Freedom is difficult to define, blissful to experience, arduous to preserve. It is no easy task. We must free the self to become something utterly unique but always in the context of relationships that attune us to the other. We can only be free in the restricted confines of our own lives and yet the culture we live in must nurture that freedom for it to have a future. In these seven essays, I have sought to find a balance between the freedom each of us yearns to encounter and the freedom the whole human family aspires to experience. It is not one woman who must be free, but all women, for freedom to reach its fullest expression. Indeed, the more free one woman is, the more she is on fire to set all her sisters free. It is not one African-American's freedom which is the goal of inclusivity and equality but the freedom of all African-Americans which makes freedom ring and lets all know they are free at last.
About the Author: Anthony T. Padovano holds doctorates and professorships in theology and literature. He is the author of twenty-nine books including three award-winning plays, translated into nine languages. He has been visiting professor at twenty-five American colleges and universities, lectures world-wide and appears regularly in the media on both sides of the Atlantic. Dr. Padovano presents occasionally at United Nations Conferences in New York City, Geneva and The Hague. He has been invited to the White House and Congressional staff meetings as a consultant for pending programs and legislation. Dr. Padovano was the first elected president of CORPUS and served in that capacity for ten years. He is a founding member and a distinguished professor of literature and philosophy at ramapo College of New Jersey, a four-year New Jersey state college, and has served, since 1986, as pastor of The Inclusive Community where Catholics and Protestants worship together. Dr. Padovano's personal and professional papers are in the permanent archives of the University of Notre Dame. Recently, ramapo College of New Jersey opened the doors to a new spiritual Center on campus. Modeled after the United Nations Meditation room, and the Parliament of World religions, the center is open to all people of good will for tranquility and reflection. The spiritual Center has as its main building the Padovano Peace Pavilion, and two small adjacent buildings for meditation. The center is the vision of Dr. Padovano, who came up with the idea in 2001 based on the Meditation room at the United Nations - a place people of all faiths use for contemplation. After traveling to various universities and colleges to see how they accommodate spirituality, Padovano's concept was endorsed by the College.