Speaker 1: Perfect freedom. There is no bondage in the heavenly life.
There is perfect freedom. This is its great glory. This
supreme freedom is gained only by obedience. He who obeys
the highest cooperates with the highest, and so masters every
force within himself and every condition without. A man may
choose the lower and neglect the higher, but the higher
is never overcome by the lower. Herein lies the revelation
of freedom. Let a man choose the higher and abandon
the lower. He shall then establish himself as an overcomer,
and shall realize perfect freedom. To give the reins to
inclination is the only slavery. To conquer one's self is
the only freedom. The slave to self loves his chains
and will not have one of them broken, for fear
he would be depriving himself of some cherished delay. He
clings to his gratifications and vanities, regarding freedom from them
as an empty and undesirable condition. He thus defeats and
enslaves himself by self. Enlightenment is perfect freedom found whilst
a man remains ignorant of himself, of his desires, of
his emotions and thoughts, and of the inward causes which
mold his life and destiny. Having neither control nor understanding
of himself, he will remain in bondage to passion, sorrow, suffering,
and fluctuating fortune. The land of perfect freedom lies through
the gate of knowledge. All outward oppression is but the
shadow and effect of the real oppression within. For ages,
the oppressed have cried for liberty, and a thousand man
made statutes have failed to give it to them. They
can give it only to themselves. They shall find it
only in obedience to the divine statutes which are inscribed
upon their hearts. Let them resort to the inward freedom,
and the shadow of oppression shall no more darken the earth.
Let men cease to oppress themselves, and no man will
oppress his brother. Men legislate for an outward freedom, yet
continue to render such freedom impossible of achievement by fostering
an inward condition of enslavement. They thus pursue a shadow
without and ignore the substance within. Man will be free
when he is freed from self. All outward forms of
bondage and oppression will cease to be when man ceases
to be the willing bond slave of passion, error, and ignorance.
Freedom is to the free. Whilst men cling to weakness,
they cannot have strength. Whilst they love darkness, they can
receive no light. So long as they prefer bondage, they
can enjoy no liberty. Strength, light, and freedom are ready
now and can be had by all who love them,
who aspire to them. Freedom does not reside in co
operative aggression, for this will always produce reactively co operative defense, warfare, hatred,
party strife, and the destruction of liberty. Freedom resides in
individual self conquest. The emancipation of humanity is frustrated and
withheld by the self enslavement of the unit. You who
cry to Man and God for liberty, liberate yourself. The
heavenly freedom is freedom from passion, from cravings, from opinions,
from the tyranny of the flesh and the tyranny of
the intellect. This first, and then all outward freedom as
effect to cause the freedom that begins within and extends outwardly,
until that embraces the whole man. Is an emancipation so complete,
all embracing, and perfect as to leave no galling fetter unbroken.
Free your soul from all sin, and you shall walk
a freed and fearless man. In the midst of a
world of fearful slaves, and seeing you many slaves shall
take heart and join you in your glorious freedom. He
who says, my worldly duties are irksome to me, I
will leave them and go into solitude, where I shall
be as free as the air, and thinks to gain
freedom thus will find only a harder slavery. The tree
of freedom is rooted in duty, and he who would
pluck its sweet fruits must discover joy and duty. Glad hearted, calm,
and ready for all tasks. Is he who is freed
from self irksomeness and weariness cannot enter his heart and
his divine strength like every burden, so that its weight
is not felt. He does not run away from duty
with his chains about him, but breaks them and stands free.
Make yourself pure, make yourself proof against weakness, temptation, and sin.
For only in your own heart and mind shall you
find perfect freedom, for which the whole world sighs and
seeks in vain