freedom

 

freedom

Root meaning: The ability to express your will without any impediment or obstacle; “to do your will” (T-30.II.2:1).

Conventional: The ability of your body to say and do whatever you want without impediment or obstacle (see T-22.VI.1-2).

ACIM: The ability of the mind to express its will to love and join, without the obstruction of the ego (which is an alien will).

1. True freedom is our natural state in Heaven, where our will to love extends infinitely outward without any hindrance whatsoever (see creation and extension).
2. We are not free to change this native state, only to deny it.
3. This world is a state of imprisonment, in which we seem to be imprisoned by the body (see W-pI.199.1) and by external circumstances.
4. Yet the real imprisonment here is being a slave, a hostage, to the ego; obeying its alien will. Bondage to the ego results in guilt, which is imprisoning, for guilt says we deserve imprisonment.
5. In this world our only remaining freedom is the freedom of choice (see T-12.VII.9:1, C-1.7:1), the choice between the ego and the Holy Spirit.
6. We find our freedom through freeing our brothers from guilt. Conversely, finding our own freedom enables us to free the world.