Freedom and Love

machine translation

What is freedom?

It has been centuries since philosophers have pondered on freedom; since the advent of materialist thought, each one brings THEIR theory, theories that do not always achieve consensus.
The French Revolution brought us the famous triad of Liberty-Equality-Fraternity. Since then, people have hidden behind this formula, which has become the emblem of the republic, a formula that has never been respected. Therefore, the republic, philosophers, and the entire society hide behind a mirage, an illusion... a lie that we teach to our children behind a secular education.
So why is this freedom not realized? Because we get lost in its definition. Let's take the example of prison; we all think that prison is the loss of freedom. Yes, prison brings an obvious loss of freedom, but a freedom that I would call external. But this external freedom, is it really THE freedom?

To illustrate my point, I present you the story of Roger W Mc. Gowen (see the book section of the site; "Messages of Life: A Death Row Inmate Testifies" Ed Jouvence). Roger was sentenced to death at the age of 22, 33 years ago, for a crime he did not commit. He spent 31 years of his life on death row. He was nearly executed twice. Thanks to the work of his lawyers, his sentence was changed to life imprisonment, and for more than 20 years, many people around the world have created associations to seek irrefutable proof of his innocence in the eyes of American "justice."
I have organized for several years a working meeting between French and Italian human-dentosophers. This meeting is dedicated to Roger. This year, for the first time, Roger had the opportunity to write to us.
I suggest you take the time to savor this moment of uncommon humanity.

1st November 2018

Dear Michel and dear friends,

It is a great honor for me to be able to share this moment with you. I can never thank you enough for all the love and support you have given me, and for those you have given to all these men here with me, who have benefited from your generosity.

Sometimes, when people greet me, they ask: "How are you today, Roger?"

I answer that I feel blessed that God, by opening my eyes, allows me to do today what I did not succeed in doing yesterday. Thus, it all depends on me.

Yes, each new day is the opportunity for me as for you to try to do better than what we did not succeed in doing yesterday.

I can truly say that I believe I am where I am supposed to be at this moment, I am in the right place. Yesterday, when I was talking with Tony, my lawyer, he said this to me: "I would like to be able to give you back a little of what was taken from you during all these years." He was so sincere that I was deeply touched by his words.

I replied that yes, indeed, I lost so much during these years. I lost the chance to have a family, a house, and most importantly, I lost my freedom. However, what I am accomplishing here now seems so important. Would I have acted the same way outside without knowing that the opportunity to make a difference was possible? I have gained so much here, I have been touched by love, and once touched by love, nothing is the same. I have gained a different view of life, a hope that I did not even have when I was young. At that time, I did not expect anything from anyone, I never asked for help because they had put it in my head that it was a weakness.

Then Tony replied to me: "That's why I love you so much, Roger, and that's why I would fight until the end for you."

My grandmother, who is in heaven, thank God, used to say to me: "My boy, if you keep your heart closed to the world, the world will keep its heart closed to you."
Only a fool can drown when hundreds of hands are reaching out to save him because he is too proud to grasp even one.

Thank you for the hand you have extended to us. My grandmother used to say to me: "Instead of worrying about what you have done, take care of what you have to do now."
And that's what we do here, extending a hand to those who have even forgotten the feeling of being loved, of being considered a human being and not an animal. Of course, we can't help everyone, but we try. It is your help that makes all this possible.
We have helped some prisoners to reconnect with their families, we have helped others by allowing them to buy clothes or essential items. It can be a pair of shoes, a coffee maker, a radio, or a fan, etc.
We also organize the sharing of a meal at the end of each month in our common room where each prisoner can eat for free. We have also allowed some prisoners who had never had the means to buy anything in the prison store to go there. I have seen tough men cry and hug me to thank us for the help we had given them. This did not exist before we arrived here. Members of different gangs now eat at the same table. This was not possible before my arrival with you to support me.
I could continue to give you more examples of what we accomplish. We are on the front line to fight hate. Many of the men we help will one day reintegrate into society, and we hope that they will take with them the love they found here instead of leaving with the hate with which they arrived. We hope they can spread this love.

Yes, I think I am in the right place for the moment. And when God thinks I have accomplished the task he has entrusted to me, maybe nothing will hold me in prison anymore.
Until that moment, I will continue to spread this love as far and as widely as possible. Thank you for allowing me to do this. You are unknown heroes but know that together, through our efforts, we improve lives. These efforts are engraved forever in the hearts of those who have shown that love has the greatest power and through it we make a difference. That is what counts.

Again, I want to thank you. I could tell you so much more but I prefer to stay simple. Love is something simple and I do not want to complicate it. I just want to thank you for your love. You are now part of my family. We are related by love and our fight against hate binds us. We change minds by changing hearts and vice versa. Thus, by touching one heart and one mind at a time, we can change the world.

Thank you, I love you.

Roger

The power of these words should be conveyed throughout the world.
In this letter, Roger speaks of the loss of freedom, which I have called external. But he shows us that the real freedom is the freedom of the spirit. This freedom belongs to us entirely and does not depend on any external circumstance. This freedom is totally linked to unconditional love; one cannot exist without the other. But this love is very difficult to access today because its opposite, selfishness, often takes up all the space.
We measure or rather we do not even measure the path that Roger has accomplished to arrive at this quality of forgiveness in the face of an injustice that took his entire life as a human being.
What is this strength that allows him, not only to forgive, but to bring all this love around him?
It is his freedom of the spirit that allows him to prevent any external action from having an impact on him. The lack of external freedom no longer has any weight in the face of the power of his inner freedom.
We are facing the true definition of real freedom.
Freedom can only be found in the human mind, and this freedom is always synonymous with unconditional love.
But what is unconditional love? It is what makes us love our neighbors as much as our children.
To love unconditionally is to give everything without ever expecting anything in return.
To love unconditionally is to put aside our ego to care only about others; it is to have reverence for all humanity.
But why must we add an adjective (real and unconditional) to the words freedom and love today? Because we have lost the deep meaning of the words; they have lost their weight; we use them now without being aware of their original meaning, I would even say their sacred meaning.
The advent of materialist thought has made us lose the sacred meaning of words; it is easier to understand why most of the world's philosophers do not know what they are talking about when they discuss freedom.

We are all born from this unconditional love. It has been progressively taken away from us during our evolution, but it was a necessary passage.
We are now asked to make it rise again and it is possible... Roger W McGowen is a living proof.