The ontologist, Ernest Holmes, has said that if God has a will, it must for us “to express greater life, greater happiness, greater power,” without harming others. It makes sense to me, then, that the perfect mode for this expression is freedom…the unconstricted means to live our lives as fully and completely as possible. If there is a divine urge, it must be this. Otherwise why would people die for the sake of freedom, as they willingly forfeit their lives so that others might be free? The freedom to become more of who we truly are must be part of our spiritual DNA!
Not for ourselves alone
I think of two 19th Century American women who spent their lives in the pursuit of becoming more of who they could be…Suffragettes Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. They could not have appeared to be more different. Stanton, smiling and motherly, was married and had seven children; Anthony, gaunt and strong featured, never married. Yet they pursued their quest to be free to vote and run their own affairs, even to the point of arrest for Anthony. As they neared the end of their long lives, they could see that they would, themselves, never be allowed to vote (nor would their outstanding, New England contemporary, Mary Baker Eddy). Nevertheless they persisted and created their rallying cry, “Not for ourselves alone!” Eventually, of course, the laws changed, and we might say that the rest is history.
Work to do
The desire to express, to become more fully realized never leaves anyone, not ever, and we do ourselves and others a great disservice…maybe we could even say sin…if we do not understand this and try to impede it. Freedom has many faces. The right to vote may be one of them, but so is equal opportunity and the right to marry whomsoever we may love. So is working at a profession we choose, so is living where our hearts feel free. The wise have come to recognize through the annals of history that there is no real freedom if all are not free. If they are right, we have much work to do.
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