"FATED TO BE FREE" 



other directions while, at the same time, we are 

 moving with these currents. By an effort of will we 

 can deny ourselves this or that, inhibit for a time 

 this or that tendency, but no effort of will can make 

 us wise, or happy, or angry, or in love, or hungry, 

 or sad, nor can it make one temperament as calm, 

 as patient, as sanguine as another. 



We are more conscious of the pull of gravity be- 

 cause that is in one direction only; but we do not 

 know that the force which our body exerts through 

 its various complex movements is the force of grav- 

 ity which the earth gives us. We overcome gravity 

 with every step we take, only by using gravity. If 

 our bodies were devoid of weight, how could we 

 exert force? We are strong by that which opposes 

 us, and which will crush us if we give it a chance. We 

 are fitted into the complex of forces which runs this 

 universe in such a subtle way that we are run by 

 it without being aware of the fact. We do not 

 know that the air is forced into our lungs when we 

 breathe, the water into our mouths when we drink, 

 and the force of gravity into our limbs when we 

 walk. Life is that mysterious something which 

 alone uses and rises above the material forces in 

 this manner. Life makes servants of the energy of 

 the non-living. It is a part of the fate which it tri- 

 umphs over. It turns the material forces against 

 themselves; it defeats gravity by the aid of gravity; 

 it fights fire with fire; it outwits the wind by the aid 

 145 



