When we have become free, we need not go mad and throw up society and rush off to die in the forest or the cave; we shall remain where we were but we shall understand the whole thing. The same phenomena will remain but with a new meaning.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- True freedom allows one to remain in society but understand it differently. The world stays the same but gains new meaning.
- In plain terms
- Stay in society but see it with new meaning.
- What can you take from it?
- Find freedom through understanding, not escape.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How has your view changed?
- Do you need to escape?
Another view
Understanding may not solve external problems.
More from Swami Vivekananda
When we come to nonattachment, then we can understand the marvelous mystery of the universe: how it is intense activity and at the same time intense peace, how…
Permalink to quote #184 When we have become free, we need not go mad and throw up society and rush off to die in the forest or the cave; we shall remain where we were, only we shall u…
Permalink to quote #186 What the world wants is character. The world is in need of those whose life is one burning love, selfless. That love will make every word tell like a thunderbo…
Permalink to quote #183
Related quotes
There is another world and it is in this one.
Paul EluardPaul Eluard quote #8 I believe in the possible realization of a world in which man can be much, even if he has little; a world in which the dominant motivation of existence is not …
Erich FrommErich Fromm quote #65 Worship of society and popular opinion is idolatry. The soul has no sex, no country, no place, no time.
Swami VivekanandaSwami Vivekananda quote #194