That, at least, is what should be his castle.
It always was a vain boast to say an Englishman's home is his castle - but it was so to a much greater extent in the past than it has been over recent decades - and especially in the past year.
What this unpacks to mean is that the free Englishman can do what he wants within his house - implicitly, so long as this is not illegal or immoral. Maybe this remains true in a legalistic sense; but now everything/anything is potentially illegal and the morality is inverted so that what was immoral is currently valorized while many virtues are redefined as wicked.
Consequently, we are all - to a considerable and increasing extent - slaves; in that we do not 'own' our-selves. Like serfs we are not permitted to travel. Like slaves we must do as our Masters say; and must not even speak anything against our Masters - on pain of punishments that escalate by the month.
Yet what we can and must do is retain our discernment; that is, our independent evaluation of what is good and evil, right and wrong.
Our thoughts Just Are Free, and (for a Christian), ultimately (i.e. over the long-term of eternity), our thoughts matter more than our actions: how we choose to judge, what we choose to think, is of greater consequences than what we are compelled to do physically.
This is a heavy responsibility and a difficult challenge; since we tend to align our discernment and thinking with our actions; in order to 'justify' what we have-done.
This has to stop! For the sake of our immortal souls.
We need to stop justifying what we do, and be ready to discern and repent the many wrong actions we will, inevitably, make.
The Good News is that this will suffice, it is enough for salvation, and resurrection into Heavenly Life Eternal - and that should be sufficient inducement.
In many ways we (here and now) have it easy! We are not expected to attain the heroic activities of the great saints; 'merely' to see though to the reality, and acknowledge its true validity.
But it turns-out to be difficult even to do this, for most people. Yet that is what they absolutely need to do: it is the Task of These Times.
It is why we are here.
