CONSCIOUSNESS IN SECOND UNITY
of oneness with the whole spiritual organism of humanity which is (potentially) présent in and to each individual ; it is the unity of the Self quickened and realized at the deeper centre. " If the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." Freewill is this consdousness moving unimpaired to action ; ail such actions are créative, and are characterized by an unosual expérience of rest, satisfaction, joy, ability.
It is inévitable that so fundamental a conception should appear in many guises ; at one time Carpenter describes it as " measureless space in the soûl " ^ ; at another , as the fulfiUed immortal Ufe in the heart ■ ; or " the cosmic vast emancipated life " * ; or, emphasizing its créative aspect, " the precious semen of Democracy." * Heequates it with happiness.' It has its feet upon the earth, and its brow among the stars. It is the ground of self-reliance, and also of that gentleness which mak^s us great. In fine, it is the Truth that is in us, and to know that Truth, not as a theory but in expérience, is to be free.
Closely associated with Freedom in Carpenter's thought are the ideas of indifférence, vdthdrawal, disentanglement, abandonment, letting go, dying to self. This is an important aspect of the subject, and a brief examination of it vdll clarify still further the idea of Freedom. Self-withdrawal is, of course, a somewhat négative expres-
1 r. D., p. 179. » Ibid., p. 184. • Ibid,, p. 44a.
* Jbid.f p. 442. • Ibid., p. 326.
104 DISENTANGLEMENT
àion for the deepening of consdousness, the descent of the Self from the apex of intense individuality and the surfaces of séparation into the underlying unities. It is the same movement. " Ever leaving go of the surfaces of objects, and so taking the heart of them with us ; this is the law." * Our ordinary expérience bears witness to this as the one practical method of real possession. To enter into possession of anything is to become gradually independent of it; we only possess that which we do not want ; so long as we cannot do without a thing, it possesses us. To possess one' s self is to possess ail things. So, for example, in respect of the body :
Remember that if you walk away from it and leave it behind, it will hâve to follow you — it will grow by following, by continually reaching up to you. . . .
Therefore quite lightly and dedsively at each tumingpoint in the path leave your body a little behind —
Witii its hungers and sleeps, and fanny little needs and vanities — paying no attention to them ;
Slipping ont at least a few steps in advance, till it catch you up again,
Absolutely determined not to be finally bound or weîghted down by it.»
Similarly with the Mind :
Therefore quite decisively, day by day and at every juncture, leave your Mind for a time in silence and abeyance ;
With its tyrannoufl thoughts and demands, and funny little f ears and fandee— the long legacy of âges of animal évolution ;
1 T. D., p, 50a. « tbid., p. 484.
DISENTANGLEMENT 105
Slipping ont and going yoar own way into the Unaeen — ^leèling with yonr feet If neoesaary throo^ the darkness — ^till some day it may follow yon ;
Absolutely detennined not to be bound hy any of its oonclxisioiis ; or fossilized in any pattem that it may invent.
For this were to giva np yoor Idngdooi» and bow down yonr neck to Death.^
So with ail external things, objects of désire, sweet good and beautiful as they may be, " as a fly cleans its I^s of the honey in which it has been caught/' we must be free of them ail-— even of Love itself :
Tberelore, if thon wonldst love, withdzaw thyaelf from love;
Make it thy slave, and ail the miracles of nature shall lie in the palm of thy hand.*
The issue of such a practice is not that we may become free fram ail thèse things, and never hâve anything to do with them again ; rather that we may be free of them — ^as a master-worker is free of his tools — and so really possess them for both use and enjojnxient.
This habit of withdiawal and detachment is the practical side of the deepening of the life-œntre, and proceeds pari passu with it. It is the old Paradox of losing life that we may find it. That which we let go and leave behind is not lost. It is as when a man sits on a spur of the foothills and enjoys the scène which is spread out before
» T, D., p. 486. « Wd., p. 345.
