Thoughts on Egypt

I’ve been following the protests in Egypt and praying for the Egyptian people – for their safety, and for a birth of greater freedom.  A few passages from the Writings that come to mind:

A king who has absolute power, and who believes that his subjects are such slaves that he has a right to their lives and properties, and who exercises this power, is not a king, but a tyrant. (Arcana Coelestia n.10805)

When the freedom of speech and of the press is restrained, freedom of thought, that is, the freedom to investigate matters to the furthest extent, is also kept in restraint. For this restraint is like a high wall about the basin of a fountain, which causes the water within to rise even to the mouth of the inflowing stream, so that the stream can no longer leap forth. Thought is like the inflowing stream, and speech therefrom is like the basin. In a word, influx adapts itself to efflux, and in like manner the understanding from above adapts itself to its measure of freedom to speak and publish its thoughts. (True Christian Religion n. 814)