Volume 9, Issue 8, page 11

BODILY BONDAGE ISN'T
ONLY SLAVERY OF MAN;
NOR IS IT THE WORST
By ALBERTA M. O'CONNELL
(From the Published Lectures of Richard Ingalese.

Copyright 1902 by Richard Ingalese.)
I 0 MOST of us, the surd slavery brings a mental picture of those who are giving to
others the services of their physical
bodies without remuneration. This is only
one and the slightest form of slavery --
because the soul of one whose body is in
bondage is free to gain the spiritual happiness
that all evolving souls earnestly crave.

If all industrial slaves could realize that
they are Sons of God and have the right and innate power to become equals of any other Sons
of God, slavery would soon end and there would
be a better relationship between the classes
and the masses.

It is the animal nature dominant in man
that makes him feel contempt for anything that
cringes in fear before him, or submits to unreasonable demands. And it is the animal nature
in the slave that makes him hate and wish to
kill the one who enslaves him. The recognition
of the Sons of God by each other, and the
willingness of each to give every other Son of
God his divine and human rights, without question or delay, not only would end industrial
slavery but would build a commonwealth that
would take man forever out of these unhappy
economic conditions and give to him the freedom and happiness he craves.

But economic bondage is not the only aspect
of slavery which binds. There is slavery that
binds the souls as well as the bodies of men
and prevents them from evolving. Many of these
aspects are so subtle and strong, that they are
submitted to with muteness by the enslaved who
at times does not know that he is bound. It is
sometimes the criticism and ridicule of friends
and family that compels the millionaire to remain in his mansion with a retinue of servants
instead of living in a cottage by the sea; he
looks longingly back to the days of his youth
when he was first married and worked as a clerk
in a railroad office for $125 a month -- and had
spent his evenings with his wife and son; he
would like to make the change into a modest
home, but he fears the change lest his social
position be jeopardized, and his business associates think him financially embarrassed. So
he continues to keep his town house and one at
Newport and is sick and tired of fashionable
dinners, the club, cards, and wine.

He longs to be free from them all, but he
is so enslaved by the fear of public opinion
that he continues his mad rush for money to
keep up his enormous expenses. He becomes irritable, and pessimistic; is never satisfied and
is most unhappy. He thinks he would gladly exchange places with the janitor in his office
building, whom he believes has not a care in
the world. But he is mistaken. The janitor is
also a slave -- not to public opinion, because
the public does not know he exists, but to his
habits.

He cannot begin his day's work until he has
had his coffee and his pipe. When he awakens,
his head aches from too much liquor the night
before and he is miserably ill. His nerves are
jerky and uncontrolled. And if his coffee is
delayed or not just right, he becomes furious
and behaves like an enraged animal. He, a Son
of God, is completely submerged in his animal
nature, and enslaved by the desires of his
body and animal mind. After he has had his
coffee and a smoke, he thanks the Lord that he
is not the slave to a habit that his next-door
neighbor is, who acts half mad when he cannot
get his whisky.

Happiness is so far removed from the alcoholic slave that there is little possibility of
its catching up with him in this life, unless
thru some tremendous awakening to his actual
enslaved condition, the God part of him should
rise, assert its power over the animal nature,
and refuse to be longer enslaved.

Then there are the ones enslaved by mistaken ideas of duty: the devoted and self-sacrificing mother who faithfully gratifies the
whims and demands of her pretty daughter. The
daughter's selfish animal nature takes everything her enslaved mother has to give her, demands more and more and storms if she can't get
all she wants. Both of these Daughters of God
are hindered in their evolvement and their attainment of spiritual happiness because of the
mother's enslavement to a false sense of duty.

There are animal men and women who still
traffic with che bodies of ignorant girls and
women. The white slaves sink to such a state
of depravity that sometimes the subjective mind
gives up the battle and leaves its animal mind
and human-animal body to continue on to ultimate destruction.

Many are enslaved by their belief of disease
and their fear of death. And these Sons and
Daughters of God become so helpless with their
slavish fears that they are afraid to leave
the hospital or sanitarium and their adored
physician, lest they lose their lives. There
are some animal-minded physicians who take advantage of these helpless and spineless creatures and create a life-long bondage by giving
a false diagnosis of their condition. Of
course, such a diagnosis could be given ignorantly or wilfully. If wilfully, the motive
would be to keep the patient contributing to
their financial needs. But whether wilfully or
ignorantly done, the results are the same -- the
sufferers are enslaved.

It is a large-minded, progressive man who
stops a portion of his own income by telling
the truth to a fear-enslaved patient, when he
knows that patient is willing to give him anything he asks if he will keep him for a few
more years on this side of the Divide. It has
been the good fortune of the writer to know
more than one physician who stands forth from
among his medical colleagues and who will not
use his influence to enslave his patients. Such
a man is a Son of God who has conquered his
own animal nature and has made it subservient
to his will.

Then there are souls who are enslaved by
their religious beliefs. Because they have
been told that their only hope for peace and
happiness hereafter is thru the Church and the
efforts of the priests, they become slaves of
churchianity and sometimes contribute everything they can live without to the church.
They spend all their time preparing for death
and go thru life unconscious of the happiness
to be had here for the taking. They fear God,
the Devil, and death, and suffer the agonies of
a mental hell on earth while trying to escape
a subjective hell in the hereafter.

Since it is an immutable law that what one
(PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 14)
DECEMBER, 1962 The ABERREE 11