yet so close and familiar to a part inside of me that I had not yet discovered. What I did not yet know was that this was the beginning of an everlasting bond, a bond that would enrich my life and help me to become a more whole person. The crowded Chennai airport welcomed me with its heavily humid and hot air. I inhaled the sweat-spicy aroma and tasted for the first time that flavor of India that a foreigner can only come to love or hate—there is no in between.
With its bustling crowds—the impressive features of men both in traditional Indian doti and western dress, women in bright saris, and children that seem a perfect blend of all races and colors—India made me both curious to discover her ancient secrets and to unveil my own. (The Chennai airport is less busy today as the local government has implied strict rules for the departure and arrival halls as well as limiting access of the remainder of the airport to the homeless.) As a new arrival, I was fearful to let go of my “established” mental map of right and wrong, of true and false.
The country and her inhabitants have a natural mysticism surrounding them, a life rhythm that seems slower. An hour in India may seem to contain 500 minutes, a day may seem like a week. Compared to the West, time in India seems to stand still. It is a mysterious feeling of tranquility and relaxation that makes urgency disappear. Ancient traditions belonging to all major religions are celebrated: Hinduism, Sikhism, Islam, Christianity, and Buddhism. All religions are present but none are dominant. They seem to flow and combine as waves into the ocean of life. Over centuries, the coexistence of different religions has not always been peaceful. It has fallen victim to political intrigues at various times, yet India’s people of different beliefs seem to peacefully respect each other as human beings. It was in India, a country that fosters controversy, where I came to reflect about my life, my values, and my journey through existence.
A colleague leads me out of the airport through the crowded hall to a limousine. The curious eyes of the crowd follow me—I am one of the few Europeans that night. A child steps forward, wanting to touch the “golden hair” of a stranger from a faraway country that most of them know only through television.
On the drive to the hotel, I am shattered by the many people sleeping along the street without shelters, the dusty roads, the stops from time to time to give the cow, a holy animal to the Hindu people, priority to pass in front of us. These peculiar scenes appear as if in a dream, and no Hollywood movie could illustrate its multiplicity.
When I enter the Sheraton Hotel, I experience the duality of the current Indian reality: incredible wealth, the splendor of marble and granite, beautiful ornaments, and right next to a globally rated six-star hotel, millions of people without shelter.
Yet India touched my heart back then, and even today she still captures my soul. For the first time, I was forced to see the “true colors” of the world—rich vs. poor, secure vs. insecure, life vs. death—and mine was the privilege to belong to the very few fortunates.
India inspired me to change. She helped me to recognize my need to broaden my life, to find my niche, to explore what I am here on Earth to do, to extend beyond myself, and to make a difference to the less fortunate and, thereby, a difference to myself.
I had visited India many times—never without learning an inspiring lesson— when, in 1999, I moved to Chennai for my last assignment as an international marketing consultant. Over time, India and her people taught me more than I could ever give back to them. I explored the incredible diversity and beauty of the subcontinent: ancient sites, mosaics, and temples in Delhi, Mumbai, and Mudurai; the incredible sunsets of Trivandrum; the hills and lakes of Udaipur; and so much more. India has never stopped amazing me, nor will her inhabitants ever stop inspiring me.
I learned from them to redefine freedom. I learned from the poor more than from the rich, from the ancient more than from the modern, from the Himalayan wisdom more than from modern university instructions. Yet only all of these things combined could help me to redefine myself, to redefine my freedom. I learned that freedom is not bound to possessions or places: Freedom is bound only to the mind, to the heart, and to the soul. I learned to understand that our worldviews and absolutes make us prisoners of our own minds. When we open our minds, we become free. The modern would not exist without the ancient, nor could the ancient still exist without progress. In the same way, the young would not exist without the old, and the old could not be without the young. In life, everything is connected. The art of living is combining the old and the new, the old world with the new universe, the ancient traditions with the modern views, the traditional religions with the individual beliefs, the outer world with the inner world.
I found freedom when I realized that change originates from within, that the search for freedom must start from within. Liberty extends from the wave to the ocean, from the part to the whole. I found freedom when I realized that we are born free! In the search for truth and freedom, I learned to believe that freedom is our choice. “Free I was born, have lived, and will die” (motto of Queen Christina of Sweden, 1626–89, impregnated on a medal in the seventeenth century).
© 2001, Daniela E. Schreier. All rights reserved.
For rights and permissions contact:
DSchreier@thecolorsoftherainbow.com
or info@oneplanetpublishinghouse.com
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