Fear ends where faith begins.

Do not indulge in dreams of having what you have not, but reckon up the chief of the blessings you do possess, and then thankfully remember how you would crave for them if they were not yours.

It’s been a while since I’ve transcribed any new material, but I recently came across a clip that was simply too good to pass up. Naval Ravikant’s take on meditation sums up a lot of what I have come to understand through years of experimentation. Meditation, Ravikant asserts, is the art of doing nothing. It does not require a fancy technique to accomplish, as many might lead you to believe. What does it require, according to Ravikant? “Nothing. You just sit.” Meditation, he goes on to explain, is self-therapy. “It’s just that instead of paying a therapist to sit there and listen to you, you’re listening to yourself.”

Pascal famously said, “All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” It follows that Ravikant’s contention–that learning to be alone is a kind of superpower–is no exaggeration. “You leave me alone for a day, it’ll be like the happiest day I’ve had in a while. And that is a superpower that I think everybody can obtain.”

What is the end goal for Ravikant? “The place where I end up the most—that is, really the one that I want to be at—is peace. It’s just peace.”

Check out the fascinating exchange and its transcription below. Do you agree with Ravikant?

Transcript:

Ravikant: Meditation, yeah.

Rogan: Yes, I mean, it’s huge.

Ravikant: It’s been a life saver for me.

Rogan: I do it. And I do it whenever I get, like, spare time. I was at the doctor’s office this morning, and I knew it was going to be 20 minutes, and so I just sat there with my eyes closed for 20 minutes, and I meditated.

Ravikant: You know, when I was growing up, there was this statement. I think it was Pascal, he said, “All of man’s problems arise because he cannot sit by himself in a room for 30 minutes alone.” And it’s very true. I always needed to be stimulated, and when the iPhone came along, boredom was dead. I would never be bored again. Even if I’m standing in line, I’m on my iPhone, and I thought it was great. And when I was a kid, I used to try and overclock my brain. “How many thoughts can I think at once?” The answer is only one. But I would try to think multiple thoughts at once. And I was proud of that, and I was proud that my brain was always running. This engine was always moving.

And it’s a disease. It’s actually the road to misery. And now that I’m older, I realize that you actually want to, again, rest your mind. You want to learn how to settle in to your mind. Now, I look forward to solitary confinement. You leave me alone for a day, it’ll be like the happiest day I’ve had in a while. And that is a superpower that I think everybody can obtain.

Rogan: The superpower of learning to be alone and enjoying it.

Ravikant: Yeah.

Rogan: Well, I think it’s critical. And I do think that these times where we just think about things, just be alone, and think about things, are so rare these days. And I think during those rare times is when you really get to understand what you actually believe or don’t believe.

Ravikant: Yeah, it’s funny. When I first started meditating, it was really hard because everybody—I think a lot of people who listen to this broadcast have heard of meditation. It has a good wrap, so everybody tries it. They struggle, and they kind of give it up. It’s one of those things that everybody says they do, but nobody actually does. It’s like not eating sugar. Everyone talks about how I don’t eat sugar. Then the dessert tray rolls around, and everybody’s going for the cookies. In fact, it’s now even become a signaling thing.

It’s like, “Oh, how much did you meditate?” “I meditated this much.” You know there are people now wearing headbands with [?] that chirp when they are in deep meditation. I don’t know how they make it work. They’ll be like, “I got a lot of chirps today, how many chirps did you get? Oh, your meditation technique is wrong. Mine is right.”

Really, all it is is the art of doing nothing. And it’s important because I think when we grow up, right, all the stuff happening to you in your life. And some of it you’re processing, some of it you’re absorbing. And some of it, you should probably think a little more about and work through, but you don’t. You don’t have time. So it gets buried in you. And it’s all these preferences and judgments and unresolved situations and issues.

