THE GREAT LIBERATION

The great liberation begins in silence and ends at work amidst the noises of society. For beginners, it is necessary to do meditation and spiritual retreat in silence. But for the initiate, this is possible in the midst of society, because everything we are doing and what we now call self-knowledge and self-realization is nothing else than liberation.

Liberation does not mean escapism, to forget temporarily about the ordinary realities of life; it does not mean the abandonment of society. Liberation begins with silence and solitude but ends amid society. In the beginning, we need silence and solitude to consolidate ourselves in the dominion of the spiritual realm, but when we are properly consolidated in this dominion, we can return amid society, and society does us no harm anymore, for we can no longer be defeated by it, for we mastered it, and also our thoughts and emotions.

This is the passage from belief to the experience of God, that is to say, the passage from slavery to freedom. We all enjoy freedom; nobody likes slavery. However, few do something to stop being slaves and to become free.