The ability to love unconditionally is freedom. Compassion is freedom. Courage is freedom. Expressing brotherhood is freedom. Forgiveness is freeing. Honesty is freeing. If we desire to feel a sense of freedom, we must embrace the qualities of Mind which bring with it a freeing sense. Why is there resistance?

Mark Twain wrote: "Loyalty to petrified opinion never broke a chain nor freed a human soul". "Petrified opinion" is opinion based in fear. Fear shackles us. Fear restricts us. Fear places us in chains. Fear-based thinking criticises others, blames others, and keeps us from appreciating ourselves and others. Fear is "false evidence appearing real". Fear hides freedom.

Our children need our free and courageous hearts. Our children need our example. Our children need our willingness to overcome obstacles of fear to love them compassionately, honestly, courageously, and with forgiveness. We need to feel a true sense of who we are in order to love without fear.

I once heard a story of a woman who gained immense freedom by forgiving the soldiers who had come into her village and killed many villagers, including her entire family. She commented "…my sense of hatred and resentment had bound me in chains. I had to forgive them in order to release myself. It was very freeing."

Freedom is trust. – Martha Dismont