It’s like your e-mail inbox. It’s piling up. E-mail after e-mail that’s not answered, going back 10, 20, 40 years. And when you sit down to meditate, those e-mails start coming back to you. “Hey, what about this issue, what about that issue, have you solved this, did you think about that? You have regrets there? You have issues there?” And that gets scary—people don’t want to do that. “It’s not working, I can’t clear my mind. I better get up and not do this.”

But really, what’s happening is it’s self-therapy. It’s just that instead of paying a therapist to sit there and listen to you, you’re listening to yourself. And you just have to sit there as those e-mails go through one by one. You work through each of them, until you get to the magical inbox 0. And there comes a day when you sit down and you realize, the only things you’re thinking about are things that happened yesterday because you’ve processed everything else. Not necessarily even resolved it, but at least listened to yourself. And that’s where meditation starts. And I think it’s a very powerful thing that everybody should experience. And that’s when you arrive at the art of doing nothing.

Rogan: And I think it’s even a problem that most people are getting their meditation from an app.

Ravikant: I will not use an app.

Rogan: I mean Sam Harris is a very good meditation app, I should say that. But you should be able to just do that, and many people can’t.

Ravikant: It’s literally the art of doing nothing, and so all you need to do for meditation is sit down, close your eyes, comfortable position, whatever happens, happens. If you think, you think. If you don’t think, you don’t think. Don’t put effort into it. Don’t put effort against it. [That’s] all you need..

Rogan: Do you concentrate on your breath, or do you have a specific technique?

Ravikant: Nothing. Nothing. You just sit.

Rogan: I think about my breath. That’s all I do. I try to only concentrate on breathing.

Ravikant: I used to do that. But at some level, every meditation technique is leading you to the same thing, which is just witnessing. And concentration is a technique to still your mind enough so that you can then drop the object of concentration. So you can also just try going straight to the end game. The problem with what I’m talking about, which is not focusing on your breath, is you will have to listen to your mind for a long time. It’s not going to work unless you do at least an hour a day, and preferably at least 60 days before you kind of work through a lot of issues. So it will be hell for a while, but when you come out the other side, it’s great.

Rogan: You get rid of the chatter.

Ravikant: Or when the chatter comes, it’s in the background. It’s dimmer, it’s smaller, You’ve heard it before. You see the patterns. It’s more recent. It’s something you need to resolve anyway. And you will get moments of actual silence.

Rogan: What is your ultimate state when you meditate, like is there a state where you’ve achieved rarely, if ever, where you just—you’re in bliss. Or you’re in harmony. Or you’re in enlightenment.

Ravikant: It’s kind of indescribable because when you’re really meditating, you’re not there. When there’s no thoughts, there’s no experience, there’s nothing. There’s just nothing. So it’s hard to describe, but I would say that—every psychedelic state that people encounter using so-called plant medicines can be arrived at just through pure meditation. And I’ve definitely hit some of those states.

Rogan: You’ve hit some transcendent psychedelic states where you’re hallucinating, the whole deal.

Ravikant: I’ve had trippy visuals. I’ve had the lights and colors. I’ve had the so-called downloads. I’ve had the realizations. I’ve had the bliss. I’ve had the light. I’ve had the colors.

Rogan: But not every time.

Ravikant: No, it’s rare. And, in fact, I’d say that’s also an experience you can start craving, which will then take you out of meditation. Where you’re really—and I’m not enlightened or anything close to it, not even the ballpark—but my own experience. And this is just personal experience, the place where I end up the most—that is, really the one that I want to be at—is peace. It’s just peace.

Rogan: Peace, happy.

Sometimes the three most liberating words are “It’s good enough.”

If you want to be at peace, practice radical acceptance. If you want to be uncommon, practice radical forgiveness. If you want to be powerful, practice radical love. If you want to be happy, do all three.

The city of God is an imagined place in which everybody lives the way they ought to live. Everything in the city of God is held constant—including nature, weather, geography, and technology—but one important variable changes: human behavior. I initially intended to create a visualization exercise where I would invite you to meditate on the city of God as I conceived of it. However, I quickly found myself short on ideas. I also realized that people can approach the ideal from many different angles. Instead of sharing my own fragmented view, I decided to survey 10 of my friends instead.

