More on the importance of Free Will and Freedom

These two things go hand in hand in developing spirituality. All true spirituality is developed by the person practicing it. You cannot learn it from books, teachers, or even the very wise. They can be helpful, but to learn true spirituality you have to live it. To live it you have to be free to do so. Free will is a gift from the Divine. That means that Freedom is also a gift from the Divine. Did you know that when you tell someone what to do, you are taking on part of the "karma" for their actions? When I say karma I mean the spiritual repercussions from an action. This also happens, to a lesser extent, when you give advice. The reason it is lessened is that it is advice and not an order. You aren't making the choices for them, you are just telling them what you think. How does this all relate to freedom and free will?

Free will is most free when there are no outside influences restraining it. This does not mean anarchy because there is a natural limit to free will. That limit is that your free will cannot be used to limit the free will of another. This transforms free will into a restraining force. A restraining force is not free since it is tied to the actions of another. So putting your will over another is actually reducing your freedom and free will. So to have true free will one must act in a way that does not restrain the actions of others. This does not mean to allow others to restrain you. One must always struggle against those effects that restrain them; that is how one grows. The goal of such struggle though is not to restrain the restraints, but to overcome the restraints so they cannot restrain you now or ever again. How does this apply to groups?

Groups have their own karma. They also take on the karma for the actions they cause their members to perform. This means the good and the bad both come to the group as a whole. This is why I like the rule of Wicca. You can do what you want as long as you don't harm others. That is the only real rule of true spirituality. Everything else is just man made rules made to exert controll over the group. This applies to secular and religious organizations. Because in reality there is no such separation. Everything is a spiritual act. So what does this all mean to you?

Basically it comes down to this. Anytime you restrain a person you take on karma for being a restraining influence. Also, you take on the karma from the results of those actions. If you're lucky the good results from those actions will outweigh the bad karma for making someone do something in the first place. If it doesn't you will come out to the negative. This also means you get a share of the negative karma from any group you choose to attach yourself to. So make sure you really know what an organization stands for before you attach yourself to it. If you are already in a group that you don't really agree with you only have a couple options. The easiest one is to leave that group for a group more inline with true spirituality. If you cannot leave that group then you must work to change it. In working to change the group you are canceling out the negative karma from being applied to you because no applied karma can outweigh you own actions. If you cannot leave it and you do not attempt to change it be ready for the negative karma. This is because of one more feature of free will and freedom that a lot of people these days don't like to talk about. What is that you ask, read on.

Personal responsibility goes hand in hand with true spirituality, free will, and freedom. You are responsible for what you do, period. It doesn't matter even if you were "forced" to do so. No one can make you do anything you aren't willing to do, period. You choose what you will do therefore your actions are your responsibility. Also, the actions of any group you are a part of are partially your responsibility. So if an organization you are a part of has committed an action that does not agree with true spirituality and you don't do anything about it; you have given your consent to the action and therefore played a part in it. There is no avoiding this. If you remember back to what I wrote in Spiritual Path Basics, if your beliefs aren't changing you for the better then you should abandon them. This is why. True spirituality changes everything it comes in contact with. If it comes into contact with a group you are a part of it will change that unless you restrain that. You know what happens when you are a restraining influence, and yes you can restrain yourself.

In the end this all basically means you have a lot more responsibility than you probably realize. This isn't a bad thing. This is an awakening. The more you develop your spirituality the more you will realize this and the easier taking on these responsibilities will become. They won't be weights. They will be the waters that will grow you into the person you really want to be.