Freement by William James Johnson Chapter 16

On the way to the Cosmo, an early evening rain pelted my windshield, changing downtown Chathurst into an abstract painting of fluid neon. The stores were opened until 9 P.M. People rushed in and out of the doorways, hugging the walls for protection. Long queues of weekenders stretched from under theatre marquees, huddling together as they moved slowly toward the entrance.
My behaviour that afternoon still troubled me. What was happening to me? How could I have had the gall to use profanity in a public meeting? Was it because I was desperate for something to reply? Or was it because people tend to fight when no one will listen to reason. Stu met me at the door when I arrived at the Cosmo.
"You're late."
"Got held up in traffic."
"We're ready to start whenever you are."
The cabaret styled dining room was packed with Friday night regulars. Squinting in the dim light, I was surprised to see an older crowd. There weren't any students.
"What happened? Where are they?"
"Rico's letting us use one of his back rooms."
The portly owner of the Cosmo, Enrico Fazio, was shrewd enough to realize his week night patronage was comprised mainly of U of C students, and he in turn gave us special treatment.
"Hi Rico."
"You kids be nice, you can use that back room whenever it's not booked. Sound okay?"
"Sure does. You don't have to worry about us."
"Don't get me wrong. Have your fun. Just don't bust up the joint."
At the end of a narrow hallway Stu opened a door to a small smoke filled room. About twenty young men and women gathered in tight groups talking in low voices. Facing the audience were a table and two more chairs. Clara and Rick sat in the front row. I tossed my coat over a chair and spoke to my two friends. Stu opened a window to air out the room. Another student opened the door and the draught soon cleared the smoke.
"Can we get started?" asked Stu.
"You all know why we've come here tonight. Some of you saw what happened to Marty when he had the guts to stand up and challenge those religious fanatics. In the short time I've known him I've come to realize that a beating isn't going to stop him. Marty tells it like it is and you're here because you want to hear more about his ideas. I'm proud to present John Martindale."
There was a brief applause followed by gasps of disbelief when they saw my bruised face. I rubbed my swollen jaw.
"This is only the beginning. There'll be more beatings, more ridicule. But it will all be worth it if someday my ideas will bring us freedom to destroy the fear that gnaws away at our insides. This afternoon when my friends came to help me, I decided the only way to make this happen would be to fight back. We must start a revolt. History shows us that most revolutions are started to regain freedom for subjugated people. We are subjugated by the domination of religion."
"Our aim will be to help man gain mental freedom. It will be difficult, since our culture is founded on religion and fear. The only way we can eliminate this fear is to meet it head on. I've decided that since our objective will be to gain mental freedom, you will be called Freementers. As the founder of this new movement I will be called Freement. I want you to view my taking of this name. as a baptism into a new belief. My new name is the sign which dedicates my life to achieving the Freement aims, namely the destruction of religion and the myth of God, and replacement of these false doctrines with the unlimited joy of being mentally free."
"The ideas I am now going to present didn't just happen today. I've been studying and developing them for several years. Let me start at the beginning, and what better way than to review what our culture has taught us about these beginnings. In our Judaeo Christian society we have been taught that before Creation there was nothing. Out of this nothing God created our Universe to manifest his greatness. Then to further glorify himself he created man, and gave him dominion over the rest of his creatures. It is this creation story which entraps the minds of men.
"We are told we must believe that all things exist through his divine will, and without him, nothing exists. It is this total dependence on God which provokes fear in man. We believe we came from nothing, and if God chooses, we will go back to
nothingness. Such a belief results in man doing whatever he imagines is necessary to pacify this creator to ensure he will not end our existence."
"What an impossible trap we have created for ourselves. Yes I say we have created it. Man created God. God did not create man. But why would man do such a thing? I believe ancient man sensed an inherent order in his perceptions of natural phenomena but he lacked the sophistication to explain this order. He needed some answers, so he gave birth to the idea of a supreme being who makes everything happen, including creating all things from nothing. Some of you recognize this ordered universe as the law of nature. Nietzsche refused to use the term "law of nature" because he said it implies the existence of a law giver behind the law. He preferred to call this apparent order, the "necessity of nature."
