The Thrill of Obedience

Obedience. The most thrilling word in the world; a very thunderclap of a word. Why do all these fools fancy that the soul is only free when it disagrees with the common command? Why should mere disagreement make us feel free? I know you are fond of dancing; do you want to dance to a different tune from your partner’s? …You have called me a nun; I am not a nun, I am not good enough to be a nun. I do not . . . I have not set . . . (She breaks off the sentence.) But do you suppose that nuns are unhappy? I never see them pass, silent and hooded, through their quiet cloisters but I have a vision: a vast vision of Amazons, wilder than any heathen Valkyries, riders rushing into battle; a charge of chivalry going all one way, and every rider as free as Joan of Arc; galloping, galloping to God. That is the real vision of Obedience.”*

G.K. Chesterton

*This quote is from Chesterton’s play, The Surprise, which was penned in 1936. The play is an “exploration of free will” according to the American Chesterton Society’s Dale Alquist. (source)