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 co operates 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, and 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
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 shall
oppress his brother. Men legislate for outward freedom, yet continue
to render such freedom impossible of achievement by fostering and
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 cannot
receive light, and 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 cooperative aggression,
for this will always produce reactively cooperative 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. Thou who
criest to Man and God for liberty, liberate thyself. 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,
and tell it as the whole man, is an emancipation
so complete, all embracing, and perfect as to leave no
galling fetter unbroken, free thy soul from all sin, and
thou shalt walk of freed and fearless man in the
midst of a world of fearful slaves, and seeing thee
many slaves, shall take heart and shall join thee in
thy 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 lightens 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 thyself pure, make thyself proof
against weakness, temptation, and sin. For only in thine own
heart and mind shalt thou find that perfect freedom for
which the whole world sighs and seeks in vain