"Instead of relying on a creation story to account for our existence, I, as Freement, will teach that man should accept things as they are. We don't need to believe they came into existence from nothing. The world is here now and I accept it for what it is. Is it not more reasonable to accept the principle of an infinite universe rather than one which comes into existence from nothing out of the whim of a supreme creator?"
"I truly believe our universe is infinite. No beginning and no end. Energy cannot be created nor can it be destroyed. Matter is the manifestation of this infinite energy and the changes we observe in matter are merely phenomenal changes."
"The intelligence we perceive in the universe comes from the organized nature of the atom and the laws which control the relationships of the different particles of energy which make up the atom, such as neutrons, protons, and electrons. These were not created. They exist in this form, and have done so for all eternity."
" It is man who has the need to name things to enable him to understand them. He seems to believe if matter is examined in smaller and smaller divisions, eventually he will arrive at an understanding of the meaning of existence. Impossible... Existence is beyond our comprehension, because as man we are aware of existence only in finite sections of time."
"This leads me to another of man's inventions. Man created the concept of time because of his experience with cyclical events. The most obvious source of cyclical changes are in the atmosphere and the seasons. They seem to come to us from the sky, out of the heavens. In other words, these events occur because of some power which resides above the earth. To understand this narrow world view, man imagines his created God studying all his actions from above. Nothing is hidden from this all knowing, all seeing power, a ripe background for attributing these changes to some supreme being. Hence all cultures invent myths to explain the existence of such order."
One of the students at the back of the small room raised his hand.
"Question?"
"Yes Marty...I mean Freement. How do you account for the tremendous variety of creations...sorry I can't call them creations...I mean the huge number of variations which exist in our universe. How do you think that came about?'.
"Good Question. Remember what I said about our universe, no beginning, no end. In such existence, everything is possible, because nothing is limited by time. Therefore the variety of things which occur can be formed by the chance combination of the basic energy components to which I referred earlier. In a world without beginning and without end, chance is unlimited. The only limitation I see in the universe, is man's imagination."
"Unfortunately man is so conscious of the short period of his existence in this infinity he feels compelled to create the concept of an immortal soul to enhance his sojourn on earth. Once he has accepted this idea of immortality, all kinds of distortions arise, including a place of eternal bliss for good behaviour, and a place of eternal damnation for evil doers. Oh man is a complex inventor. His variety of gods throughout time is evidence of the so called religious progress his culture has
made."
"Ancient man wanted to worship the power which seemed to control all things. The highest being he knew, was man himself, thus he created an anthropomorphic god, and endowed him with all the attributes he himself desired. He designed rituals and ordained priests because he wanted his omnipotent creation to be satisfied with the efforts of humble man. And when disaster struck he acknowledged the punishing hand of God, and did penance to appease this almighty power. As time progressed, God became a superman, a divine father."
"I will admit, man's creation of God served a good purpose in the beginning, even if it was the result of ignorance. The concept of God gave society a basis for law, an essential prerequisite if man was going to live in groups. The fact that man is a social being presupposes his ability to conform. Something was needed to ensure man's conformity in all situations or the system fails. Religion provides the enforcing medium by developing a moral conscience in its adherents. Motivate the conscience strongly enough by fear of God and it becomes the perfect enforcer. It captivates the minds of men and they are no longer mentally free. Creating God thus gives more force to the laws of man."
" The almighty watchdog of our minds, 'The Hound of Heaven', becomes the infallible arbiter, responsible for human behaviour. Let man go against this internal watchdog, and he suffers the pangs of guilt, and the horrors of a fiery punishment
when this life is finished. We've got to destroy this hound of heaven. We've got to free men's minds."
I paused to let my proclamations settle in.
"Freement! If you destroy God and the after life, what purpose will man have to continue in the world? If there is no Heaven, why should he continue this life long struggle?"
"I was coming to that. I believe the purpose in man's life is the development of knowledge to help him cope with his environment. Man is energy, as are all things in the universe. He strives to understand his environment because he desires to reunite the energy of his existence with that of the universal energy. In a material way. this is similar to spiritual man yearning to be reunited with God."
"Man also created God to compensate for his own imperfection."
One of the girls interrupted me.
"Doesn't that prove there is Original Sin? Man had a perfect nature before his fall and became imperfect because he sinned against God."
"Young lady, you and the others have a common problem to face. You are so involved with the idea there is a God, you find it almost impossible to view man in a different way. This is understandable since we are all the products of the past. But if you want to become Freementers, you will have to change."
