Freedom (Christianity)
Description
The free person is free to be lucid about the horror and inseparable glory of the world; it is tragic, transitory, the only one there is and the one of choice. This free person is free to be lucid about the neuroses, biases, illusions imbedded in his own consciousness and about his own greatness. He is lucid about those around him; they too are neurotic, biased and filled with illusions. They too are filled with unique greatness and possibility. He is lucid about his unconditional acceptance in Christ and assumes responsibility for being accepted.
The free person is free to be sensitive to every dimension of life, passionate and disinterested, engaged and detached. The free person is free to be sensitive to all of creation, listen to history, witness pain and suffering and participating in the chaos of his time. He is free to be sensitive to the specific situation in which he finds himself, free to affirm and create life in that situation, as it is. He is sensitive to the mystery, depth and greatness of the situation, its past and its potential. He is detached in his sensitivity. He is nonchalant about his own significance. He is an actor playing the role required to create a more human present and future. He is a lover giving all he has to this moment. He is a conqueror, requiring everything from himself to achieve victory without having to have the fruits of winning.
The free person is free to be exposed to history and neighbour through the deeds he performs. The free person abandons the need for security and risks making decisions. He dares to change, to act out his care. He freely accepts the radical ambiguity of decisions. He knows there is no certainty on his part about the outcome of his decisions. At the same time he is free to use his critical intelligence to make choices. He is free to bring all the wisdom he can to a situation. He builds models using data coming from the situation, the past, his colleagues and his own intuitions and he acts. He freely accepts the consequences of his deeds. He knows there is no ultimate justification for his actions. They are the basis of the next decision.
The free person is free to be disciplined. The free person is disciplined in being what he is, lucid, sensitive and exposed. He freely imposes on himself the decision to live a life given to history in this freedom. He freely surrounds himself with the mechanism to remind himself of his decision to be free. He arranges his life so that others of freedom are around him to remind him of his decision; he is of the church. He exposes himself to the symbols of the church and others which enable him to be this freedom. He exposes himself to the means of grace that he might never forget his acceptance, his freedom and his obligation. Finally, he is free to be judged by history, he renders his deeds up to history for what they are, his deeds. He is accountable to God until death.