Ingersoll's Vow

When I became convinced that the Universe is natural -that all
ghosts and gods are myths, there entered into my brain, into my
soul,, into every drop of my blood, the sense, the feeling, the joy of
freedom. The walls of my prison crumbled and fell, the dungeon
was flooded with light, and all the bolts, and bars, and manacles
became dust. I was no longer a servant, a serf, or a slave. There
was for me no master in all the wide world -not even in infinite
space. I was free -free to think, to express my thoughts -free to
live my own ideal -free to live for myself and those I loved -free to
use all my faculties, all my senses -free to spread imagination's
wings -free to investigate, to guess and dream and hope -free to
judge for myself -free to reject all ignorant and cruel creeds, all the
"inspired" books that savages have produced, and all the "called"
and "set apart" -free from sanctified mistakes and holy lies -free
from the fear of eternal pain -free from winged monsters of the
night -free from devils, ghosts, and gods. For the first time I was
free. There were no prohibited places in all realms of thought -no
air, no space, where fancy could not spread her painted wings -no
chains for my limbs -no lashes for my back -no fires for my flesh no
master's frown or threat -no following another's steps -no need
to bow, or cringe, or crawl, or utter lying words. I was free. I stood
erect and fearlessly, joyously, faced all worlds.

And then my heart was filled with gratitude, with thankfulness, and
went out in love to all heros, the thinkers who gave their lives for
liberty of hand and brain -for the freedom of labour and thought to
those who fell in the fierce fields of war, to those who died in
dungeons bound with chains -to those who proudly mounted
scafold's stairs -to those whose bones were crushed, whose flesh
was scarred and torn -to those by fire consumed -to all the wise,
the good, the brave of every land, whose thoughts and deeds have
given freedom to the sons of men. And then I vowed to grasp the
torch that they had held, and hold it high, that light might conquer
darkness still.

 Robert G Ingersoll ( 1833 - 1899)