You can find the prompt I sent them and their recorded responses below. The diversity of responses reflects the diversity of people I surveyed: the US, Africa, Latin America, and East Asia were all represented. What struck me the most was how practical most people’s ideals are, and the real possibility of making individual progress toward them. I invite you to think about how you would answer the prompt—and to share what you come up with in the comments.

There is an ideal in literature called the city of God or the virtuous city (Plato, Al-Farabi, etc.)–a place where everyone lives the way they should. How does the city of God as you define it differ from the world as we know it?

Respondent #1: Everyone would be happy. Employers would take care of their employees. Employees would treat each other better.
Respondent #2: The world would be a place full of justice, equality, and health. And no more animal instincts.
Respondent #3: People would treat each other better and wouldn’t be so focused on money.
Respondent #4: Each part would be conscious of it’s relation to the whole, but we live in a world of fragments.
Respondent #5: Love would be the norm. Love changes everything.
Respondent #6: Everyone would have a lot of empathy, and development would be defined by cooperation, not competition. And there wouldn’t be violence. As a result, everyone would have access to technology and its benefits (health, culture, traveling, etc.)
Respondent #7: I guess for me it’s the Taoist way—no strong government control, not many people, natural, moral-oriented. . .
Respondent #8: God’s kingdom would be manifest, There would be righteousness, justice, and peace. God would be king of that city.
Respondent #9: Tolerance and acceptance for others. There simply isn’t enough of it in our world.
Respondent #10: I think it would be a stress-free world. I think the majority would be happy. No killings. The world we live in is filled with greed and selfishness. The rich get richer and the poor stay poor.

Music is incredibly powerful. It impacts us in ways that ordinary prose cannot. So much of personal transformation boils down to internalizing simple truths. As simple truths are internalized, thoughts, beliefs, and emotions begin to change, and with them the direction of one’s life. Music is energy, and there is positive and negative energy in the world. An important way to cultivate positive energy is to cut out music that doesn’t speak life. It takes almost no effort to change the track. But it takes a lot of effort to reform negative beliefs and thought patterns that the wrong music can cultivate. Several months ago I overhauled all of my playlists and got rid of the garbage that wasn’t serving me. I replaced it with uplifting music that might bring me closer to the head space I want to operate out of.

In that spirit, today I want to share one of the tracks that has positively influenced my life. It’s called “It Starts With Me” by multi-grammy award-winning artist Toby Mac off his latest album The Elements. The track affirms the possibility of freedom, but only when we take ownership of our lives. It mentions generational cycles that need to be broken—challenges our parents and grandparents could not overcome. The song strikes an encouraging note and fosters a can-do mentality. It even samples a Martin Luther King Junior speech on overcoming adversity. You can find the lyrics (courtesy of Genius) down below.

Lyrics:

[Intro: Martin Luther King Jr.]
One day (One day, one day, one day, one day)
This nation will rise up (Rise up, rise up, rise up, rise up)
Rise up (Rise up, rise up)

[Verse 1: TobyMac]
There’s a million reasons to hesitate
With a history that’s filled with hate
Have we ever been united states? I wonder (Oh, oh, oh)
So who can blame us for the doubt?
Forgive me if I think out loud
But when justice just won’t come around, you wonder (Wonder, wonder) (Oh, oh, oh)

[Pre-Chorus: TobyMac & Aaron Cole]
I was born with two (Two) dirty hands
Somethin’ my daddy didn’t understand
Somethin’ his daddy didn’t understand
So it starts with me
And I was raised with distrust in my heart
Mama told me we’re worlds apart
Her mama told her don’t even bother
So it starts with me

[Chorus: TobyMac & Aaron Cole]
‘Cause we can be free, yeah, yeah I know that
Let’s try to fix the things that’s been broke down
We can be free, yeah, yeah I know that
And it starts with me (Freedom)
’Cause we can be free, yeah, yeah I know that
Let’s try to fix the things that’s been broke down
We can be free, yeah, yeah I know that
And it starts with me (Freedom)

