The Duality of Choice

Ourselves, Charlotte Mason Volume 4 ( Part I:The House Of The Body); Chapter 4- Esquires Of The Body: Chastity

‘The secret to finding freedom for excellence comes from living life in a way that does not centre around simply doing whatever you want’

Pat Flynn

We all have desires, some noble, some ignoble and some that sit in the grey area. Every time we follow a desire, we are leaving something else behind. As humans, we’re free to do what we want if we do not infringe on the rights of others.

But what is freedom?

Freedom means choosing to walk away from anything that isn't good, beautiful, or worthy. We’re free to work hard. We’re free to think good thoughts and we’re free to do good things. In choosing these, we are removing the options of evil and idleness. We are filling our minds with good ideas so that those can birth great ideas in turn. We are actively replacing one evil thought with a good thought, one disadvantageous habit with a good habit. We are becoming the masters of self. He who has mastered self is both the compass and the map. He doesn’t just follow the journey; he is the journey.

Let each of the Appetites, so necessary to our bodies, be our servant and not our master, and remember, above all things, that sin and slavery to any Appetite begin in our thoughts. It is our thoughts that we must rule, and the way to rule them is very simple. We just have to think of something else when an evil thought comes, something really interesting and nice, with a prayer in our hearts to God to help us to do so.

Charlotte Mason

Best Regards,

Olufunmike