Choosing Freedom

                           

 

234 years ago today, our thir­teen colonies declared their inde­pen­dence from the coun­try that spawned our birth, Great Britain.

 In order to jus­tify break­ing away, our found­ing fathers and the rad­i­cal rev­o­lu­tion­ar­ies who fought the war for our inde­pen­dence had to make King George the bad guy and Eng­land our enemy.  It took an all out war to estab­lish these thir­teen colonies as an inde­pen­dent coun­try.  Such was the con­scious­ness on which Amer­ica was founded.

Fast for­ward 234 years to July 4, 2010.  We are still at war, only this time, we are fight­ing in a dis­tant land for a cause we aren’t even sure of any­more.  The con­scious­ness of war is steeped into the DNA of our country.   

America’s wars have resulted in eco­nomic dis­as­ter, greed, cor­rup­tion, unem­ploy­ment,  envi­ron­men­tal dev­as­ta­tion, and unprece­dented polar­iza­tion.  We’re being torn apart from within.  The ter­ror­ists planted the seeds of fear and sus­pi­cion on 9/11 and we’ve fer­til­ized, watered and grown them from there on our own.

And what about us, its peo­ple?  How deeply imbed­ded into your own DNA is the con­scious­ness of war? 

I’m talk­ing about  the kind of wars we have when we look in the mir­ror and inflict harm and injury on the per­son we see reflected back. The kind of wars we wage with our­selves by hold­ing on to guilt, shame, humil­i­a­tion over what we’ve done in the past or over what oth­ers have done to us.

These kinds of wars are waged every moment in our lives.  The wars between head and heart, body and soul, ego and Spirit.  We may suc­ceed in mask­ing their rav­ages to the world at large, but we pay an inner price for such con­flict.  Heart dis­ease, high blood pres­sure, insom­nia, eat­ing dis­or­ders, obe­sity, divorce are just a few of the costs of these wars waged on the per­sonal level.

So while wars wage around you, how about today, declar­ing your inde­pen­dence from the inner wars you wage?  Declare today, July 4, 2010, as your re-birth day, the day you are born into your own free­dom.  It’s a choice.  Every moment, it’s a choice.  

The free­dom to choose one’s own des­tiny is what our found­ing Fathers fought for.  I choose free­dom today.  I choose my own free­dom from the past and the free­dom to choose the present. 

May all peo­ple be free and peace­ful.  It may sound like a lofty goal or a Hall­mark card, but many lives have been shed for this ideal.  May they not have died in vain. 

 

 

 

 

Tagged as: 4th of July, choice, dr. judith rich, Freedom, independence, peace, Rx For The Soul, Spirit