A Boat Called Freedom

7/28/2019 A Boat Called Freedom

1/4

"A Boat Called Freedom""A Boat Called Freedom""A Boat Called Freedom""A Boat Called Freedom"

by Iain Legg

I was coughing, spluttering. Salty seawater filled my mouth. I looked up and everywhere there were

people swimming. There must have been thousands of people ...a multitude of arms and legs kicking,

all moving in one huge anti clockwise circle, the size of an athletic track. In the center was a small

desert island with a few palm trees and a person who was throwing food to the swimmers.

What was going on? How had I got here?

I was quickly halted from my thoughts as a jolt of pain shot up my leg. Some guy aged about 50 had

blindly kicked me as he swam by. I tried to call out but he didn't seem to hear me.

I started to panic a little and tried to grab other people's attention but everyone just kept onswimming, and I was blocking the way. Other people hit me and kicked me as they struggled to get

around so I had to either swim with them or drown (...or so I thought at the time...)

So I started swimming along but was still looking around frantically for a face I might recognise. It

was difficult as most people seemed to swim with their faces in the water. Eventually I saw a friend

who was swimming close to me and asked him why we were here. He didn't hear me amongst all the

splashing and foaming water.

I pulled his arm. "What's with all this swimming?" I shouted.

"What are you talking about?" he shouts back as if I'm crazy... "we're swimming the circles and

getting fed, this is what we do ...why do you question it again my friend" he smiled...

This seemed familiar as if we've had this conversation a thousand times. I felt frustrated. Alone.

...there must be more to life......there must be more to life......there must be more to life......there must be more to life...

But then out of the corner of my eye I saw someone waving. It was a lady in a boat and she was

beckoning me to come over to her. But she was away from the other swimmers. A long way and I felt

a little scared. Maybe it was just safer to stick with the majority...

...but something inside urged me to swim across even though she was right outside the circle of

swimmers, and a very long way from the island that fed people. So I took a deep breath and started

swimming across the lanes of people.

It took a while to get across and felt like the bravest thing I'd ever done ...but strangely it wasn't that

difficult. Once I'd made up my mind, swimmers seemed to slow down and speed up almost as if they

were moving out of the way for me. 10 minutes later and I reached the lady.

She was sitting in a simple small wooden rowing boat smiling down at me. Her pale blue eyes seemed


2/4

to sparkle like sunlight on the water and her long silver hair blew gently in the breeze. I was thinking

that she must be about 60 ...but somehow she seemed much older and wiser.

I grabbed the side of the boat and gathering my breath I asked "why did you wave to me?".

"....because you were looking for answers." she replied.

I was about to ask what her name was when I felt something cold and metallic beneath my hand. I

looked down and saw 9 small silver letters attached to the side of the boat spelling out the name I-N-

T-U-I-T-I-O-N

"Am I dreaming all this? All I can remember is suddenly having seawater in my mouth" I asked.

"This is not a dream, you've woken up." the lady softly replied."This is not a dream, you've woken up." the lady softly replied."This is not a dream, you've woken up." the lady softly replied."This is not a dream, you've woken up." the lady softly replied.

My head was now in a real spin. This didn't feel real... I spluttered "but what about the others... why

do they constantly just swim round and round in circles?".

She leaned forward and whispered sadly, "Because this is all they know. They have been taught from

a very early age that they must swim round the island to be fed."

The thought of doing this forever somehow terrified me... "How do I escape? I don't want to spend

the rest of my life going around in circles."

"Well you need to know clearly what you do want, not what you don't want..." she replied with a

smile.

I knew deep down what I really wanted. Life was about being free experiencing things, exploring,

growing, having fun, being happy ...and sharing this with other people...

I thought about the poor exhausted people whose life revolved around an island (literally) ...I told the

lady "I want freedom".

"Ok you need to picture it clearly in your mind in perfect detail." she replied. "You must feel

gratitude and happiness bursting from your heart as if you have this freedom now...and you must feel

these emotions every day ...then let your intention go and KNOW it will happen."

"Along the way you may feel hunches or gut feelings prompting you to take certain actions. Listen to

these feelings, they are my whispers in the wind to guide you. Understand this, take action and you'll

find your freedom..."

