July/August 2010 (Vol. XXIII, No. 7)

Summer Blessings, dear friends! Looking back over past issues of Friends of Silence, Nan Merrill's words on "freedom" from two years ago seem even more appropriate for today, given the current devastation and grief so prevalent in our world:

"Freedom is very much in our hearts and minds these days. But freedom is just a word, a concept; an ideal until we will it in our individual lives. We cannot have outer freedom, however, if inwardly we are imprisoned by our fear and all its negative companions. Yet blessed are we who choose to face our fears, one by one. . ."

May we so choose as we meet together in the silence of our innermost being. May we project strength and love outward to our suffering planet and all its inhabitants. As Nan went on to say, "Silence is the golden key that helps us open our heart-gate wider and deeper toward freedom: thus, we bless the world."

To multiply a loved one's freedom by all the freedom we can find in ourselves

Rainer Maria Rilke, Eric Torgersen
This is guilt, if anything is guilt: not to multiply a loved one's freedom by all the freedom we can find in ourselves. We have, in loving, only this one task: to let each other go. For holding on is easy for us, nothing we need learn.

When you are interiorly free

Henry Nouwen
When you are interiorly free you call others to freedom, whether you know it or not. . . . A free man or a free woman creates a space where others feel safe and want to dwell. Our world is so full of conditions, demands, requirements, and obligations that we often wonder what is expected of us. But when we meet a truly free person there are no expectations, only an invitation to reach into ourselves and discover there our own freedom. Where true inner freedom is, there God is.

You are free before the sun of the day

Khalil Gibran Love Letters in the Sand

You are free before the sun of the day,
and free before the stars of the night:
And you are free when there is no sun
and no moon and no star.
You are ever free when you close
your eyes upon all that is.

Taking time to relax is important in our search for freedom

Oonagh Shanley The Voice of Silence
Often I advised parents that their children needed time to think, to just be -- picking flowers, fishing (for crabs) or admiring glorious sunsets, painting their own images in the firmament as they watch the clouds race by. Little ones are so receptive and thrive on these enriching experiences. Respect for life and every living creature can be instilled into their hearts. All the while I had been giving this good advice, I had been starving my own needy soul with a diet of too much hard work. Taking time to relax is important in our search for freedom: it’s one of the easiest and most delightful ways to feel in touch with the intelligence of the cosmos.

As we are liberated from our fear

Marianne Williams
And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

The true experience of freedom

Paulo Coelho
The true experience of freedom is having the most important thing in the world without owning it.

To see this is to be made free

Teilhard de Chardin
The world is filled with the Absolute. To see this is to be made free.

I'll give up greed for freedom

David Edwards Nothing to Lose But Our Illusions
Once you start to see through the myth of status, possessions, and unlimited consumption as a path to happiness, you'll find that you have all kinds of freedom and time. It's like a deal you can make with the universe: I'll give up greed for freedom. Then you can start putting your time to good use.

Play offers freedom from the tyranny of habit

Gwen Gordon EarthLight
Play is our contact with our love for life. It brings us back into our joy at being alive and shows us where our freedom is. Play moves us out of our fixed mindsets: it offers freedom from the tyranny of habit, freedom from the mundane and ordinary, from the rational and need to know and be in control. It's freedom from rigid identification with race, class, gender, and even species.

Only the freedom that drives the risk matters

Paula D'Arcy A New Set of Eyes

There is no protection against adversity.
There are no guarantees.
What you have is yourself, made
in the image of something very great,
the Greatest thing.
You have yourself, and
the particular circumstances of your life.
What you create
is your measure of love.
What you create
is up to you.
We choose what we will risk.
But only the freedom that drives the risk matters.

The only pathway to the deepest form of freedom

Regina J. Dekker
Being authentic is the only pathway to the deepest form of freedom. It means opening to Spirit, mustering courage to move through the challenging process of our life's conditioning. We may encounter surprises and ultimately experience astounding revelations when we uphold our vision to live authentically. Returning to my authentic self, I find freedom.

When you realize "I am," you become free

Robert Adams Silence of the Heart
"I" is the first pronoun. The second pronoun is "am." When you realize "I am," you become free. This is called "Being." Not doing this or being that. Just plain Being. I AM.

Non-attachment is freedom

Maitreya

Attachment is the loss of freedom . . .
Non-attachment is freedom . . .
Our destiny is to be free.

The freedom of Truth

Adyashanti Empty Dancing
If you are not only to taste freedom but to be freedom, you have to have an absolute fidelity to Truth, and you have to be wedded to this fidelity forever. If freedom is going to be a living and ongoing experience, the human part of you has to keep fidelity with Truth and be committed to living in that Truth. As soon as you break your fidelity to Truth, you kick yourself out of the freedom of Truth.

The only pathway to the deepest form of freedom

Regina J. Dekker
Being authentic is the only pathway to the deepest form of freedom. It means opening to Spirit, mustering courage to move through the challenging process of our life's conditioning. We may encounter surprises and ultimately experience astounding revelations when we uphold our vision to live authentically. Returning to my authentic self, I find freedom.

The freedom to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances

Victor Frankel
Everything can be taken from an individual, but one thing: the last of the human freedoms -- to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances.