Liberty means being free. But for the lover, this can only mean freedom to reach his Beloved…
Whither can a lover go but to the land of his beloved? and what seeker findeth rest away from his heart’s desire? To the true lover reunion is life, and separation is death. His breast is void of patience and his heart hath no peace. A myriad lives he would forsake to hasten to the abode of his beloved. – Bahá’u’lláh
To find the Beloved, the lover must follow a Path toward his Goal. Is he not free because he must travel a certain direction? Is he not free because there are disciplines in journeying? Excessive liberty is wanting to be free from the Beloved as well; but this only proves an ignorance of self. The true lover sees servitude to Love as paradise. “Give ear to the sayings of the Friend and turn towards His paradise.”
Liberty alone grants sorrow, because the lover knows he is separate. Thus, the whole purpose for every attribute, principle and capacity, possessed by humankind, is to sacrifice them all in pursuit of Him, our true happiness. When we finish playing a game, do we pine for the points we earned while playing it? Rather, victory is all we aim for, or remember.
In all these journeys the traveler must stray not the breadth of a hair from the “Law,” for this is indeed the secret of the “Path” and the fruit of the Tree of “Truth”; and in all these stages he must cling to the robe of obedience to the commandments, and hold fast to the cord of shunning all forbidden things, that he may be nourished from the cup of the Law and informed of the mysteries of Truth. – Bahá’u’lláh