{"id":10182,"date":"2023-12-26T20:06:34","date_gmt":"2023-12-26T20:06:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/uncategorized\/on-freedom\/"},"modified":"2023-12-26T20:06:34","modified_gmt":"2023-12-26T20:06:34","slug":"on-freedom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/other\/on-freedom\/","title":{"rendered":"On Freedom"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"thresholdofeternity.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And an orator said, "Speak to us of Freedom." <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

And he answered: <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

At the city gate and by your fireside I have seen you prostrate yourself and worship your own freedom, <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Even as slaves humble themselves before a tyrant and praise him though he slays them. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

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. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

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. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

You shall be free indeed when your days are not without a care nor your nights without a want and a grief, <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

But rather when these things girdle your life and yet you rise above them naked and unbound. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

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? <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

In truth that which you call freedom is the strongest of these chains, though its links glitter in the sun and dazzle the eyes. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

And what is it but fragments of your own self you would discard that you may become free? <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

If it is an unjust law you would abolish, that law was written with your own hand upon your own forehead. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

You cannot erase it by burning your law books nor by washing the foreheads of your judges, though you pour the sea upon them. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

And if it is a despot you would dethrone, see first that his throne erected within you is destroyed. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

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? <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

And if it is a care you would cast off, that care has been chosen by you rather than imposed upon you. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

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. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

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. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

These things move within you as lights and shadows in pairs that cling. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

And when the shadow fades and is no more, the light that lingers becomes a shadow to another light. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

And thus your freedom when it loses its fetters becomes itself the fetter of a greater freedom. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Posted by: wyldwynd<\/p>\n

Notes: Source:The Prophet, Kahlil Gibran, Chapter14<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-other"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10182\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}