Every morning I wake up to the sound of a parakeet serenading the world from a small tree under my window. I can count on that parakeet being there like I can count on there being 24 hours in a day. The parakeet begins her routine around sunrise and sings throughout the morning and again later in the day. Even if I miss the opening act, I can always catch some part of the performance. I don’t know why that bird is always singing. And, quite frankly, I don’t care. I’m just glad she chooses to perch at a close enough distance where I can listen.

What’s most amazing about that parakeet isn’t her beautiful singing. It’s the fact that she sings regardless of who likes it or doesn’t (so what if my sleep is disturbed?). Every morning she fulfills her purpose. She has her mind made up and has no need to consult anyone: “I’m a parakeet and singing is what I do.”

Why are most of us so unlike that parakeet? If I had a dollar for every minute I spent worrying about what other people might think, I’d be a rich man. I’m not saying we should be more selfish. Most of the time we don’t doubt what we are doing is right. Or at least not wrong. But a people-pleasing spirit won’t let the mind be at ease. It doesn’t care what the right course of action is, its only goal is to avoid the discomfort of not being approved by others.

There’s a trade-off between authenticity and fitting in. The more we are our true selves, the less acceptance we receive from other people. Imagine if you made no effort to accommodate other people’s feelings the rest of your life. You would certainly incur the unfavorable opinions of many. The problem is most of us err on the totally opposite side—we accommodate others far more than we should. Call it people-pleasing—but the truth is it has more to do with anxiety-avoiding than anything else. People-pleasing is the antithesis of authenticity. It promises emotional safety but always leaves the user unsatisfied.

Authenticity is the daily practice of letting go of who we think we’re supposed to be and embracing who we are. . . If you trade in your authenticity for safety, you may experience the following: anxiety, depression, eating disorders, addiction, rage, blame, resentment, and inexplicable grief.

Brene Brown, Author of The Gifts of Imperfection

People-pleasing can’t fulfill the fundamental need for belonging that we all have. This is because belonging can only be experienced when the true self is expressed. We simply can’t feel a deep connection with people who don’t know who we really are. As a result, people-pleasing robs us of a positive good in authenticity and offers nothing to compensate.

Fitting in is about assessing a situation and becoming who you need to be accepted. Belonging, on the other hand, doesn’t require us to change who we are; it require us to be who we are. . . Because true belonging only happens when we present our authentic, imperfect selves to the world, our sense of belonging can never be greater than our level of self-acceptance.

Brene Brown, Author of The Gifts of Imperfection

The parakeet under my window is a beautiful metaphor for authenticity. The next time you hear the sound of the songbird, let it remind you of the freedom that is available to those who have the courage to be who they were created to be.

I want to sing like the birds sing, not worry about who hears or what they think.

Rumi

There are clues for living well everywhere you turn. Many of the same principles that govern in nature govern in the world of human affairs. Nature offers vivid illustrations of truth that can serve as powerful mnemonics (memory aids) throughout our lives. Recently I wrote an article entitled “Finding Inner Peace: Magical Quotes of Thich Nhat Hanh.” In it, I shared my favorite quotes from Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese monk, peace activist, and prolific author. Today I want to expound on a metaphor Hanh crafted that has wide implications for how we approach relationship conflict.

The Wisdom of Lettuce:

When you plant lettuce, if it does not grow well, you don’t blame the lettuce. You look for reasons it is not doing well. It may need fertilizer, or more water, or
less sun. You never blame the lettuce. Yet if we have problems with our friends or family, we blame the other person. But if we know how to take care of them, they will grow well, like the lettuce. Blaming has no positive effect at all, nor does trying to persuade using reason and argument. That is my experience. No blame, no reasoning, no argument, just understanding. If you understand, and you show that you understand, you can love, and the situation will change.

