Editorial May 17, 1969 Issue

The Way to True Freedom

Alan A. Aylwin

More than at any time in history, humanity today is breaking the chains of old strictures. This, in the main, is good. In many instances it has led to progress in education, living standards, and understanding between individuals and groups. But a wise caution is required in other areas if this newfound freedom is not to degenerate into undisciplined license. This tendency requires careful attention because currently there is a discernible drift toward the attitude that "anything goes"—that there are no absolute rules governing human conduct. It is asserted by some that expediency and personal desires are the only criteria, and that happiness and fulfillment are based on self-made standards, on one's right in a free society "to do your own thing."

Students of Christian Science have no quarrel with the concept of individual freedom and the right of each person to choose his own course in life. But the mission of this Science is to bring mankind a measure of freedom far beyond anything that human mean' and methods can impart. Christian Science strikes off the fetters of selfishness and sensuality, which often masquerade as freedom, and imparts a sense of values that satisfy mankind's innate, but often unrecognized, craving for a higher good.

Hidden though it often is by misguided emotions and motives, man's genuine selfhood is spiritual, pure, and loving, and mankind can find freedom and lasting satisfaction only in discovering something of this real selfhood and then living its implications in daily life. Genuine freedom, then, unfolds within purified human thought, in the spiritually awakened consciousness of each individual.

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