"I said man was imperfect because he will never be able to fulfill his purpose in life. The energy of man's mind is too small to comprehend an infinite universe, so he creates something or somebody who can comprehend all things. In this way, he compensates for his limitations, and he spends his life paying homage to his creation."
"But there is another reason why man must learn about his environment. Suppose everyone felt like the student who said life would not be worth living if there was no Heaven. The end of man would soon be upon us. Stop learning about your environment, and it will destroy you."
"Concepts of God have helped society, but also in many ways have caused irreparable damage. Look at the numerous wars that were waged because of different beliefs. Man no longer needs the artificial crutch of religion. Substitute a social conscience for the outdated spiritual one which has trapped man. People will abide by such a new structure because of the sheer weight of numbers to enforce these laws."
"What is good for the majority is now considered good for us all. We are now being governed by the tyranny of the majority. It is this majority rule which will take the place of God. Unfortunately, it is also this majority rule which will persecute Freement and his followers. I'm not a communist. If you must put a label on me, call me a humanist. Man's fulfilment is in the further development of his humanity, not in the distortion of his mental freedom by imposing a myth of terror."
"Let me conclude by predicting the reaction we can expect to our movement. The religious heritage of the past is so obscure, time has embellished it with mystery. A combination of superstition, mysticism, and mainly a lack of understanding of our environment has cloaked our ancient beliefs in a sacredness which our society believes must never be challenged for fear of divine retribution. Our society fears religion so much it will not dare question its beliefs and furthermore will not tolerate others to make observations. It cannot stand anyone creating doubt about the things it holds sacred, and in an attempt to prove its strength of faith, persecutes the heretic who had the courage to view man in a different light. This is what we can expect. Persecution. Ridicule. Social exile. But we must bring about this change. If we do not, those societies who have begun this religious revolution will eventually have an advantage over those who continue with their blind faith. Those who continue with their false religion will be forced to surrender or be annihilated."
A young girl stood up and very nervously shouted. "You're the one who will bring about our annihilation. Destroy God and you destroy mankind. You are evil."
Stu made a move towards the girl.
"Let her be Stu. If we can't stand criticism, we're no better than they are."
The girl continued. "Don't you see? It's the devil speaking through him. Follow Freement and you'll lose your souls. You will burn in hell for all eternity."
Her threats provoked me. The only way to combat divine threats is to challenge them. I stepped back from the small gathering and standing with my feet astride, my hands on my hips, looked up and very dramatically shouted.
"If you're there God, I dare you to strike me dead. Prove your existence by sending me into hell now."
"No Freement! Don't. Beg God's forgiveness. Don't blaspheme him."
She lunged at me, falling on her knees, grabbing me around the legs.
"Stop grovelling you babbling idiot. If you want mental freedom, you've got to have courage to challenge your useless beliefs. Get on your feet and grow up for Chrissake."
"I can't. You ask too much."
"Then get to hell out of here. Live your life in fear. Stop interfering with our movement."
She got to her feet and moved to the door. Before leaving, she made one more attempt.
"You're all going to hell if you believe this devil. I'll pray for you. I will. I promise."
They slammed the door behind her.
"What a poor unfortunate wretch. She says she fears for me. It's not me she is worried about. It is herself. Her fear is so ingrained she wouldn't dare question the validity of her beliefs. It's this basic fear I detest."
I studied the quiet group of intent listeners. No one else made a move to leave.
"Is this my nucleus? Will you join Freement in the fight against conscience? You must realize destroying your own conscience will be your most difficult challenge. Your conscience is you. Being a Freementer means changing yourselves completely. Your life from now on will be motivated by one principle, and one
principle only. Your choice of action will be based on the satisfaction of needs in your life. That is the only criterion. There is no moral code. As Nietzsche said, you will live according to the necessity of nature."
" Now stand Freementers, and say after me. There is no God. There is no after life. There is no punishment for sin. There is no sin. I will do what I must do and I will have no guilt about my actions. I am a Freementer. My goal in life is to free my mind of all restraint. I will help to destroy the Hound of Heaven. I will do whatever I can to help men become truly free."
The meeting adjourned after they proclaimed my new creed. It was really going to happen. I was Freement tonight. I am Freement. I will make man free.

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