“ From my own experience of a long period as a prisoner of war, from 1945-48, I can say that life without freedom has two special perils. We experience an outward hostility against which we can no longer defend ourselves, so we creep into our shells and protect ourselves against the hostile world outside through indifference and callousness. But by doing so we are blocking our own vital energies. Our self-esteem diminishes. We cease to believe that we are capable of anything. Moreover we come to terms with the barbed wire and the life of captivity. We fade unobtrusively into the background so as not to run into trouble. But this means becoming inwardly submissive. This submission then becomes dependence, and dependence makes us irresolute. Our lack of initiative develops into general apathy. We stop living. We just let ourselves be pushed around. When everything has then become a matter of indifference, we cease to be aware of the barbed wire. In both dangers, the danger of self-contempt and the danger of conformity, we lose our lives and give ourselves up for lost. But at moments when our will to live is kindled once more, and experiences which we call experiences of God awaken in us the hope for life, we begin to rebel against the apathy within us and the barbed wire round about us. We rub ourselves raw. We begin to suffer consciously, and to cry out. We become free. The sighs and cries of prisoners are always the first signs of life they show, and are anything but signs of death. So we are faced with the alternative of being free and living dangerously, or renouncing a life of our own and being in bondage. The person who loves life loves liberty, and the person who loves liberty says ‘yes’ to his own life, in spite of all outward intimidations and all inward fears. True security is to be found, not in the renunciation of freedom but only in freedoms own foundation.
Jurgen Moltmann
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