The Prophet: On Freedom

On Freedom
And an orator said, "Speak to us of Freedom."
And he answered:
At the city gate and by your fireside I have seen you prostrate yourself and worship your own freedom,
Even as slaves humble themselves before a tyrant and praise him though he slays 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.
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 fulfillment.
You shall be free indeed when your days are not without a care nor your nights without a want and a grief,
But rather when these things girdle your life and yet you rise above them naked and unbound.
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?
In truth that which you call freedom is the strongest of these chains, though its links glitter in the sun and dazzle the eyes.
And what is it but fragments of your own self you would discard that you may become free?
If it is an unjust law you would abolish, that law was written with your own hand upon 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.
And if it is a despot you would dethrone, see first that his throne erected 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 won pride?
And if it is a care you would cast off, that care has been chosen by you rather than imposed upon 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.
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.
These things move within you as lights and shadows in pairs that cling.
And when the shadow fades and is no more, the light that lingers becomes a shadow to another light.
And thus your freedom when it loses its fetters becomes itself the fetter of a greater freedom.

The Prophet le prije ctuca / le pijyctu (the wise teacher)
The Prophet: The Coming of the Ship .i nu selklama le bloti
The Prophet: On Love lo ka prami
The Prophet: On Marriage lo nu speni
The Prophet: On Children lo panzi
The Prophet: On Giving lo nu dunda
The Prophet: On Eating and Drinking lo nu citka je pinxe
The Prophet: On Work lo zu'o gunka
The Prophet: On Joy and Sorrow lo li'i gleki je badri
The Prophet: On Houses lo zdani
The Prophet: On Clothes lo taxfu
The Prophet: On Buying and Selling lo nu tevecnu je vecnu
The Prophet: On Crime and Punishment lo zekri .e lo nu sfasa
The Prophet: On Laws lo flalu
The Prophet: On Freedom lo za'i zifre
The Prophet: On Reason and Passion lo nu krinu pensi .e lo se cinmo
The Prophet: On Pain lo nu dunku
The Prophet: On Self-Knowledge lo nu sevzi djuno
The Prophet: On Teaching lo nu ctuca
The Prophet: On Friendship lo nu pendo
The Prophet: On Talking lo nu tavla
The Prophet: On Time lo temci
The Prophet: On Good and Evil lo ka vrude .e lo ka pacna
The Prophet: On Prayer lo nu jdaselsku
The Prophet: On Pleasure lo za'i pluka
The Prophet: On Beauty lo ka melbi
The Prophet: On Religion lo lijde
The Prophet: On Death lo nu morsi
The Prophet: The Farewell le nu cusku zo co'o

Created by Eppcott. Last Modification: Friday 13 of January, 2006 19:21:12 GMT by Eppcott.