The quest for internal freedom and an authentic way of life is common to everyone, to every generation, to every era. But few, other than the ancient mystics, contemplatives, and spiritual seekers of the ages, have had real answers for how to achieve it. Abba Zosimas, a monk in fifth-century Palestine, instructed his disciples very clearly about the inner chains that hold us captive. He told them, ”‘It was well said by a wise person, that the soul has as many masters as it has passions.’ And again, the Apostle Peter says, ‘People are slaves to whatever masters them.’”

This book is about recognizing what has mastered us and then discovering what it will take to break those chains.

Chained to the present moment by agitation, anger, our addictions, anxieties, fear, stress—whatever the spiritual wrestling match of the day—the pursuit of freedom in a world in perpetual motion is an ongoing one.

In this society, in fact, the search for personal freedom has become big business. Whole industries have been constructed around it—financial consultantships, pharmaceuticals, psychology, tourism—all of them purporting to provide the process for finding personal peace, the tools for removing angst, the way to escape ourselves. But those things never really work. They serve for a while to dampen the groaning, empty pain of it, perhaps. But, in the end, the strictures arise to chafe again. And the first question is always, Why?

Why this impression of internal captivity? Why this sense of emptiness in me? Why my resistance to change? Why the everlasting weight of ghost-like burdens we simply cannot seem to shrug off? And then the second question, Is there no way to deal with this?....

Yes, actually, there is. Self-understanding, a commitment to spiritual growth, a spiritual tradition that has stood the test of time, and a spiritual guide to companion us on the way are the components of the spiritual journey. Each of them requires conscious attention. Each of them is clear.

The understanding of what blocks my growth in life requires deep honesty from me. The struggle to unbind myself from the passions that hold sway over me takes both discipline and support. The search for a spiritual tradition that points me beyond mere religious ritual to a spiritual “true north” gives me an established path to follow. And, finally, the steady presence of a spiritual guide to help me find my way from one question, one step, to the next along the way is a lifelong guarantee of spiritual freedom from the demons within.

And that is why I wrote this book. There is a spiritual document written in the age of Zosimas that gives us a veritable program of liberation…..

—from Radical Spirit: 12 Ways to Live a Free and Authentic Life by Joan Chittister (Penguin Random House)