Declaration of Spiritual Independence
After seeing What the Bleep, I happened across a copy of llluminata in my daughter’s house. In it the author, Marianne Williamson, intimates “…we sign our names to the invisible declaration of independence…” which I instantly took to mean a spiritual one. I entertained the idea that Thomas Jefferson, my archetype spiritual leader for our time, returned to us to draft another document that would usher us into a new paradigm for our world. What would he propose with current scientific and metaphysical awareness? This is what I think he would offer us. I wonder if anyone would sign it...
© Jay Harden
WHEN IN THE COURSE OF HUMAN EVOLUTION it becomes inevitable to dissolve the fear, suffering, and illusions that have denied us our sacred birthright and bound us to external distractions, an honored respect for the spiritual welfare of all humanity compels us to declare to the world what we must now do to reclaim our true selves, the purpose of our creation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident:
That the established unspiritual order exists not to preserve us, protect us, or keep us free, but for one reason only: to perpetuate itself. It does this by keeping us busy with stuff of its making, not ours; it does this by reliving the wounds and remembrances of the past; and it does this by constantly judging us as imperfect and lacking important things ever beyond our grasp. For millennia this strategy of brain over heart successfully controlled us in a state of unhappiness through addicting stimulations of the senses; through rigid reasoning; and through diminution of our individual consciousness. Necessary to arriving at our present circumstance, these means of awareness no longer hold sway and must inevitably yield to our awakened understanding that the way to peace of our spirit and our world is not outside ourselves, but inward.
That we are not separate from the world; in fact, we are the world, its energy and emotions. We are responsible for this world of our making and all in it, an awareness that unites us into one spirit and gives meaning to life. The only evil is to remain unaware.
That each of us, the meek and the mighty of every character, seek the same ultimate prize: the prize of purposed longing to express the happiness already within, the transcendent realization of our being, the reason why we were born. By whatever appellation we use – love, peace, divine power, union, illumination, enlightenment… – it is the same. This universal source is our energy and our destiny. It is what drives us and connects us all with one another, regardless of our natural and perceived differences. We know this is true because we fully felt it before, when fresh on this earth, and still experience it at times and in ways beyond our senses. Every thought and action of ours focuses this universal energy toward expressing happiness, or away from it toward a deceiving objective.
We, therefore, declare:
The necessary proportion of the human universe is now awake to the self-annihilation of war, the destruction of our symbiotic planet, the unhealthiness of mindless need, and the concomitant corrosion of consciousness, all unworthy of our spiritual destiny. We embrace our individual and consanguineous responsibility as secular spiritual leaders to bring our individual lives and common existence into natural and permanent balance as the universe intends.
The present moment of the heart is the eternal home of spiritual independence, achievable by all, where abides our willingness to bless the darkness yielding to the unambiguous light that is the true state of mankind. In the present moment we forgive ourselves and others, unshackle our chimeras, and become powerful enlightened humans. Only the present is real; only there suffering disappears; only there is our loving effortlessly possible.
The enemy of spiritual independence is fear in all its forms. The energy of fear is negative anger. Unexpressed, it ultimately damages our bodies and depresses our spirits; safely released, it heals.
Spiritual peace, both inner and outer, begins with doing and creating what you care for. You cannot change the world, only individuals, but not other individuals. Start with you.
With clear intention as individual representatives of one shared universal consciousness, we unequivocally declare our spiritual independence from our self-induced limitations, their false histories and imaginings. We affirm our willingness to express by example our unlimited nature in brilliant, affirming, passionate abundance, knowing that there are no mistakes in our existence, only learning.
To support this declaration, we pledge to ourselves and all others our divine intention, our focused awareness, and our awakened consciousness to live fully in the present world unwounded by our past, our bodies, and our minds, manifesting our spiritual longing in simple being.
Done this sacred day, the twenty-fifth of May, in this year of our spiritual independence, Two Thousand and Seven.