If we are brave enough to repeat those words and then explore every situation to find our own culpability, then that would result in a revolution. It is far to easy to blame others. What if we decided to sit back, reflect and explore how our own actions or inaction contributed to the situations we see unfolding around us? What would happen if we all started doing that? What would it look like?
This level of self-governance and self responsibility is sobering. But let's go down that path and see what it looks like as all our relationships in our lives are impacted by this simple yet difficult exercise.
Source: Google Maps
This is a satellite image of just one of the mine sites north of Fort McMurray where the bitumen is removed from the sand to be processed into oil, petroleum and other products. This causes a tremendous environmental mess and will be a catastrophe for all life in the area. I AM responsible and directly interested in this as I live within the Athabasca water shed!
How can that be that I AM responsible for this mess? As a consumer, I make demands on the economy through the purchase of products and services. That economy functions on the principles of supply and demand. So what is a demand?
Demand: 1. The act of demanding or asking by virtue of right or authority. 2. The action of demanding. 3. Law. The action or fact of demanding in legal form; a legal claim. 4. The calling for a thing in order to purchase it. A call for a commodity on the part of consumers, combined with the power to purchase. - Oxford Unabridged Dictionary (1958)
Call: 7. Demand, requisition, claim. 8. A requirement of duty - Oxford Unabridged Dictionary (1958)
When I have a dollar bill, it provides me with a right to demand from somebody else, that they provide me with the products or services that I desire. Who ever answers the call is then under a duty to provide those goods or services. Most people call this capitalism, but I question whether this is actually extortion instead as it involves rights, authority and power to make it all work. Most people don't see the relationship in this way and would argue that it still requires free will choice to contract in order for the exchange to work. The problem with that argument is that we are all so helplessly dependent, that we are under a tremendous amount of pressure to engage in those contracts just so that we can survive. That is coercion!
For me this goes even deeper as it touches on a foundational principle in healthy relationships. If I do indeed love myself and work hard to love my neighbour as myself, am I expressing that love by demanding anything from others? Do I have a right or some level of authority over them to make such demands? Of course not. Instead, I'm using the authority granted to me by the mere fact that I possess tokens of that authority and I'm willing to wield them around like a sword.
So now I'm confronted with being responsible for trespassing against my neighbour with the common act of using power, authority and violence in order to purchase products or services. As a result of that, people are now under tremendous amounts of pressure to provide and as a result, we end up with environmental catastrophes which does irreparable harm to every living creature, plant and organism on this planet AND we make our neighbours hopelessly dependent which is an equally heinous crime.
I AM responsible for that because I engage in coercive behaviour with a simple purchase. I can make similar connections when it comes to natural gas to heat my home, food to stock my fridge or electricity to bring light to my dinner table.
How about the taxes we pay? Money, voting and lobbying are demands to pressure the government to provide goods and services. But some of those demands also goes towards bombing other countries, engaging in war, genocide, theft and other atrocities. The state is founded on a monopoly of force, which is far away from the standards of loving my neighbour.
I AM responsible for all of that as well through my participation with that system. The blood of others is on my hands even if I did not pull the trigger or drop the bomb.
So how can I reconcile my responsibility for all of this? I do so by working hard to reduce or even eliminate the demands I make on others. If I truly love my self and my neighbours, I cannot justify demanding anything from them. That means I AM responsible for providing for myself and my family. I AM responsible for influencing others to make similar choices in their own expression of love.
That is the justification behind living off grid and working so hard to UNGRIP from the grid. The grid is far larger and more invasive than any of us can imagine. Even I'm still learning the depths of how far this grid goes.
While I may not be personally responsible for the direct actions or inaction of others, I AM responsible for the violence that I engaged in through my demands upon them. It is not fair, healthy, loving or righteous. The consequences of those choices are profound and sobering.
What we need now more than anything else is to be blunt regarding our participation in the violence and coercion of others, no matter how overt or covert that may be. Our POWER to purchase is very strong and requires the same due diligence that is demanded when we hold a loaded gun.
For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. - 1 Timothy 6:10
Money is power and if we lust for power over our neighbours, then we have forsaken them. That is not love. I AM responsible to ensure that I don't forsaken my neighbour, but instead love them! I work hard to eliminate all my demands which requires that I return to the land and build a direct one-on-one relationship with Creator and Mother Earth.
