What does freedom mean to you? To me freedom is the right to be ME. It is the right to discover who I am and imagine who I can be. It is the right to discover what I can do and imagine how I can do it better or differently. It is the right to seek the fulfillment of my own unique potential, to be who I love to be and do what I love to do. It is the right to live by value fulfillment and practice idealism - to determine the qualities of life and being I value most, my ideals, and actualize them to the best of my ability! This, to me, is the meaning of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
However, we are not alone in the world. There is you, me and us. To be free to be me, I must take you and your freedom to be you, into account. If I am to be free, you must be free. We must all be free, including nature! This understanding or agreement lies at the heart of responsibility. However, since we are not born consciously aware of this practical truth, and others, we must discover them through experimentation, observation, education – trial and error - as life unfolds before us.
Responsibility (response-ability or personal accountability and self-development) is the price of freedom, peace and long-term human survival.
To maintain a satisfying level of freedom we must take full responsibility for the consequences of our thoughts and actions in order to learn from them. If we refuse to pay attention and learn from our experiences, if we refuse to grow in understanding and awareness, others will step in to limit the harm we do to protect their own freedom. Ultimately, who is responsible for what you do? Who is responsible for what I do? Who is responsible for what we do in groups we are part of?
Consciousness and energy, our thoughts and actions, create our reality; life, like a mirror, reflects them back to us for consideration, adjustment and refinement. That’s right! We are blessed with the divine power to see the difference between who we are and who we want to be, what we do and what we want to do, what works for us and what doesn’t, what we like and what we don’t. This amazing ability is our source of power and redemption in life!
It is this amazing ability that provides us with a sense of hope for the future. It is what makes it possible for us to imagine and then create the self we want to be and the world we want to live in. It is our response-ability, the ability to see things for what they are and make meaningful changes that gives all things the ability to not only survive but thrive. This is so for cells in our body, it is so for us as human beings in society and it is so for nations in the world. Adapting to changing conditions to maintain satisfying levels of safety, freedom and happiness is a creative challenge. It is what makes life exciting and well worth living!
The Purpose of Life
The purpose, or challenge, of life is to learn how to use thought in its various forms to shape energy into a pleasing reality. The prize is a sense of satisfaction, a feeling of a job well done. And, like learning to walk or talk, it is a personal, subjective endeavor that requires creative aggression. It is a great balancing act, where one must accept falling down in the course of learning how to stand up.
Remember:
Thoughts are “things” with a reality of their own and you, an artist. With thoughts in the forms of belief, attitude, value and expectation, you paint the landscape of your life. Create the change you want to see in yourself, and the world! (From: We Create Our Own Reality)
What are your thoughts about the role of responsibility in our lives? Throw your thoughts up on the wall so we can take what we like and leave the rest. It’s ironic, isn’t it – the only way to be free is to be responsible?
Pete - http://realtalkworld.com
We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
We create our own reality from what we choose to believe about ourselves, and the world around us.
If we do not CONSCIOUSLY choose our own beliefs, we UNCONSCIOUSLY absorb them from our surroundings.
If we are accountable (responsible) for our actions, how can we afford NOT to question our beliefs?
How you define yourself, and the world around you, forms your intent, which, in turn, forms your reality. – Seth
Only when we improve the way we think about ourselves will we improve the way we treat ourselves, and the world.
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