Harold W. Dempster – USA
There are many different kinds and concepts of freedom. Spiritual, psychological and material are the three kinds that would include all other forms, such as economic and political freedoms, with which we shall not be dealing in this particular article, though we do not deny their importance.
In any of its forms, freedom certainly is a relative matter. We are experiencing in our consciousness every day different degrees of freedom as well as various amounts of lack of freedom. In fact, we are learning more and more that the term 'relative' is implied in practically every statement of fact that we may make.
We might find ourselves in a state where we would have practically no physical freedom if we were crippled or seriously ill, or confined within the barriers of a jail, and yet have a relatively large scope of mental and spiritual range having to do with a high degree of freedom. Thomas Paine wrote some of his finest works while confined within a prison cell.
Or we might find ourselves confronted by a very large amount of physical or material work ahead of us, and yet have a clear and unagitated perspective whereby we would not be bound nor feel unduly restricted. Or we could find ourselves in the situation of having many problems at hand requiring a great amount of mental effort and judgment and not be upset nor tied down by an attitude of discomfort or worry.
How frequently, however, do we find ourselves complaining - vocally or in the silence of our minds - when we have too much to do, thus destroying that freedom that comes when the mental outlook is realistic and calm, and is able to deal adequately with the pressure of the problems requiring our careful and conscientious attention.
Responsibilities, duties and obligations may seriously affect or limit the freedom of one individual, whereas another may actually feel more free under these weights. If it is one's duty, obligation or responsibility to pay a debt, is it not better to do the things cheerfully that are expected of us in order that our conscience be free and clear?
Psychologically, we are bound or free according to our mental and emotional concepts. If our outlook is bright, realistic enough to deal with the facts, and if we have a normal sense of the fitness of things, our freedom is enlarged and our joy increased. But, when we insist on being pessimistic without cause, or refuse to try to fit ourselves to the Karma of our own making, we are maladjusted cases whose freedom is limited.
Spiritually, we are already free. It is the mind, the emotions and the vital-physical principles that produce our lack of freedom. The spirit flows freely and in generous abundance. All too often we prevent it from flowing through us and thus lose the inspiration, courage and perseverance, to deal with the experiences that the Soul requires in its evolution from relative imperfection and lack of freedom to relative perfection and the joy of unrestrictiveness.
On the mental plane, we can learn to become more free as we adopt a more philosophical attitude in regard to the hourly events that pass before or through our consciousness. We can be closely allied with an individual that might appear to restrict our freedom of action and thinking, instead of recognizing that the experience may be a challenge to us to learn the art of freedom within restraint.
How free are we anyway? How free do we wish to be? How much are we bound? Who binds us? Who can free us? What does freedom mean to us? Could we stand very long being wholly free from the duties that must and should be performed?
An old philosopher friend of mine once said to me, "We are only free to [9] fit", which he explained to mean that we do have a part to play, whoever we may be, and that to play our part with a more profound degree of inner understanding enables us to fit ourselves more completely into all circumstances, and free ourselves from the attitudes that are born of superficial conceptions. Perhaps you do not agree with him. Or do you?
The wider and deeper our sympathies are inwardly, the more freedom do we feel. We are forever free and forever bound - a paradox that points to the need for the reconciliation of the eternal pairs of opposites, which alas can never be reconciled.
It is the attitude of the mind and of the inner feeling deep within us, that we call the heart, that produces those increasing degrees of freedom that make us understand that we are bound by our Karma and bound to the Infinite Universe, because we are an integral part thereof. The Infinite is the Sea upon which we set our sail and rudder as we choose, with more or less freedom, according to our Karmic destiny and the destiny of the over-all pattern, the two working together to produce an all-inclusive freedom throughout the Infinity of Time.
You are free right now. Or are you not?
[Note from the editor: this article was first published in Theosophia, No. 4 (46) - November-December, 1951]
