"Freedom has to be learnt through the ascesis, the ascetic discipline, of precise observation and imaginative thinking; and then it needs to be defended with courage and self sacrifice. As Nicolas Berdyaev observed, 'Freedom gives birth to suffering, while the refusal to be free diminishes suffering. Freedom is not easy, as its enemies and slanderers allege: freedom is hard; it is a heavy burden. Men, as Dostoevsky has shown with such amazing power, often renounce freedom to ease their lot.' Yet if we renounce freedom, we become less than truly human; and if we deny others their freedom, we dehumanize them."
-Bishop Kallistos Ware, "The Inner Kingdom"
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