Mount Patterson (11,673'), July 4th, 2013

A celebration of freedom from the Sweetwater Range, July 4th, 2013.  I believe in the course of human development it was necessary at times, due to our inner dispositions as a species, to fight for freedom.  But, as Ghandi said, "violent means will give violent freedom".  I think we have come upon a time when we need to start realizing true freedom comes from within and from a mutual respect for all life.  Working for this kind of freedom requires not fighting or violence, but comes through fostering self-discipline, compassion and an awareness of the interconnected nature of all life. 

"Freedom is from within."
Frank Lloyd Wright

"Grace is the beauty of form under the influence of freedom."
Friedrich Schiller

"Man is free at the moment he wishes to be."
Voltaire

"I am a being of Heaven and Earth, of thunder and lightning, of rain and wind, of the galaxies."
Eden Ahbez 

"A Buddha is someone who finds freedom in good fortune and bad."
Bodhidharma

"The most important kind of freedom is to be what you really are."
Jim Morrison

"And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom."
Anais Nin

"Bondage is of the mind; freedom too is of the mind. If you say 'I am a free soul. I am a son of God who can bind me' free you shall be."
Ramakrishna

"I know but one freedom, and that is the freedom of the mind."
Antoine de Saint-Exupery

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that ALL men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness"

Happy 4th of July!