I listened to her words and imagined a beautiful sailing boat with sky blue coloured sails with a

golden trim. The hull was a dark brown wood and in the corner, painted in small white letters, was

the name ...'Freedom'.


3/4

No sooner had I seen this when the wind picked up and salty water blew across my face. I blinked my

eyes and when they opened Freedom was gone, along with the lady in the boat ... and I was suddenly

back swimming in circles, seawater choking in my mouth...

Every day for a week I thought about the silver haired lady and her words of wisdom. Every day I'd

pictured the boat called Freedom, and every day I'd imagined how gloriously happy I'd be if I could

see this boat in reality.

I needed to see this boat.

How could I live a life of mediocrity and boredom when I knew a better life existed? ...A better life

was actually possible ...and I'd really believed it was, I was desperate to believe it was possible ...but to

be honest, I was now starting to have a few niggling doubts...

I'd seen no signs of success and it was frustrating my friend just smiled as usual... in thatold you

so' kind of way. (Or maybe my friend just felt sorry for me for having thesear out' beliefs that

there could be more to life?)

Ever since I was a small child I remember being told that our life involved swimming around a huge

island. We apparently had to do this to get fed. People wasted the best years of their lives going

around in circles. Trapped to the system.

Trapped by their beliefs.

And even though I'd accepted this system as the only way of life up until recently now it seemed

crazy ...or maybe I was going crazy? Sometimes it's hard to keep believing...

The wind started to pick up a little and the waves got bigger making it harder to swim but nobody

seemed to notice. They just carried on their long monotonous circle an infinite loop of broken

dreams. But then I heard her voice in the wind... my intuition...

"You see your Freedom from afar and that is why it stays away. You must imagine yourself sailing

your boat, feel the emotions as you look around ...you must picture and feel Freedom from within."

"You see your Freedom as a need. Therefore you stay in a emotional state of lack and Freedom will

always be lacking, just out of your grasp. You must know your Freedom is already yours. You must

feel the gratitude and joy as if you have Freedom now."

"You see your Freedom every minute of your every waking hour. Your energy, your power that

contains your dream must be released so its magic can work."

"But if I let go of my dream aren't I giving up?" I asked.


4/4

"When you release your dream you must already KNOW in your heart it will manifest ...Then you

must take action ...your boat won't float right up to you!"

I smiled, and asked "What action do I take?"

"listen to your intuition..." the words slowly faded as the wind dropped and the sea was calm again.

So I visualized being within my boat called Freedom...

...the sky blue sails flapped gently in the sea breeze. I was capturing the magic of the moment as I sat

aboard looking out to the horizon. Gulls flew overhead mixing their song with the gentle splashing of

the ocean. The sun was beginning to set and was casting it's beautiful orange rays across the evening

sky. Life was good...

...until choking seawater abruptly awakened me from my visualization/daydream. Yet regardless of

the difficulties going on all around me in my current temporary reality, I persisted with this exercise

every day. Then on the 7th day I remembered the lady telling me to release the power ...so I imagined

a ball of pure white energy that contained my passport to Freedom and I let it shoot from the palm

of my hand into the starlit sky (...and I'm sure a star twinkled just at that moment...)

And that was it I heard nothing for months, no signals, no whispers in the wind...

...but I never stopped believing.

Then one sunny day I heard the whispers telling me to swim and follow the wind. I didn't need to be

told twice and started swimming, my guide - the wind and the waves. I swam until I could almost

swim no more, and then in the distance I saw it -

A beautiful sailing boat with sky blue coloured sails with a golden trim. The hull was a dark brown

wood and in the corner, painted in small white letters, was the name ...'Freedom'.

It was getting late and the sun was setting on the horizon ...casting it's beautiful orange rays across

the evening sky. I swam up to the boat and climbed aboard exhausted but exhilarated.

My dream had come true, but now out of my comfort zone, I thought to myself "Where shall I go?

What shall I do?"

I heard the sound of laughing behind me and turned round to see a beaming face with sparkling blue

eyes. Intuition, the wisest friend you'll ever meet.

"You can go anywhere, do anything", she smiled.

"...you always could..."

Documents

A Boat Called Freedom