I believe that as we witness the great challenges our country is facing, it is important that we reflect on the concept of liberty. What is true liberty? How is it related to social progress? What ARE the characteristics of an advanced civilization?

According to British historian Arnold Toynbee great civilizations do not suddenly capitulate. Instead, they wither internally from the inside out, simply because ethics cease to advance.

Ethics, the way we treat one another, “is the external social mirror which faithfully reflects the otherwise unobservable progress of internal spiritual and religious developments.” The consciousness that allows for personal behavior that disregards the welfare of others is a consciousness powerless to advance ethics.

The self-justification “I can do what I want because this is a free country.” The belief that polluting the planet is an individual freedom when it actually abridges the personal right to not be poisoned.  The determination to congregate without being mindful of public health, and the perception that the destruction of property does not harm innocent people, are but a few examples that show how confused we are about the concept of liberty in our country. These examples also highlight the urgency to reflect on what constitutes true liberty, that it may give us a glimpse of the virtues we must endeavor to personalize –  rather than assume we embody – so that we can deliberately and dynamically contribute towards elevating society rather than being passive witnesses to its collapse.

A flourishing community is the hallmark of true liberty. True liberty cannot be confused with false liberty, the personal liberty that rejects familial allegiance, disregards filial obligations and is blind to cosmic relationships.

· True liberty is predicated on the reality of justice — intelligence, maturity, fraternity, and equity.

· True liberty is ever regardful of social equity, cosmic fairness, universe fraternity, and divine obligations.[1]If the motivation for liberty is unintelligent and uncontrolled, liberty becomes a self-destroying technique of existence.

· Liberty is suicidal when divorced from material justice, intellectual fairness, social forbearance, moral duty, and spiritual values.[2]

· Unbridled self-will and unregulated self-expression equal unmitigated selfishness, the acme of ungodliness. Liberty without the associated and ever-increasing conquest of self is a figment of egoistic human imagination. Self-motivated liberty is a conceptual illusion, a cruel deception.

· True liberty is the associate of genuine self-respect, the fruit of self-control; false liberty is the consort of self-admiration, the assumption of self-assertion. Self-control leads to altruistic service whiles self-admiration tends towards the exploitation of others for the selfish aggrandizement of such a mistaken individual as is willing to sacrifice righteous attainment for the sake of possessing unjust power over his fellow beings.[3]

What then are the characteristics of an advanced civilization?

To enjoy privilege without abuse, to have liberty without license, to possess power and steadfastly refuse to use it for self-aggrandizement—THESE are the characteristics of an advanced civilization.

[1]The Urantia Book 54:1.3 (613.5)

[2]Ibid 54:1.4 (613.6) 

[3]Ibid 54:1.6 (614.1)