The Freedom to Stop Oppression in Ourselves

The Freedom to Stop Oppression in Ourselves

What we’re searching for, we already know. We are blessed us with this amazing life, with eyes to see, ears to hear, a mind to discern, and a heart in which to perceive something else other than ourselves living in our midst. Do we have the courage to face it?

I say courage, because admitting that we are not the end-all to everything can be difficult. The willingness to give up something, even if it is a little of ourselves, can be a little scary; and since it seems that most people have a negative one-track mind, a little bit useless. It is very easy to say, “Why bother; nobody cares; and if they do, who will it affect.” I live by the code that my mission in this life is to change the world. I know that I cannot do that, so, I try to change something that is within my sphere of influence. It is why I continue to teach at the age of 75.

When I went into teaching, age 53, I vowed to teach as long as I felt I was making a difference, as long as I knew that I continue to change my little corner of the world. My body is continuing to weaken as I age, and I am now in the position of change, a change that is calling me to switch my focus from teaching to some other way to accomplish my promise. I don’t know how I can do this, but I will try.

Maybe by example. One of Jesus’ messages is that being human is good. We have lost sight of this. Our personal needs, at all levels of society, have superseded our ability for compassion. I have heard people say things, such as, so what; when we go to heaven, God will sort things out. Where is heaven? I believe that it is within us. It is not a place to go when we die. Our view of this causes us to be overly harmed our relationships with sexuality, food, possessions, money, animals, nature, politics, and our own incarnate selves.

I see the greed in America, the me first, the lack of respect for others as is demonstrated by all of the sexual abuse news we are confronted with. God will sort it out when we die. When we continue with this abstract falsehood, we will always be subjected to the living nightmare that many in this world live with. I question why some people feel that they have to take from others when they have it all now. Isn’t having it all enough; or are these people just little piggies in a dirty slime. Just a thought: pigs are highly intelligent animals; I wonder if the are more intelligent than mankind. But that’s a topic for another time.

We desperately dance between the loneliness and desperation of our false selves and the fullness of the self that we should be, which is re-discovered and experienced anew as an ultimate homecoming. Our journey is a path of deeper realization and transformation, never a straight line, but a back and forth journey that ever deepens the consciousness of God within us. It is maturing; it is waking up.

We are given free will; but this free will is not a blessing, at least not the way we are handling it. Our unwillingness to allow others to have free will limits our own free will. We are so darkened by all of the oppression of the powerful over others, that our liberties are a curse, not a blessing.

I pray that by trying to change my little corner of the world, life can be a blessing to those, not a curse.