To Be a Slave to Nothing

The question of freedom is always before us: what it is – how much we were meant to have – and how much freedom we can have within the limits of the law. To begin with, we can only conclude that the Creator meant men to be free, and that the principle of compulsion is not part of His plan – for freedom is essential to ingredient of growth. And so we recall one of the most quoted of all comments concerning freedom: “…know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” This is both an obligation and an opportunity – to know the truth, to search for it, to find it…with the freedom and courage to accept it.

We turn to a question asked of Seneca, “Thou inquirest what liberty is?” And his answer: “To be a slave to nothing….”

It isn’t always others who enslave us. Sometimes we let circumstances enslave us; sometimes we let routine enslave us; sometimes we let things enslave us in our attachment to them; sometimes we enslave ourselves; sometimes we have habits that enslave us – habits that persuade us to partake of harmful things that we think will sooth our nerves or quiet our minds or our imagination – things we think will help us escape from reality. But no man is free if he is running away from himself – or if he has to take things that keep him from reality.

A person isn’t free if he can’t control his thoughts. He isn’t free if he is bound by fear, for fear itself is a kind of compulsion that destroys freedom.

Real freedom comes with discipline, with self-control, and responsible choice – the freedom that chooses to take good counsel, the freedom that chooses to live within the limits of the law, not because we have been compelled, but because we have used our freedom to make intelligent choices – because we have used our freedom in choosing to discipline ourselves, and so are not enslaved. “Thou inquirest what liberty is? To be slave to nothing….”