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"I would say to the guard 'You cannot imprison me, for here I have light and air and bread and water. There will come a time when my body will be in the ground and I shall have neither light nor air nor food nor water, but even then i shall not be imprisoned.' The afflictions which come to humanity sometimes tend to center the consciousness upon the limitations. This is a veritable prison. Release comes by making of the will a door through which the confirmations of the spirit come." (22:1) This sounded so like the old theology that the modern within me rebelled doubting if the discipline really compensated for the effort. (22:2) "What do you mean by the confirmations of the spirit?" I asked. (22:3) "The confirmations of the spirit are all those powers and gifts with which some are born and which men sometimes call genius, but for which others have to strive with infinite pains. They come to that man or woman who accepts his life with radiant acquiescence." (22:4) Radiant acquiescence -- that was the quality with which we were suddenly seemed inspired as Abdul Baha bade us good-bye. (22:5) It was a remarkable experience, hearing one who had passed along the prison path for forty years declare, "There is no prison save the prison of self"; and it drove conviction to the heart as this white-robed messenger from the East pointed the way out; not by renunciation, but by radiant acquiescence -- the shining pathway out of the "greater prison of self."
(22:6)
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