Independence Day

Lesley's Blog

Last week Independence Day was celebrated in America. Being British by birth, July 4th is not a date I easily resonate with, but I am more than glad to enjoy the holiday with all the family gatherings, picnics and fireworks! For most of us it is a joyful time.

So often though we have seen a huge price paid for independence by many nations around the world. Rarely, it seems, are conflicts able to be settled without violence and so people suffer with all the deaths, injuries and devastation that follow. Sometimes wars lead to a return to or an increase in freedom and sometimes, sadly, they do not. I certainly am very grateful to live in a country in which freedom is still mostly alive and well and where a war has not been fought on our soil for a very long time.

(A rather blurry United States flag blowing in the Oklahoma wind.) 

Mostly, we as individuals have little impact on global conflicts but we do have control over our own behavior in our every day lives. Are we determined to settle our conflicts with loving kindness (and that is not the same as simply "going along to get along") or will we perpetrate "violence" in minor or major ways in our words and actions? It is a choice. 

We are a country that prides itself on independence and that stance has probably contributed to the success of this very special nation. But I think sometimes we forget that there is actually no such thing as being independent, for we live and have always lived in an interdependent world. Very few individuals have lived, even their adults lives, totally isolated surviving off the land. Even if they own a modern weapon or matches to light their fires, then they have a dependence on others, albeit to a minor degree. And they are dependent on other beings for sustenance; plants and animals. Non of us are independent.

 (The flag of Oklahoma, another blurry wind blown photograph)
 

We are dependent on others in all manner of ways, big and small, and a profound spiritual practice, no matter what religion you might adhere to, is that of gratitude. Being grateful for our shower in the morning means to remember the beings who designed and who built the shower, who packed and transported it to the store, the people who sold it and delivered it, put it into our bathroom and if we are fortunate to have one of those wonderful souls who clean our house, to that person as well. Then there is the soap and towels, which reminds us about the individuals who plant, grow and pick the cotton (and the cotton plants themselves), and of course that amazing gift of clean and hot water. We need to aknowledge and be grateful to all those who contributed to this wonderful gift pouring from our shower head. And so it goes on for everything in our lives. It is stunningly huge how interdependent we are with All Beings.

Another way of looking at independence is an internal one. We have all arrived at adulthood with an astonishing amount of psychological "baggage" and continue to fill our suitcases as we go thought life so that they can become enormously weighty. That baggage can tyranize us without mercy unless we become conscious enough to begin to make a choice to reduce the frequency and influence of destructive thoughts, feelings and behaviors. We need to determine which thoughts, feelings and behaviors are from our essence (which some think of as the "God" within or without), and so carry a truth for us in walking our life path, and which we have "aquired" from child (or later) experiences that are not for our highest good. Such discernment comes from hard work which gets harder as we move towards those places in us where the destructiveness is hidden in very subtle ways.

As we become increasingly independent of our old baggage and our lives move more and more from the wisdom of spiritual truth then we find increasing joy in our interdependence. Our relationships will not be conflict free and we might find some of the people in our lives to be still very challenging but our responses will be more loving, kind and compassionate to ourselves and others. Boundaries will be set with kindness not anger (although we will still have feelings of anger) and choices will come with an understanding of our own feelings and acceptance of those of others. It is by no means an easy path but well worth the work for it brings with it a glimpse of that peace that passeth all understanding. 

So, enjoy your "independence" and interdependence and all the joy and peace that it brings.