On the freethinking path, I’m constantly discovering lessons in Freethought.  Freethought isn’t a school, belief or specific ideology; it isn’t a theology or anti-theology.  As I understand it, freethinking is quite simply: a rational practice of thinking freely, acting freely, regardless of what others think or how they act.

My old tattered copy of Leaves of Grass

Preparing to teach another class on Walt Whitman (a paragon of freethought), I once again found this delightful invitation to radical freethinking. . .

A Lesson from Walt Whitman

“Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road

Healthy, free, the world before me

The long brown path before me

leading wherever I choose.”

–Song of the Open Road 

Signposts on the freethinker’s path:

Light-hearted (proceeding with a smile of curious wonder, not carrying a heavy load of past prejudices, expectations or beliefs)

Open (no fences, no barriers or restrictions)

Free (liberated in body and mind)

World before me (all paths, all choices, stretching out without limit)

Long brown path (natural, unpaved, wild)

Leading (inviting, enticing)

Wherever I choose (begins and ends with personal choice)

Commentary

The traveler sets out on a journey and chooses a path.  The world before him/her presents many paths, and s/he is free to choose which one, or a number of trails, along the way.  Some paths are well-trodden, some paved, some strictly controlled.  There are those who claim one path is the best, the only, the one you must choose. The freethinker thinks, considers, reasons, decides.  No one can make the critical decision when to go, where to go, how to go.  The path leads forward, but it’s the freethinker’s responsibility to lead themself.  They may walk the path for a day, a year or a lifetime, or choose another, or many others, because the world lies open before them, branching out in all directions.

There are countless passages in Whitman’s poetry and prose to inspire freethought.  Here are several more lines from “Song of the Open Road”:

“From this hour I ordain myself loos’d of limits and imaginary lines,

Going where I list [lean], my own master total and absolute,

Listening to others, considering well what they say,

Pausing, searching, receiving, contemplating,

Gently, but with undeniable will,

divesting myself of the holds that would hold me.”

.   .   .

“Now I re-examine philosophies and religions,

they may prove well in lecture-rooms, yet not prove at all

under the spacious clouds

and along the landscape

and flowing currents.”

Whitman’s been a companion on the open road for many a year.  He’s a wise guide for the serious but light-hearted freethinker.