Full freedom
functions only when rights are balanced
with responsibilities and choice is balanced with
conscience. The most potent power to put an end to
internal and external wars is the human conscience.
reedom is a precious
gift which promises an experience of liberation and a feeling of no limits as if the
earth, the skies, and the seas are at one's service!
The concepts of freedom and liberty have fascinated human beings. One of the greatest
aspirations in the world today is to be free. People want the freedom to lead a life of
purpose, to select freely a lifestyle in which they and their children can grow healthily
and can flourish through the work of their hands, heads, and hearts. They want to do and
go as they please and to enjoy social, political, and economic rights and privileges. In
short, they want the freedom to choose, to risk, and to succeed!
Full freedom functions only when rights are balanced with responsibilities
and choice is balanced with conscience. There cannot be the experience of freedom,
individually or collectively, if attention and effort are focused only on rights and
choice. When rights and choice are misunderstood or misused, debts are incurred mentally,
physically, spiritually, socially, economically, politically, and so on.
To safeguard freedom, individuals must not excuse, as an example, the
following sentiment and the actions resulting from it: A little greed, a little
aggression, a little anger is necessary to keep people or things in their place. Such a
compromise, beginning as a trace of violation, quickly multiplies; other wrong sentiments
and actions are then justified. Harmful or negative thoughts, words, or actions produce
equal reactions, as do beneficial and positive sentiments and actions. In other words,
what is sown is reaped. That is the natural law of action known as the Law of Karma. It
means that, individually or collectively, positively or negatively, accounts will be
settled and debts incurred will be paid.
One of the key functions of a government, an institution, or any system which has taken
the responsibility to serve is to safeguard, promote, and guarantee freedom at three
levels: 1) within the individual, which includes a wide range of physical and
mental dimensions from preventing torture, pain, or suffering to encouraging
self-actualization and self-expression; 2) within groups, societies, or countries,
which is demonstrated through justice and equality in assuring human rights; and 3) within
nature, which means total respect for natural laws, which are constant and unshakable
and which ensure nature's right to an unpolluted life.
As trustees of the precious gift of freedom and in reaction to violations
of freedom, we continue to sense the imperative to liberate peoples and states from the
"iron chains of oppression." Yet, even with independence, individuals remain
bound to their own "iron chains" of lust, anger, attachment, ego, greed, and
violence. They continue to "do battle" internally, within their own minds, and
it is from that battlefield that all wars are born.
Thus, there needs to be freedom from complications and confusion within the mind,
intellect, and heart of human beings. Such battles may be experienced in the forms of
wasteful or negative thinking influenced by the "iron chains." Even if one were
to conquer gross anger, there may continue to be subtle feelings of hostility, revenge, or
ill will which must be examined, understood, and let go. Each one's nature is unique.
However, to adopt easiness, lightness, and mercy in consciousness, attitude, and outlook
is proactive - and the means to be free from the influence of negative personality traits.
Ultimate freedom is liberation from bondages created from acting in the consciousness of
the body - out of attachments to the self and its senses; to others; and to worldly
possessions. Liberation is releasing oneself from such attachments. That does not suggest
one would not be loved and loving. On the contrary, having become more independent within,
one's outside demeanor would reflect a less dependent and more loving nature.
Self-transformation begins the process of world transformation. The world will not be free
from war and injustice until individuals themselves are set free. The most potent power to
put an end to internal and external wars - and to set souls free - is the human
conscience. Any act of freedom, when aligned with the human conscience, is liberating,
empowering, and ennobling.
"The declaration [of Human Rights] was based on the conviction that man must
have freedom in order to develop his personality to the full, and have his dignity
respected."
Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt,
180th Plenary Meeting of the UN General Assembly,
December, 1948
The Value Statements are drawn
from Living Values: A Guidebook, a publication of the Brahma Kumaris.
These were used by Living Values Education as part of the
conceptualization and consultative process during the initial
meeting with UNICEF in New York in August of 1996.
reedom is a precious
gift which promises an experience of liberation and a feeling of no limits as if the
earth, the skies, and the seas are at one's service! 
