‘Freedom’. Such an evocative word, even when only read or thought; but when spoken aloud it becomes so much more: it is a truly powerful word. And I am surely wrong to say ‘when only thought’; the thinking is the source of the utterance, and has the potential to breed far stronger feelings that may otherwise be relieved by venting into speech. And yet, in the hands, in the mind and on the tongue of the capable speaker who couples eloquence to the truth and the needs of his hearers, it becomes a belt, a breastplate, shoes, a shield, a helmet and a sword. That one word becomes a manifestation of ‘the full armour of God.’ (Ephesians 6:11)
Our use of language was born within the overlapping layers of generations gradually building on their understanding within this worldly existence. The rise of mankind has been possible because long ago an awakening awareness brought with it the desire to communicate more fully with others around us, not only in the naming of objects and the passing on of knowledge and skills, but in the formulating and sharing of questions. It was the beginning of what amounted to the same all-encompassing questions that we are still asking today. What is it all about? What is this life? What is life? How and why are we here?
Freedom is such a phenomenal concept; such an awe inspiring idea that mankind is still only working towards a full realization of just what it does mean, what it actually does involve, and the necessity to balance individual freedom with the requirements of a peaceful, just and free community, wider society and worldwide family of mankind.
That mankind ever progressed far enough to have need of such a word is proof that we have come a very long way, and with every language generating the word from within, the wider horizons it helped to reveal brought the inevitable increase in awareness of its opposite. Safety cannot exist without a consciousness of danger; cold cannot be known without a knowledge of heat; freedom cannot be understood without some experience of being restricted, confined, trapped, enslaved, immobilized.
For most of us who are able to read or write, as I am now, freedom is what we take for granted every day of our lives, and because we believe we are already in possession of it, we do not think to stop long enough to weigh up our situation in such terms. But that remains a far from universal truth. The cry for freedom still reaches out to the comfortable lives of people like you and me. It is not something that has been dealt with in the past and can now be forgotten; somewhere among the many parts of the world where freedom does not reign, the sights and sounds of my youth are as real and as meaningful as ever they were. At this moment someone, somewhere, is uttering the heartfelt cry that still anchors the collective idea of mankind in 2008 firmly to the 1960s, from where some of my own clear memories come.
Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech for example (http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=gZLvSnr6s50 ), and Joan Baez singing ‘Oh Freedom’ ( http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=EcNN5SEb-Kg ); and further back, not only to William Wilberforce’s long campaign to abolish the slave trade, but to the attitudes of those who made slavery their own, and back through the history of mankind.
In subtle and not so subtle ways the slave trade continues to thrive today. It remains as one of the evils against which St Paul urges us to put on the full armour of God.
He goes on: - ‘...pray for me to be given an opportunity to open my mouth and fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel ... pray that in proclaiming it I may speak as fearlessly as I ought to.’ (Ephesians 6:19,20)
It is through our own fearless proclamation that, regardless of our worldly circumstances, we attain the freedom to be truly free; to recognize no man as our master beyond that recognition required for a peaceful, just and truly civilized functioning of community, society and its culture, yet always knowing there is One who is Master of all.
As Carl Yung had carved above his own door, and as is inscribed upon his tombstone: - ‘Vocatus atque non vocatus Deus aderit’. (Desiderius Erasmus)
Freedom is such a phenomenal concept; such an awe inspiring idea that mankind is still only working towards a full realization of just what it does mean, what it actually does involve, and the necessity to balance individual freedom with the requirements of a peaceful, just and free community, wider society and worldwide family of mankind.
That mankind ever progressed far enough to have need of such a word is proof that we have come a very long way, and with every language generating the word from within, the wider horizons it helped to reveal brought the inevitable increase in awareness of its opposite. Safety cannot exist without a consciousness of danger; cold cannot be known without a knowledge of heat; freedom cannot be understood without some experience of being restricted, confined, trapped, enslaved, immobilized.
For most of us who are able to read or write, as I am now, freedom is what we take for granted every day of our lives, and because we believe we are already in possession of it, we do not think to stop long enough to weigh up our situation in such terms. But that remains a far from universal truth. The cry for freedom still reaches out to the comfortable lives of people like you and me. It is not something that has been dealt with in the past and can now be forgotten; somewhere among the many parts of the world where freedom does not reign, the sights and sounds of my youth are as real and as meaningful as ever they were. At this moment someone, somewhere, is uttering the heartfelt cry that still anchors the collective idea of mankind in 2008 firmly to the 1960s, from where some of my own clear memories come.
Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech for example (http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=gZLvSnr6s50 ), and Joan Baez singing ‘Oh Freedom’ ( http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=EcNN5SEb-Kg ); and further back, not only to William Wilberforce’s long campaign to abolish the slave trade, but to the attitudes of those who made slavery their own, and back through the history of mankind.
In subtle and not so subtle ways the slave trade continues to thrive today. It remains as one of the evils against which St Paul urges us to put on the full armour of God.
He goes on: - ‘...pray for me to be given an opportunity to open my mouth and fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel ... pray that in proclaiming it I may speak as fearlessly as I ought to.’ (Ephesians 6:19,20)
It is through our own fearless proclamation that, regardless of our worldly circumstances, we attain the freedom to be truly free; to recognize no man as our master beyond that recognition required for a peaceful, just and truly civilized functioning of community, society and its culture, yet always knowing there is One who is Master of all.
As Carl Yung had carved above his own door, and as is inscribed upon his tombstone: - ‘Vocatus atque non vocatus Deus aderit’. (Desiderius Erasmus)
.
‘Bidden or not bidden God is present’.
‘Bidden or not bidden God is present’.
.
