Independence is the sloughing off of authority bringing a celebration of Freedom and Self Determination. Just as a rocket must contain enough thrust to break free of the atmosphere, any successful revolution must create enough of a bond amongst the breakers of authority (whether violent or peaceful) to uniformly push past boundaries without losing the support of the group. As America's founders broke free of the bonds of authority, they had to create new bonds amongst themselves. Freedom requires bonding. Freedom without the glue of hope, faith and purpose is Anarchy and chaos in the political realm, and isolation, loneliness and depression in the emotional and spiritual zone.
Not to be confused with bondage which is involuntary, we choose and create bonds which tie us to others, to our profession, to our social standing to our families and even to our own bodies and minds. We depend on those bonds, find comfort in them, and we mourn when they are suddenly not there or are not giving us the comfort we expect.
To what do we adhere when our usual bonds fail us? Our challenge is to find bonds that are less dependent on external forces: to make our chief dependence on the vast life force that breathes itself through us. It's only dependence is on form itself. It is itself niralambaya, self-supporting and Independent. That does not mean that we shouldn't bond with others. It prompts us to recognize the nature of what we bond with when we bond with others. We bond with the essence of the life force that is within them. We bond with the eternal within them. And then we realize that it is the eternal within us that connects with the eternal within them.
So for this week of Independence Day, may we celebrate our common dependence on the independent life force. May we find common purpose, hope and faith in that energy that glues us together on this plane, and thereby recognize connection with everyone and with our world.
Thanks for reading!
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