Separation ~ Segregation ~ Racism are not the problem ~~~
YOU ARE!!!
In not standing up for what is right and more importantly what is wrong ~~~
In the mid-19th century, right here in America, nefarious sea captains would supply themselves with crew members by kidnapping able-bodied men right off the streets. One common method was to render a man unconscious with a bop on the head and then throw him aboard!
The victim would wake up in the middle of the ocean, probably wondering how he ever got there. But what choice did he have from that point on but to comply with the demands of his new masters? He was trapped.
Those abducted in this way were said to be "shanghaied" -- so named after one of the popular destinations of these unsavory voyages.
Just the thought of such involuntary servitude troubles the soul, doesn't it? We value our freedom. None of us want to be made to serve anything against our will -- let alone be tricked into it while we're unconscious! No, it's neither fair nor right.
But when you think of it, who of us hasn't been "shanghaied" by fear or anger at some point in our lives? And perhaps many times over! We all know what it's like to be taken over by a thought or a feeling that shakes us up, turns us around, and enslaves us for a day, a week, ten years!
That unkind remark that someone made to us that we've replayed over and over and that makes us unable to treat that person normally ever again.
That fear over our health or our finances that becomes an obsession, leading us into actions and decisions that have consumed our lives.
Then, one day, by the sudden appearance of a new understanding, we see the situation with new eyes. We realize we've been hoodwinked! We were "knocked out" psychologically and forced to act against ourselves. We were asleep to what was going on inside us.
We were not in charge our own lives. Something else was.
Something inside us that wasn't for us. Something that stole our energy and our attention and made us do its bidding -- not the bidding of our true heart.
Our true self knows that we are not here on earth to serve such a dark, selfish master. We are not only meant to be free, but within us lives Freedom itself. Our glad task is to awaken ourselves to this timeless truth.
All things good follow.
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