James C. Bryant, 32°, K.C.C.H.
2865 Lenox Road, NE, #207, Atlanta, Georgia 30324-2853
bryant_jc@mercer.edu

The English poet Richard Lovelace gave us a dynamic thought when he penned the famous line, "Stone walls do not a prison make, nor iron bars a cage." By the same token, although we may not be imprisoned physically, few of us are genuinely free as long as we are shackled to irrational fears, greedy for more material things, given to addictions of any kind, or dependent upon someone else for happiness. We have more prisons built in our minds than are constructed of stone and bars.

Some significant figures have demonstrated that freedom is a state of mind rather than a physical location. Take the case of Nelson Mandela. It never occurred to anyone that Mandela, after spending more than 25 years in a South African prison, would one day be president of the very country that imprisoned him. His body may have been hampered behind bars, but certainly not his mind.

Or, take the case of Joseph of the Old Testament. Who would have thought that when he was sold by his brothers into slavery he would one day become a trusted advisor to the king of Egypt and eventually save his family from famine? Afterwards he said to his brothers, "What you meant for evil, God meant for good."

Victor Frankl, once a prominent Jewish physician, survived the holocaust because the Nazi leaders needed his medical skill. After the war, Frankl wrote Man's Search for Meaning, chronicling his experience and sharing what beliefs kept him alive during those years. He wrote: "In the concentration camp every circumstance conspires to make the prisoner lose his hold. All the familiar goals in life are snatched away. What alone remains is the last of the human freedoms. . .the ability to choose one's attitude in a given set of circumstances. . . . The prisoners were only average men, but some, at least, by choosing to be worthy of suffering proved man's capacity to rise above his outward fate."

Tauler of Strasbourg, a 14th-century saint and mystic, learned a lesson from a beggar one day. "God give you a good day, my friend," Tauler said as he met the beggar. "I thank God I never had a bad day," the beggar quickly answered. Tauler was silent for a moment, then said, "Never unhappy? What do you mean?"

"Well," the beggar said, "Since God's will is my will, and whatever pleases Him pleases me, why should I say that I am unhappy when I am not?"

Tauler was now in awe of his new friend. "Who are you?" he asked.

"I am a king," said the beggar. "A king?" said Tauler, half ready to believe it. "Where is your kingdom?"

The man spoke calmly, "In my heart."

The beggar knew a freedom that some of us never experience. It is in the kingdom of the heart that true freedom and peace exist. Freedom comes when we learn to let go and let God have His way in our minds and hearts. For then, as Paul confessed, we can be content in whatever state we find ourselves.

James C. Bryant is current Special Assistant to the President and University Historian at Mercer University, Macon, Georgia. The author of several books and articles, he is a frequent speaker, lecturer, and traveler. This article first appeared as "Our Chaplain's Comments" in The Basharat (Oct. 1999), a publication of Yaarab Shrine Center, Atlanta, Georgia.