Now We Are Free

"For man always seeks a happiness far beyond that which is meted out to him. But man's greatness consists in the very fact of wanting to be better than he is. In laying duties upon himself. In the Kingdom of Heaven there is no grandeur to be won, inasmuch as there all is an established hierarchy, the unknown is revealed, existence is infinite, there is no possibility of sacrifice, all is rest and joy. For this reason, bowed down by suffering and duties, beautiful in the midst of his misery, capable of loving in the face of afflictions and trials, man finds his greatness, his fullest measure, only in the Kingdom of this World.”
 ― Alejo Carpentier, The Kingdom of this World

The contrast of slavery and freedom really illustrates this concept. When we think of slaves we think often of oppressed humble people who were once happy villagers living a simple life and who are now just lowered one notch below there social norm to being slaves. And how sad that is. I think that we are missing something here. Not all slaves were happy little villagers, some slaves were the warriors and leaders of their societies.

A prime example of this is the movie Gladiator. The main character, Maximus, was not a simple minded villager, he was royalty. But he was made into a slave. The story is super epic as he fights all the way to the roman Colosseum.

I think there is a difference between submission, humility, and meekness vs. living below your potential, slavery, loss of freedom, and captivity. I think the difference is faith, hope, and love.

Submission, humility, and meekness are positive attitudes. They imply self control, love, and trust, looking forward to a brighter day. But the opposite which seems so similar is actually negative, degrading, breaks trust, and denies agency. It causes man to be chained down as they lose hope of a brighter day. Maximus is the epitome of this kind of a situation. 

He was once royalty with all the freedom, rights, and opportunities that come with it. But then he lost his freedom, rights, liberty, he was degraded to being a slave. He was made to be less than he really could be. He lost everything. He lost his family, his lifestyle, everything. But he did not lose himself, he did not lose who he really was. Inside of himself he was still the same man, he was still free. He humbled himself and meekly took on the situation. He did so by perservering and not giving in to the easier ways out. He submitted himself to the situation and thereby took control of his own life. He allowed love of his family and freedom to motivate him with the hope and faith that he would one day be reunited with them if he held on and fought faithfully to the end.

In this final scene of Gladiator the warrior Maximus dies in the arena. But he lives on to be reunited with his family in the kingdom of heaven as it were, where there is no grandeur to be won, existence is infinite, all is rest and joy.