by Rev. Elizabeth Rowley,
Spiritual Director
July 11, 2020
When I hear the words free at last, I immediately think of the powerful, historic, “I have a dream” speech, delivered by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on August 28, 1963. Dr. King concluded his transformative speech with the words, “Free at last, free at last. Thank God almighty we are free at last.”
Freedom is sure to be attained by all once we truly get that the freedom that we enjoy must be given to everyone, regardless of race, color, creed, ethnicity, or sexual orientation. It includes the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one’s way of life, behavior, or political views. We have work to do, don’t we?
Also, in Dr. King’s speech, the phrase “let freedom ring” comes directly from the patriotic song “America.” You know the verse: My country, ’tis of thee, Sweet land of liberty, Of thee I sing; Land where my fathers died, Land of the pilgrims’ pride, From ev’ry mountainside Let freedom ring.
Freedom already has inherent within it the impetus to ring. Our task is to yield to the Divine and allow it to be. To let something be, it is helpful to clarify what it looks like and what it means. What an excellent opportunity it is to contemplate freedom. What does it mean to you to be free?
In Science of Mind, WE BELIEVE the ultimate goal of life to be complete freedom from all discord of every nature, and that this goal is sure to be attained by all.
The best place to begin is right within your mind. You have the power to free yourself from the lack and limitation ingrained in you since you were born into the world.
True freedom — true liberty — has something cosmic behind it. It is boundless, infinite potentiality. When we come to the place within us where we understand that we indeed are one, then we will experience this cosmic freedom. As we realize we are all connected to one indivisible unity, our whole attitude toward life will be transformed.
To embody oneness is to move through the world as a unified whole, understanding that there is only one thing happening: the Divine. If you are hurting, I am hurting. Consider your body, for example. Say you have a cut on one of your fingers. You can’t separate yourself from the finger if you tried. If other humans are hurting, so are we.
When the declaration of independence was ratified on July 4, 1775, it held self-evident truths that all men were created equal, endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, including Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. At the time, women were not allowed to vote, and slavery was common.
The bottom line is that all humans were created equal and endowed with certain inalienable rights by their Creator. Let’s embody that and be free at last.
And so it is.
