Beloved Osho, and an orator said, speak to us of freedom. …

The true freedom has nothing to do with the outside world.
The true freedom is not political, is not economic; it is spiritual. Political freedom can be taken away at any moment; economic freedom can disappear just like a dewdrop in the early morning sun. They are not in your hands. And that which is not in your hands cannot be called true freedom.
True freedom is always spiritual. It has something to do with your innermost being, which cannot be chained, which cannot be handcuffed, which cannot be put into a jail.
Yes, your body can suffer all these things, but your soul is intrinsically free. You don't have to ask for it, and you don't have to struggle for it. It is already there, this very moment. If you turn inwards, all chains, all prisons, all kinds of slaveries disappear -- and there are many. Freedom is only one; slaveries are many -- just as truth is one, lies can be thousands.

AND AN ORATOR SAID, SPEAK TO US OF FREEDOM.

The orator is only articulate with words. He talks about freedom, about love, about beauty, about good, but he only talks; his oratory is nothing but a training of the mind. The orator has no concern with realities. His world consists only of words -- which are impotent, without any content -- and his art is to manage those impotent and contentless words in such a way that you are caught in the words.
It is very relevant that an orator asked Almustafa: speak to us of freedom.
What exactly is the innermost substance of freedom? -- that you are free from the past, that you are free from the future. You do not have memories binding you with the past, dragging you always backwards -- that is against existence: nothing goes backwards. And your freedom is also from imagination, desire, longing -- they drag you towards the future.
Neither the past exists nor the future exists.
All that you have in your hands is the present.
The man who lives in the present, unburdened of past and future, knows the taste of freedom. He has no chains -- chains of memories, chains of desires. These are the real chains which bind your soul and never allow you to live the moment that is yours.
As far as I am concerned, I don't see that without a meditative mind one can ever be in freedom.
In India what you have known in the West as paradise is known as moksha. Moksha means freedom. Paradise does not mean freedom, paradise comes from a Persian root, phirdaus, which means "a walled garden." But don't forget that it is a walled garden: it may be a garden, but it is a prison.
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A man of freedom is free of the past. And the man of freedom is also free of the future, because you don't know what is going to happen the next moment. How can you go on desiring?...
An old man was dying. He was a Jew; and his four sons, who used to live in different houses, were of course immensely rich people. Hearing that their father was dying, they rushed to him.
The father was dying, taking his last breath on the bed, and just sitting by the side of the bed, the sons started discussing how to take his body to the graveyard. Their concern was not the father -- a few minutes more and he would be gone, forever; there was no possibility of their meeting or recognizing each other again... but that was not their concern. They were concerned about: "When he dies, how are we going to transport his body?"
The youngest boy suggested, "He always wanted to have a Rolls Royce. And he has enough money, we have enough money; there is no need for him to suffer and repress an innocent desire. So at least we should bring a Rolls Royce to carry his body to the graveyard. In his life he missed, but at least in death he will have the Rolls Royce."
The second boy said, "You are too young and you don't understand matters concerning money. It is a sheer wastage. He is dead -- whether you take him in a Rolls Royce or in a truck does not matter to him. He will not be able to know, so why waste money?" And it was not much money either, just to hire a Rolls Royce taxi. It was not a question of purchasing it. He said, "My suggestion is that a cheap truck will do as efficiently as any Rolls Royce -- for the dead it makes no difference."
The third boy said, "You are also still immature. Why bother about a truck, when the municipal corporation truck takes, free of charge, any beggar who dies? Just put him out on the road! In the morning the municipal truck, with all kinds of rubbish, will take him for free. Give him a free ride! And what does it matter to a dead man whether it is a municipal truck or a hired truck or a Rolls Royce?"
At that very moment the old man opened his eyes and said, "Where are my shoes?" They were puzzled, "What are you going to do with shoes? Why waste a pair of shoes? Anyway you are going to die."
He said, "I'm still alive and perhaps have a few more breaths. Just bring the shoes; I will walk to the graveyard. That is the cheapest and the sanest way. You are all extravagant, spendthrift."
People may have money, and the money becomes their fetter. People may have prestige, and the prestige becomes their fetters. It seems the whole past of humanity has been improving on how to make better chains, but even if a chain is made of gold, it is still a chain. Freedom on the outside is just the politician's continuous deceiving of the whole humanity.
Freedom is your individual affair.
It is totally subjective.
If you have thrown out all the rubbish of the past and all the desires and ambitions for the future, this very moment you are free -- just like a bird on the wing, the whole sky is yours. Perhaps even the sky is not the limit.

from Osho, Reflections on Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet