free to be

The spiritual task is to work our way into a life where we are most able to be ourselves.

We have this one great us, yearning to express itself, yearning to give up to the universe the thing that only we can give. We need, for maximum spiritual health, to be who we are, to do what we do, to let the deep true voice of the divine that dwells within us, and that was incarnated as us in order to have the experience of living, live through us.

And then we find ourselves in a world, created before we got here so very little of it would be to our own choosing. Even the stuff we're happy about wasn't created with us in mind, or arranged for our satisfaction. And a lot of the world makes it very difficult for us to be ourselves. Other people make decisions for their own purposes that effect us negatively, both accidentally and sometimes deliberately. Some of us are more fortunate then others, I count myself as one of the most fortunate. But many, many people face an incredible number of obstacles blocking the path of their journey toward expressing their divine nature.

The goal, then, in forming a life, is to create for ourselves as much as we can a situation in which we are free. That means overcoming the forces that hold us back, fighting them off, or fleeing them if necessary. And fighting also the internal forces that hold us back, our own fears and sense of "I'm not worth it." And also banding with others to work against societal forms of oppression, both for our own sake, and for those who are trapped by oppressions we don't face ourselves but no one should have to suffer under.

The more we create a world where people are free to let their best selves emerge, the more the best world will emerge.