September 21, 2023
Principle 9. Liberty. Week 5
“When You Harm Others You Remain Enchained, But If You Do Not Harm Anyone You May Freely Do Whatever You Want”.
Last time: The Future and What is it that I Want?
This time: How am I doing?
This Week:
Every now and then we have the opportunity to add a fifth week to our month of meditations. This allows us to re-synch our meetings with the calendar week. It also gives us the opportunity to dig a little deeper into particular aspects of our common work.
We are taking a break from our focus on the principle of Liberty to turn to a question that is easy to ask and sometimes difficult to answer: “how are you doing.”
These occasional “extra weeks” provide an opportunity for an interesting additional reflection that had originally been proposed as a monthly work where you consider your internal growth in relation to life’s difficulties…
On various occasions Silo had mentioned such evaluations saying, generally it is difficult to pin down if one is, for example, doing better this week, or this month. Since if externally, things were going well, or not made it difficult to sort out your personal growth from the fluctuating circumstance. He said it might instead be useful to try and compare how we deal with a current situation to how we dealt with similar circumstances in the past. How did I respond to this kind of situation last time it happened? How does that compare to my response in a comparable situation today?
If you are doing that as an occasional, or a monthly reflection this is an opportunity to reinforce it, and perhaps share some of your thoughts. If you are not, then perhaps this can be an opportunity to try it out.
Worth Repeating
When Silo proposed this kind of monthly reflection he did so in a context where he stressed that one is trying to live according to the declaration we make in the Ceremony of Recognition.
That’s an important point. Anyone who wants to may participate in our group, as long as they accept the basic conditions of diversity (including not proselytizing for their beliefs in our meetings), and free interpretation. Nonetheless, our common work has a very clear direction.
That’s why it was suggested that our meeting places have simple unadorned walls, except for one thing. A copy of the Ceremony of Recognition.
As a reminder here’s the central part of that experience:
Officiant: The pain and suffering that we human beings experience will recede if good knowledge advances, not knowledge at the service of selfishness and oppression.
Good knowledge leads to justice.
Good knowledge leads to reconciliation.
Good knowledge also leads to deciphering the sacred in the depths of the consciousness.
Assistant (and those giving testimony, read):
We consider the human being to be the highest value, above money, the State, religion, social systems, and models.
We stand for freedom of thought.
We champion equal rights and equal opportunities for all human beings.
We recognize and encourage diversity in customs and cultures.
We oppose all discrimination.
We consider as sacred just resistance against all forms of violence—physical, economic, racial, religious, sexual, psychological, and moral.
Officiant: Moreover, just as no one has the right to discriminate against others because of their religion or their non-religiousness, we affirm our right to proclaim our spirituality and our belief in immortality and the sacred.
Our spirituality is not the spirituality of superstition; it is not the spirituality of intolerance; it is not the spirituality of dogma; it is not the spirituality of religious violence. It is the spirituality that has awakened from its deep sleep to nurture human beings in their best aspirations.
Assistant (and those giving testimony, read):
We want to give coherence to our lives, to bring into agreement what we think, what we feel, and what we do.
We want to overcome bad conscience by recognizing our failures.
We aspire to persuade and to reconcile.
We make a commitment to increasingly fulfill the rule that reminds us to “treat others as we want to be treated.”
Officiant: We will begin a new life. We will search within ourselves for the signs of the sacred, and we will carry our message to others.
Assistant (and those giving testimony, read):
Today, we begin to renew our lives. We will begin by seeking mental peace and the Force that gives us joy and conviction. Afterwards, we will go to the people closest to us and share with them everything great and good that has happened to us.
Officiant: For everyone, Peace, Force, and Joy.
Assistant (and all those present): And for you also, Peace, Force, and Joy.
Coming up:
Next week we’ll begin our considerations of October’s principle, the principle of Solidarity. It says: “When You Treat Others As You Would Have Them Treat You, You Liberate Yourself.”
