The Louisiana Democrat., 1889-06-12
FREEDOM or THOUGHT.

The Province of Thinking Is to Discover
Truth and to Reject Error.
Though tyranny finds many ways 10
enslave man, it can have no direct
power over his thoughts. His actions
NAV be restrained, his speech may be
fettered, his body may he chained his
life itself may be taken away, but MS
thoughts no one can interfere with.
They remain his own, and, except with
his will, no one can even guess wnat
they are. But does this absence OF
direct power insure true freedom Oh
thought? 1t may at first sight seem TO
do SO, but deeper insight into the
nature of thought will show that
it is itself subject to many IN
fuences and conditions. Assocla-
tions, circumstances, education
climate, race, occupation, hopes
fears, emotions-all exert an indirect
but powerful pressure upon thought;
so powerful that if in one sense 1t is
ALWAYS free, in another sense 1t is
always controlled. If no one else can
claim authority over our thought'
neither may we exercise an absolute
and immediate dominion over 1t. Is
freedom of thought, then. mere name
"a sound without meaning? Not so.
Real freedom of any kind involves not
only the absence of artificial restraint
but the presence OF influences favora-
BILE to growth and development. Tho
infant left without care is not free; 1t
has no choice but to perish. Inc
body can be enslaved by gout or
paralysis as surely as by prisons and
chains; both prevent the healthful ex-
ercise which is its life. Even
Incidence and self-indulgence may
prove equal tyrants. 1t is only
where a wholesome and active
life secures for the body that varied
motion and other salutary conditions
needful to its best development that
we can say the freedom OF the body Is
secured. So the freedom which thought
needs is not merely the absence OF any
personal compulsory force. but the
presence OF favorable influences, which
shall enable it to grow in strength and
to perform its functions in the most
perfect manner. Our thought should
be the guides OF our whole lives; their
province is to discover truth and to
reject error, to sift the just from the
unjust, the pure from the impure, the
better from the worse and so to appl.
them as to improve character and ufe
How important, then, it becomes tina
we should foster those conditions ant
influences that will enable thought t.
perform without hinderance, so essen
tial u work! One very strong pressur
that bears upon thought to prevent 1t
freedom and restrain its growth Is tina
of fancied personal interest. We sa
fancied; because the real interest
the individual is bound up in tn
healthful advancement of his though
But it is not uncommon for people
imagine that their happiness lies in
opposite direction. They fear the Gel
sure of their party, or the frown of
fashionable circle, or the loss OF, fave
or patronage, if they follow OF
some train OF thought to i
logical conclusions. Or they 81
that If they accept its issues
will require OF them certain sacrifice
which they are not prepared to max
Thus they stiae or abandon though
that seem dangerous, and remain
what they supposed to be safe groun
forgetting that there is no ment
safety where freedom OF thought
banished. Then there are also pref
dices and antipathies. and even symp
thies, to guard against. 1t is impos:
BILE fully to estimate how much OF
thinking is governed by our feelin
We love one person and refuse to s
any defect in him. We dislike g
other, and his defects are so patent
us that we see no virtues. So wi
the parties we espouse and those
oppose. Our tendency is to
TEEN the ideas and doings of
one as all right and those OF the 9th
rs all wrong. In general it may
said that the desire to establish
true some particular conclusion,
some special set of ideas, is strong
element in the investigation than
desire to find out what really is tr
How the desires and the emotions
valuable parts OF our nature, and
serve full recognition. but when tn
tyrannize over the thoughts aud p
vent their free action they exec
their domain and by all possi
means ought to be controled.-Ph'
delphia Ledger.