The spiritual meaning of freedom

On this Fourth of July as we celebrate Independence Day here in the United States with parades, speeches, flags, fireworks and family barbeques, I’m pondering what independence really means, not just to us here in this country, but as a human race.

It is a big question to grapple with. For inspiration, I turn to Ernest Holmes, founder of the spiritual philosophy know as Science of Mind, from a talk he gave on July 4, 1937.

I believe his words are as relevant today as they were almost 80 years ago. He paints such a big picture of what freedom, which is intimately related to independence, really means. “We all seek a sense of security, freedom and liberty”, he states. Yet why do we continue to suffer and impose suffering? Why do we so easily trade one form of bondage for another, perhaps in a subtler disguise?  After a detailed study of the last 7,000 years of human history, Holmes notes “…how extremely difficult it is for the human mind to conceive liberty without license, without egotism; and we can only give birth to freedom when we have conceived liberty.”

“True freedom -- true liberty -- has something cosmic behind it”, he declares. The evolution of human freedom, he goes on to explain, is a slow process. “If we want freedom, we must understand that freedom can never come by the imposition of a will of the minority over the majority. It is born finally, and only in such degree as some system is devised whereby individuals are allowed complete freedom so long as they do not, in their freedom, impose bondage on someone else.”

Big ideas indeed to ponder. I feel humbled as I contemplate his words, aware of the enormity of this human experience on planet earth. I am hopeful that we will one day realize this understanding of cosmic unity, so that all peoples, everywhere, can be truly free.

If you would like to read the whole transcript of his talk, you can find it here.

Giving birth to a new reality: the missing ingredient

When the soul wishes to experience something, she throws an image of the experience before her and enters into her own image.

Meister Eckhart

I just love this beautiful description of stepping into our soul’s vision for ourselves.

Something new - it all starts with our imagination – that taste of a possibility, that moment of inspiration when we glimpse the prospect of something as yet unknown, the moment that we give birth to that “rocket of desire” that shoots off into the far reaches of the Universe, creating the mental equivalent of our heart’s desire.

In the Science of Mind philosophy, we could say this process is a manifestation of the Divine Urge to grow, to express life.

And what is ours to do once we have launched this desire?

Perhaps the more important question is – what is ours to be?

For we are all about the doing, in this culture. We are great at strategies, actions plans, and processes. And there is nothing wrong with that – it’s all necessary.

But first, comes the being. If we take care of that, the doing will flow more harmoniously. Even though we may be working hard, even harder than we have ever worked, it won’t feel like quite such a struggle. 

So, what is ours to be? 

The state of being in which we know that we are already in the Flow, by divine birthright. The state of being in which we allow, and relax, and open to that greater unfolding. The state of being in which we trust that just as surely as Life creates the  desire, it creates the means and the wherewithal to bring it into fruition.

When we are in this state of allowing, receptive being, the steps to the doing show up in all kinds of synchronistic ways. New doors open. Unexpected connections materialize. Fresh perspectives emerge.  Magic happens. The entire Universe conspires for our happiness. Stars are born!