Freedom is ultimately power. But the way people usually understand power makes it the opposite of freedom for them, because they think power is something inherently good and they want more of it. They develop psychological dependency of it, which makes them actually lose both freedom and power.

Freedom is a scale, and its measure is determined by the quantity of available options, and the quality of those options. Fewer options usually implies higher determination and heavier dependence, so this works like a focusing device.

The number of available quality options is determined by purity, which is developed by methodically letting go of involuntary reactions.

Everyone has a number of accidental traits, some of which are quite limiting, because they make us repeat some action indefinitely given a certain stimulation. If our such reactions are mindless, then they are basically insane, and we don't control their results. Hence, those results are often undesired, and it's unclear how to avoid them.

Expertise and professionalism are gained through methodical work, which consists of flipping the false impression of self. Common misconception people have about themselves is that absence of quality features is the default state, and one has to work unnaturally hard to gain them. So we consider ourselves clueless, mediocre, hypocritical, egotistic, resentful, just because we tend to be like that. And if someone doesn't have those problems, that must be an exception.

Turns out involuntary self-impression is also a pitfall, and negative tendencies only repeat if we consider them unavoidable, determined. Which is quite strange if you think about it, because it means that it makes sense to break things in return, just because someone else broke something else. While thinking consciously, we usually prefer the opposite - decisions that attempt to improve things. So there's a contradiction between what we want and what we do.

Explicit traits, good and bad, are not inherent to human nature. Any kind of internal effort, psychological or mental, is only successful if we manage to unlearn our inabilities - things that obscure our understanding of how some skill is supposed to work. Unlearning them happens naturally based on exceptional strive, but that doesn't mean we need to sit and await an inspiration.

While inspiration feels like a radical quality leap, we won't be able to work with it if we don't apply due diligence while inspiration is absent. By faithfully applying probity to our daily routine, we are able to collect the necessary quantity changes - productivity instances. This is closely related to discipline and dedication. If you refuse to give up, if you always try to figure things out before making a decision, that boosts your experience, awareness, and first-hand understanding of how reality works.

To actually translate dedicated experience into expertise, one also requires reflection and analysis. Experience needs to be realized and structured, possible future needs to be predicted, and then actually tested, leading to paradigm refinements.

But this path can be made simpler. If we become simpler. If we refrain from attributing any traits at all to ourselves. If we only work on remaining ingenuous, and whatever we experience we just accept and curiously ponder. After all, not everything can be achieved through complexity, and even if that works out, the result will still feel unnatural and sophisticated.

So freedom is letting go of your own accidental traits and tendencies, solving problems by introducing the feelings of integrity and genuineness into things. Freedom is when you deconstruct your own psychological dependencies and come to terms with absence of something. Freedom is welcomed power through balance.