Freedom--and the Conquest of Self

“No man can be free,” said Thomas O’Shaughnessy, “until he conquers himself. Many mistake slavery for liberty; they think their liberty consists in following their desires, passions . . . [but] mistaking the mere license of passion or of sensual appetite for liberty binds [them] in a stern bondage . . . Every individual must first obtain victory over self for selfishness is the cause of all slavery . . .”

In speaking of what he called the “unquenchable desire” for freedom, Dr. Lyman Abbott said: “Every man has a right and . . . duty to become all he can become . . . The right to be ourselves . . . is not only inalienable, it is indestructible . . . the right of every man to develop to the utmost his abilities to reach the highest life possible for him is an absolute right; it is more⎯it is a sacred duty. But . . . desire is not always reasonable or righteous. It has inspired some to greatness and has incited some to waste their lives, their opportunities, their self-respect.

“There is no liberty in wrong-doing,” said Joseph Cook. “It chains and fetters its victims as surely as effect follows cause . . .” Young and old⎯and the younger the better, and the earlier the better⎯need to know that controlled and righteous desire can lead to great accomplishment. Uncontrolled and unrighteous desire can lead to great accomplishment. Uncontrolled and unrighteous desire can lead to waste of life, waste of time, of strength and substance, and to sorrow. And any person who permits habits to dominate his life, especially enslaving habits, bad habits, appetites and negative habits, has to that degree forfeited his freedom. Anyone who has not conquered passions or selfishness or slothfulness has to that extent lost his liberty.

The greatest conquest is the conquest of self. The greatest assurance of liberty is obedience to law. Freedom without self-control is a frightening freedom. “No man can be free until he conquers himself.”