Editorial September 22, 1934 Issue

Freedom

Duncan Sinclair

How many today are longing for freedom from disease, sin, poverty, sorrow, or other of the ills which sometimes appear to afflict mortals grievously! Indeed, all men have an innate desire for freedom, since in belief there is that which in some measure fetters all alike, namely, materiality or evil.

Throughout the whole of human history men have striven for freedom. How often in the past has this been evidenced in countries where the few have dominated the many! In numerous instances a measure of political equality has been secured only after great tribulation and persistent struggle. Religious liberty, too, has never been achieved anywhere except through clear-sighted recognition of human rights and determined struggle, often protracted.

There is another aspect of the question: men have always fretted against the limits which the beliefs of space and time have imposed upon them. How they have longed to bridge those distances which have separated them from the friends they love, distances which mountain and ocean accentuate! How they have longed to be able to cancel the tedious hours that have delayed the messages of hope and good will as they traveled to them, perhaps from the ends of the earth! Much has been accomplished in the overcoming of space and time, especially in more recent years, through the aid of the physical sciences; but how much remains to be done! And always the fact has to be remembered that men are standing only before the barriers of their own limited material concepts.

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