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There is so much calamity in the news, big problems that need to solved. The financial world is shaky at best: this is either an unexpected disaster or . . . the natural outcome of wrong ideas taken to the extreme. It can be, the opportunity to reconsider our financial assumptions. This much I know: standard of living, measured by dollars earned or spent, (GNP) is not the same as quality of life. Sometimes I hear people say “let’s go do something” and really they mean “let’s go buy something” burn up gas, at least. Going shopping for another new something isn’t how I entertain myself. Consuming is not as fulfilling as creating, or connecting. The most enjoyable times of being alive, for me, are quality time with my family members, good conversations and laughter with friends, solitude for rest and connecting with the Divine guide within, and the creative expression I experience when reading or writing. Once I had the great good pleasure of seeing a play I wrote being enacted. None of those things cost any money to do. But if I were running in place to keep up with payments on debt or other high expenses, that could interfere with being able to enjoy those things. Being rich really means owning my whole self, provided that my basic needs are met. Being free is pretty much the same thing. Liberty = owning my own body, and owning my own time. Doesn’t matter how much money flows through my month - if I don’t own my own body or my own time because of an alienating or forced work life - life is poor. I like to think about what it means to be a citizen of the United States. What do you think? Opinions may vary, but some facts do remain. The Declaration of Independence is a founding document, and therefore a defining document of what it was originally intended to be. “We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”The pursuit of Happiness as a phrase is a doorway into a wide opening of interpretations and meanings. If I’m chasing happiness and never quite catching it, that would be pursuit, wouldn’t it? That could be a problematic definition, because it could turn into running in place, never quite reaching it. I prefer to think about another definition of pursuit. A pursuit
is not just a chase. Here is what a free dictionary online says it
is:
1. The act or an instance of chasing or pursuing.Definition 2 is interesting - but I like definition 3. Put that idea into the declaration and it says we are endowed by our Creator with the unalienable right to Life, Liberty, and whatever regular activity of hobby or vocation that makes us feel happy. Lucky for me, I have two part-time jobs reading and writing, my favorite things to do; and with a flexible schedule, so I own my time. Being a citizen of the USA is working for me. I want it to work for you too. I have an idea about a group participation project, which we could call “The Pursuit of Happiness Project.” If you think of a better name, let me know. The goal of the project is to liberate all of us into whatever regular activity, as hobby or vocation, gives each one of us happiness. The economic system that requires the surrender of soul; when it takes your body and makes it do things that hurt, makes you slave to the clock and not to the beating of your own heart; that economic system is in the way of too many people. It’s un-American! I’m thinking we can do something different: an economic system that, instead, is actually founded on soul - vocations and hobbies of happiness - and that this is what is promised by the Declaration of America. This is what it is to be an American. Let’s do it! So many people have been captured by duty into the workplace for so long - they have lost their ability to really know what they would even want to do, if free. It might take a bit of time to unravel all the programming and get down to the personal truth - and that is the reason for sabbatical. Everybody can follow their own unique path of interest and curiosity. I have this theory that we all have different interests for a reason. I just believe that if we each and all reach inside and find our own unique purpose, and then express that, our world, our economy, and everything else will play out so much better. What I propose is this. I propose we each take some kind of respite from the drudgery world - so that we can listen close to our own heart’s desire inside. I think of this as a voice of the Divine - the organizer, let’s say. That might take only a moment, if you’ve already been thinking about this, and who hasn’t? Then we say to each other (without fear of being clobbered or made fun of) what those heart’s desires are, write them down, pass them around so everybody reads of each other, and everybody looks at the similarities and differences between all of these. Then, as we see commonalities emerge, we get together in small groups to talk and listen with people who have matching desires, and we put on our thinking caps together and make good things happen. What I just described in the 2 paragraphs above is classic First Amendment activity. Here is the first Amendment in our Bill of Rights, Article VII of the US Constitution (another founding document.) "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."The syntax of this is kind of backwards, because it talks about making sure that the US government itself won’t interfere with the free exercise of religion, or free speech or free use of the press, or peaceable assembly and then the grievance thing. If we state this more positively, we can describe what it would look like if those protected things really were happening; not being interfered with by the government nor by anything else. . . we would say something like this: Everybody relies on the Divine for their own guide; everybody speaks freely, and writes for others to read, and reads what others have written; everybody gets together peacefully and acts together to make things better all around.That is a simple description of what First Amendment activity is. Our founding documents not only name the goals of (life, liberty, pursuit of happiness), they spell out exactly how we are supposed to do it. So this project I’m dreaming about, this experiment to prove God, actually, this is exactly what the US of A was made for. This is just citizenship! There is something magical that happens when we put something into words.
It’s a creative act in itself. In the beginning was the Word, and
we share this faculty, this ability to speak. Now I invite you, look
within, come and tell your answers, and lets play with this.
************************************************** Questions to prompt this soul connection and free speech:********************************************************
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