Democracy and the ‘Freedom to Be’

The freedom to be oneself is the inherent right of every living being, and yet since time immemorial, societies, cultures, and individuals themselves have restricted this freedom. Outwardly, the governing body of a society can oppress or threaten its people so that being oneself creates a sense of endangerment. Inwardly, historical circumstances of pain and trauma can cause an individual to feel the same kind of endangerment if they were to be themselves.

Yet, the freedom-to-be is an inherent right, accorded by life itself and by the Creator of life, whose purpose for all beings was that each would become more and more an expression of themselves, evolving into more and more of their own divine pattern. Such evolution to be fully realized, however, must permit not only the inner realization of what it means to be oneself, but the outer expression of it as well. Sadly, this has rarely been the case within huma societies, most of which have had severe consequences for deviations from expectable norms. Such deviations could, in some situations, result in the loss of life itself.

When we imagine a society of the future that could promote freedom-to-be, we have to imagine something that has little or no historical precedent, for it is based on an understanding of the sacredness of life and of how embodiment takes place with its myriad forms of expression, each one being perfect in its own right. Such a society would encourage not discourage the principle of being true to oneself, and would encourage at an early age, each one to learn to listen to the callings of their own heart, mind, and body.

If children are taught that they have a right to be themselves, and if a society supports that right, then the basis is created for the greatest degree of wholeness and even of health within each individual, and the idea that there are ‘others’ who are different from oneself is dismantled. This is because in a society in which each one is honored as being a unique expression of the Divine, there is no such thing as ‘other.’

We have traveled far, in the past, from honoring the ‘freedom-to-be’ of peoples of all kinds. We, as a collective humanity, have committed atrocities toward others, asking them to reject themselves and to be another version which we found more acceptable, or allowing them to be who they were, but diminishing their value altogether. Today, the current of history is changing, and a new time is beginning. There are groups of people who are now reclaiming outwardly what they feel themselves to be inwardly. Those who have taken embodiment to become advocates of a fluid gender identity, or sexual identity for example, are at the forefront of the movement toward this freedom. Those who claim the right to remove their head scarves and to walk on the streets of their native land bare-headed if they choose to, are at the forefront of this movement. Those who refuse to see others, any others as ‘less than,’ are at the forefront of this movement.

The freedom-to-be is a sacred right of selfhood and of self-expression that is at the heart of the purpose of life itself and of Creation. We are coming to a time when this right must be recognized, and will be recognized, because that which has kept the human confined is being met with a new and strengthened counter-force that comes from the soul itself within each one and its desire to express its own inner nature. As light increases upon the planet, this soul-force will increasingly require the means for self-expression, and so the historical past of restriction will give way to a new time in which the freedom-to-be of all individuals can finally manifest upon the Earth.