Freedom

2 min

And an orator said, Speak to us of Freedom.

And a public speaker said, Speak to us about Freedom.

And he answered:

At the city gate and by your fireside I have seen you prostrate yourself and worship your own freedom,

At the city gate and by your fireside, I have seen you bow down and worship your own freedom,

Even as slaves humble themselves before a tyrant and praise him though he slays them.

Just as slaves bow before a tyrant and praise him even though he kills them.

Ay, in the grove of the temple and in the shadow of the citadel I have seen the freest among you wear their freedom as a yoke and a handcuff.

Yes, in the temple grove and in the shadow of the fortress, I have seen the freest among you wear their freedom like a yoke and a handcuff.

And my heart bled within me; for you can only be free when even the desire of seeking freedom becomes a harness to you, and when you cease to speak of freedom as a goal and a fulfilment.

And my heart ached. For you can be free only when even the desire to seek freedom becomes a restraint, and when you stop speaking of freedom as a goal and a fulfillment.

You shall be free indeed when your days are not without a care nor your nights without a want and a grief,

You will be truly free when your days still have worries and your nights still hold longing and grief,

But rather when these things girdle your life and yet you rise above them naked and unbound.

But rather, when these things surround your life and you rise above them naked and free.

And how shall you rise beyond your days and nights unless you break the chains which you at the dawn of your understanding have fastened around your noon hour?

How can you rise beyond your days and nights unless you break the chains you fastened around your noon when you first began to understand?

In truth that which you call freedom is the strongest of these chains, though its links glitter in the sun and dazzle your eyes.

In truth, what you call freedom is the strongest of these chains, though its links glitter in the sun and dazzle your eyes.

And what is it but fragments of your own self you would discard that you may become free?

And what else would you cast off to become free but pieces of yourself?

If it is an unjust law you would abolish, that law was written with your own hand upon your own forehead.

If you want to abolish an unjust law, you wrote that law on your own forehead.

You cannot erase it by burning your law books nor by washing the foreheads of your judges, though you pour the sea upon them.

You cannot erase it by burning your law books or washing your judges’ foreheads, even if you pour the sea over them.

And if it is a despot you would dethrone, see first that his throne erected within you is destroyed.

And if you want to overthrow a tyrant, first make sure his throne within you is destroyed.

For how can a tyrant rule the free and the proud, but for a tyranny in their own freedom and a shame in their own pride?

For how can a tyrant rule free and proud people unless tyranny exists in their own freedom and shame in their own pride?

And if it is a care you would cast off, that cart has been chosen by you rather than imposed upon you.

And if it is a worry you want to throw off, you chose that cart. It was not imposed on you.

And if it is a fear you would dispel, the seat of that fear is in your heart and not in the hand of the feared.

And if you want to overcome a fear, that fear rests in your heart, not in the power of whatever you fear.

Verily all things move within your being in constant half embrace, the desired and the dreaded, the repugnant and the cherished, the pursued and that which you would escape.

All things move within you, forever half embracing: what you desire and what you dread, what repels you and what you cherish, what you pursue and what you would escape.

These things move within you as lights and shadows in pairs that cling.

These things move within you like light and shadow, paired and clinging together.

And when the shadow fades and is no more, the light that lingers becomes a shadow to another light.

And when the shadow fades away, the light that remains becomes a shadow to another light.

And thus your freedom when it loses its fetters becomes itself the fetter of a greater freedom.

And so, when your freedom breaks its chains, it becomes a chain holding back a greater freedom.