Grateful for Freedom

By Karen Van Allen

Religious Science teaches us to focus on what we want and not on the current condition. My attention is on freedom as the opposite to war. Being grateful for freedom makes me stop and think about how freedom shows up in my life.

     Freedom of mind allows me to choose my thoughts and create the life I want to live. This has not always been the case. There was a time when I did not know who I was and was playing roles that were assigned to me. My belief was that my parents or my husband (now ex) knew what was best for me. A Course in Miracles says, “Freedom cannot be learned by tyranny of any kind, and the perfect equality of all God’s Sons cannot be recognized through the dominion of one mind over another. (T-8.IV6.7)

     It was time to let go of a belief that did not support me. That part was easy compared to figuring out who I was and what I valued now that I was free to decide. I walked into my first spiritual center in Dallas and knew that it was a safe space for me to learn who I am. This was a prerequisite to changing my thoughts and moving in a new direction.

     Freedom is the ability to decide what I like and don’t like and to believe what I want to believe. Don Miguel Ruiz writes in The Fifth Agreement that once we know who we are, the war in our head ends.

     And isn’t that we all want—the war to end?

Karen Van Allen facilitates A Course in Miracles study group, which meets on Zoom every Monday night from 6:30-8:00 pm. New and continuing students welcome. Message me for link and password.