By John Ashbrook
The mark of spiritual maturity is the constant unfolding awareness of one’s own cause and effect. A spiritually mature individual accepts and embraces the fact that they create their life. Such an individual is not always insistent about having their own way, obsessed with control, or making excuses for their shortcomings. They take full responsibility for the circumstances they attract. These individuals see and understand the connection between their thoughts and actions and the status of their life.
A free society must encourage individual expression and personal responsibility if it is to remain free. Children are dependent, expect to always get their own way, and don’t like to take responsibility. If they are not encouraged and taught to grow up and accept responsibility for their actions, they become weak and subject to a belief that they are life’s helpless victims. Such spiritually immature individuals eventually attract those who seek power and control over others in order to avoid their own fear of personal responsibility. There is an important equation here: to the exact degree that an individual accepts personal responsibility for creating their life, they gain the power to be free. The more responsibility, the more freedom!
The Law of Personal Responsibility is the primary principle of the 21st century. This is a spiritual law that advocates that the individual is ultimately responsible for the circumstances of their life. We create our own lives, both consciously and unconsciously. This may at first seem harsh. It seems much easier to blame negative situations on outside circumstances, bad luck, or someone else. So the acceptance of this law is difficult, but freeing. This is because acceptance of this law wipes out self-pity, unhealthy submissiveness, and resentment of life. This law is the most encouraging and freeing truth. Acceptance makes it possible for one to realize that life’s problems and the answers to them lie within the realm of one’s own psyche. Understanding the message of the law opens one to new and more fulfilling possibilities because it makes one see the truth. Although this may at first be uncomfortable, the inevitable result must be increased self-respect, self-esteem, and optimism.
This law removes the immature illusion of one’s omnipotence and the equally unrealistic rationale that one is the helpless victim of life while at the same time making the idea of failure null and void. Instead, a person can see and accept their own limitations as well as those of others and, in doing so, gain the ability to direct their life with meaning. Adherence to this law’s principles causes one to look inward and truly observe their life. The fulfillment or lack of it is the result of an inner corresponding attitude. Approaching one’s problems in this way is a positive step that will usually yield results, especially if one is willing to search deeply and honestly. It is true that being totally honest with one’s self is difficult and scary. It is not always easy to embrace one’s own reality with its fears, hopes, anger, and resentments, but to deny or ignore these truths can only lead to crisis. No truth that is consciously perceived can diminish your spirit to the point of total despair. It can only lead to the opposite of freeing you from fear and inspiring your soul. In fact all the pain in our life is the direct result of a struggle against truth.
Do not ignore any negative elements which you may find as you pursue your inner search. There must be a willingness to accept your connection to this “negative” part of you. When you are willing to take responsibility for this destructive side of your soul, you are no longer ruled by it, and at the same time, you are able to take responsibility for the most positive in the Higher Self. When an individual fears the worst in them, the best will be feared as well. One will no longer fear the negative when they are willing to face it totally.
If an undesirable mood or situation is present and you can’t seem to change it, you must accept the fact that somewhere in your psyche, you have produced this negative element on purpose. If this was not so, the “undesirable” situation would not exist. Ignoring the connection between your desire on some level and the result that you are now suffering from can only lead to confusion and fear. If you do not pull away from seeing your own involvement and you choose to see the connection, you will see it. This will produce a sense of freedom because you have recognized the connection between the unwanted situation and your own responsibility for producing it. You cease to be a passive victim because you no longer feel helpless and controlled by a power that you do not understand. Of course, if you ignore or deny admitting that you created the problem, it will continue to operate, and you are defeating yourself.
As soon as you accept the fact that whatever you are experiencing is the result of a cause that you have put into motion, say to yourself. “I am the one who has caused this, and I want to see how I have done it,” then you let go and trust your Higher Self to give the answer. You will soon receive the needed knowledge, and you taste the sweetness of that moment because you have contemplated your own cause and effect. It is important to remember that there are both positive and negative elements in you. Cultivate a conscious knowledge of the workings of both. Greater awareness of both possibilities gives you the ability to integrate and identify with both. This awareness will make it possible to dissolve the negative so that the positive takes over.
Now, as you are able to observe your destructive side, you begin to see how it works and what motivates it. You will cease to be frightened by it because you will realize that it is now possible for you to determine the course. A trusting confidence in the positive powers dwelling within your soul will begin to develop, and, of course, this will make it easier for you to invoke these powers to form a more fulfilling, joyful life.
This spiritual maturity is an ever-unfolding dynamic that allows you to establish and maintain self-determination. It frees you from the rule of the destructive elements within. It creates a state of inner connection because you embrace rather than deny all aspects of your being. Inner connectedness is the key to manifesting your greatest good.