Reason is my natural resort in a conflict. You’re wrong, and I’m going to tell you exactly why you’re wrong. The problem is this approach rarely ever works. If it has any effect, it is usually to exacerbate the situation. Why does my reason not work? Because it’s less than half of the equation. One half is reason and the other half is emotions. I can reason about a situation from the outside, but I don’t have all the information influencing an individual’s thoughts and actions. At the same time, emotions are the primary driving force of life. Reason molds and directs emotions, but without emotions reason has no basis for action.

Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.

Proverbs 4:23

When we show understanding, we connect on an emotional level. Understanding is the recognition that there are powerful emotions at work in the situation, even though we cannot fully understand them from the outside. That is not to say that people can use emotions to justify bad behavior. Emotions must be ruled on an individual level. But the key word is individual. We can’t rule other people’s emotions for them. The best way we can help people transform negative emotion is to show love. When we show love by understanding, people’s behavior will naturally improve because it has an emotional root.

Understanding awakens us to the human condition. It is the recognition that people are largely a product of their environment. Living well is as much about working with what you have as it is putting yourself in the right environment to thrive. It’s when the environment is right that an individual can reach their full potential. And there’s no telling how low an individual will go when the environment is not right.

American-British author and motivational speaker, Simon Sinek, captured in a talk on leadership and love just how critical the environment is to human well-being. Courage was the topic of conversation, an attribute people typically think has more to do with the individual than anything else. See the excerpt below from Leadership is about Love.

The courage to do the right thing in the face of overwhelming pressure–only the best leaders have that courage. Only the best leaders. And here’s the folly, courage is not some deep internal fortitude. You don’t dig down deep and find the courage. It just doesn’t exist. Courage is external. Our courage comes from the support we feel from others. In other words, when someone–when you feel that someone has your back. When you know that the day that you admit you can’t do it, someone will be there and say “I got you. You can do this.” That’s what gives you the courage to do the difficult thing. It’s not going off to an ashram [monastery] by yourself somewhere for four weeks and coming back and finding the courage. It’s not what happens. It’s the relationships that we foster. It’s the people around us that love us and care about us and believe in us. And when we have those relationships, we will find the courage to do the right thing.

Understanding can’t solve every problem, but it always makes the situation better. Remember this the next time you reach for a head of lettuce.

[You can follow me on Twitter @creatorvilla.] Today Americans celebrate the triumphant legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr, who lived and died in the cause of civil rights. On August 18, 1963, on the occasion of the “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom,” MLK delivered a legendary speech whose famous title–I have a dream– would become synonymous with his legacy. I like the introduction to the speech supplied by AOL’s Morgan Whitaker (here). You can find the introduction italicized and the full transcript of the speech below. I have also embedded a video of the speech at the bottom of the page. The best way we can honor MLK’s legacy is by striving to embody the values of love, justice, and equality for which he sacrificed his life.

On a hot summer day in 1963, more than 200,000 demonstrators calling for civil rights joined Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

The days event’s included speeches from the likes of John Lewis, a civil rights activist who currently serves as a U.S. congressman more than 50 years later, Mrs. Medgar Evers, whose husband had been slain by a segregationist only two months prior, union leader Walter Reuther — and a performance by the great gospel singer Mahalia Jackson. But it was Dr. King’s iconic “I Have a Dream” speech that immediately took its place as one of the greatest in U.S. history.

But August 28 was not the first time King had uttered the most famous four words from his remarks that day. He had spoken about his dream during speeches in Birmingham and Detroit earlier that year. His initial drafts did not contain any references to a dream at all, according to his closest advisers.

Before the speech, King allegedly told an aide that he wanted the remarks to be “a Gettysburg Address” of sorts.

“I Have a Dream” Transcript:

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition

In a sense we have come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.” But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check — a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.

As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, “When will you be satisfied?” We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied, as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating “For Whites Only”. We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.”

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with a new meaning, “My country, ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.”

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”