There Lurks a Hell in Freedom

Xuefeng

July 14, 2024

First and foremost, I firmly oppose any form of coercion. I oppose anyone imposing their will on others, I oppose autocracy by any individual, and I also oppose irrational democratic movements by the masses.

I advocate for freedom—freedom of the body, mind, and spirit. However, today I want to point out that there lurks a hell in freedom.

Freedom belongs to those who are highly spiritual, humble, eager to learn, and actively contribute without concern for personal gain or loss. If a person is lazy, selfish, greedy, cunning, scheming, or so clueless that they don't know their position in life, then freedom is likely to lead them to hell.

The Lifechanyuan International Family organization purchased a resort in northern British Columbia, Canada, by a famous lakeside. This place is picturesque, serene, and peaceful. Sitting by the lake, one can enjoy the blue sky, white clouds, and birds flying, and even see the coastal mountains with their snow-capped peaks that do not melt even in summer. Upon arriving at the resort, there were many things to do. I needed people to help me, as there were seven independent wooden cabins for guests and twelve grassy camping spots, and it was impossible for just one or two people to manage everything.

According to the Lifechanyuan Second Home program, we cannot hire people, as hiring would require paying wages, and the Second Home program does not allow any monetary transactions within. Therefore, only Chanyuan celestials and temporary volunteers can work here. However, we did not have enough celestials, as a few were needed to run our other small hotel in another part of Canada, which was doing well.

The Lifechanyuan International Family's resort urgently needed people. Conveniently, a man who had been employed by the previous owner for nearly 20 years lived in a camper on the resort grounds. If he was willing, he could have become a part of this resort and a Chanyuan celestial, as he had an excellent opportunity in life.

Unfortunately, he did not seize this opportunity. He stayed at the resort for free for two months, and eventually, I had to ask him to leave.

My principle is that I will never assign anyone to a specific job, nor will I demand or force anyone to do anything. The Lifechanyuan value is that everything should be based on self-awareness and willingness. Thus, in our home, each member must be highly free, and every member must voluntarily engage in work they are good at and passionate about, striving to excel in their duties.

I give you complete freedom, and then I observe you. If you want to sleep all day, I won't interfere; if you want to play games online all day, I won't interfere; if you do just a little work each day and then wander around, that's your choice, and I won't interfere. However, if I discover that you are habitually lazy, lack self-discipline, are not proactive in your work, and yet want to eat well, dress well, and live well, I will wait for an appropriate time to ask you to leave.

From this, I discovered a secret of the universe: the Tao's eye is always watching each of us. Our future depends entirely on our daily words and actions. Even our emotions, expressions, words, and gestures will affect our future. This is when I understood Laozi's saying, "The net of Heaven has large meshes, but it lets nothing through.”

Knowing this secret of the universe, one can predict a person’s future based on their words and actions and also predict the future of a nation. Even more astonishingly, one can understand a person’s or a nation’s history based on their current state. This means that by observing a person’s current state, one can understand their past mental state and actions. This is when one realizes how just the way of heaven is!

The information I want to provide to readers is that when you are in a state of freedom, be extremely careful. Freedom leads to both heaven and hell: humility, self-restraint, and contributing more will certainly lead to heaven; arrogance, indulgence, and seeking comfort will certainly lead to hell.