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         To some of us, Coronavirus measures are a form of Conscription into a war we do not believe in. We did not want to enlist in this battle. It is not that the threat was not plausible, but rather the measures were disproportionate to what was tangible. If one case created this threat, how does a world of almost 8 billion isolate this down to extinction? I understood the demands on healthcare but for people like me, there were not enough facts to justify the actions. Also for people like me, freedom is synonymous with being alive.

In Canada, far more lives are severely impacted by alcohol abuse. Over 19% of Canadians describe themselves as heavy drinkers, We have over 15,000 deaths and 90,000 hospital admissions directly related to alcohol abuse every single year. Compared to 8900 Corona deaths that is a staggering number. And yet we still consume and sell alcohol. We still accept every young person is going to try it, even knowing it is a game of Russian roulette. To compare the death toll in Canada to the USA, we are roughly 10% of their size. That would extrapolate to 150,000 alcohol related deaths, yet their estimated annual alcohol related deaths is at 88,000.  That is still an extremely concerning number but it certainly shows Canada has a problem. Alcohol abuse is growing in both countries, accumulating more lives every single year. Where are the cries for prohibition?…….No worries, I am a free willer, I am not starting a movement.

We know that stress, unhealthy eating and lack of exercise are common factors in being afflicted with heart disease, stroke, diabetes, cancer etc. Yet still we take our chances. There is a significantly greater likelihood of death by any one of the above then there is from the virus. The vast majority of us have control over all of these things within our own choices. The strange part is, many of us never choose to exercise our free will in these areas. Instead we opt for a magic pill to save us if need be. 

And this is what drives those of us who value freedom crazy. There is so much we can do to take responsibility for our own lives and actions. Yet todays common wisdom or lack of, is that people feel entitled to have everyone else be responsible for their health and happiness. This is, and always should have been about extending assistance, support and resources to those at risk and those that felt at risk. That is how we act with compassion and kindness. Not by force but by natural human empathy. Not by demanding one portion of society pay dearly to alleviate the fears of the other. 

While some people are at home enjoying extended paid vacations, or isolating without physical, financial or emotional concerns: Others are losing life, home, businesses and retirement savings. Where is the compassion for them? Do their lives not matter? Many do not want sympathy and charity, they want their right to self determination.

If you really want to try and grasp the great divide of the mask, the lockdown or the threat of mandatory vaccination you have to be willing to remember the mindset of the early settlers in North America. They came here to be free of British rule or other forms of oppression in their native homes.

Now 250-400 years ago, immigrating to the USA or Canada, “The New World”,  was not like it is today. You did not purchase a ticket on your preferred mode of transportation. You did not have the perfect job lined up and you did not have the excitement of house hunting for the dream home most appealing to your dharma.

What you did have was a desperate desire to be free and own your own property. They were tired of living in serfdom and wanted the right to self determination. Some people headed to the promised land to avoid incarceration or a death sentence. Some had an overwhelming sense of adventure, they were willing to die for their thrill seeking. In those days people were willing to die just to actually live. 

Their adventure began with avoiding disease at sea, capsizing in extreme weather, running into uncharted shoals. Should they survive the trip and make it to land; they had to contend with clearing forests with hand tools, building shelter, finding food, and unforgiving winters. Chances are their travel companions were not always aware of the golden rule. Life was a different type of fear back then, it was called survival and you had to always be on guard.

Today however, with diversity, education and information sharing, a new North American is being crafted. What we once celebrated as desirous has come to represent medievalist behaviour in the eyes of the new guard. As the new conspire to hurry the change, we “Free Willers” are reeling in shock. If we are not stunned by the lines being crossed, then we are crying over what we once cherished being considered disposable. If we are not crying we are angry or worse yet, numb. Although open to change in the form of compassion, health and knowledge: Freedom is still the basis of our identity. We are the true believers in Live and let Live, a philosophy the world desperately needs right now. 

We don’t march in parades telling people what to think, but we do stand up in the moment when integrity and courage are called for. We don’t tear down another’s house for their thoughts. We don’t wish harm to those we disagree with. We are charitable in our acceptance of another’s right to choose. 

Every generation has their meddlers and controllers, every one of us has been guilty from time to time of being one. The world of today however, seems to hold the need to control others as a virtue and not see it as the weakness it truly is. Our need to control another is the dark shadow of fear operating within us.  

When we try and dismiss each other’s voices then we stoke the fire. The answer to heal the divide is not in determining who is right; it is in establishing a mutually appealing vision of what is right for all of us. It is inclusive and respectful. When people are being asked to suffer at the expense of the others security or desires, then it is not the right vision.

If the “American Empire” is to survive and not be a footnote like the Roman Empire then a “New” New World must be considered. The one thing the early settlers had in common was a vision of freedom, self determination and a commonality in faith. If you think about the founding principles of most countries, they were united in faith. The division in America may look political but the theology vs secular component is often the root cause.

 According to the late Dr. Alexander Tyler who published the Athenian Republic, the worlds greatest civilizations only last around 200 years. He penned the 8 cycles of democracy to describe the phases. The order he lists is.

1. From bondage to Spiritual faith

2. From spiritual faith to great courage

3. From courage to liberty

4. From liberty to abundance

5. From abundance to selfishness

6. From selfishness to apathy

7. From apathy to dependence 

8. From dependency back into bondage.                                                              

It feels to me like we are sitting in position number 8- From dependency back into bondage. I am a great believer in choosing how we perceive things, so although bondage Feels like a form of torture to me; the idea that I might witness the beginning of the cycle from bondage to spiritual faith holds appeal. We have an opportunity to create an even better world.  My hopes are on the new age spiritual faith movement that has been seeded over the past couple of decades. It allows for all faith within a common theme of the golden rule, love and unity. We are all unique individuals but our paradise is found in hope and opportunity for all. This is where America either heals with a new vision or implodes in its division.

Spirituality is the journey to the higher self. It embraces science and faith and is open to all forms of religion and faith based learning. We are energy beings. Spirituality seeks to uncover the source of that energy. We are born with intuition, a sixth sense that offers wisdom we can access. Spirituality desires to strengthen and evolve in a world of endless possibilities. Operating from a heart centred, peaceful, victimless, position of personal choice and responsibility. Not self centred and materialistic, but kind, loving and wisdom seeking.

The way to that paradise is through forgiveness. Forgiving the past and moving forward in trust and abundance for all people. I see this as a time where we stop the insanity of doing the same things over and over and seek a new solution. We have been following and sharing our anger and resentments. We are filled with victimhood or guilt and shame. We are falling into the abyss of the virus of fear. It is eating away at us from within. We can keep feeding on that stuff or we could choose to create a vision instead.

The world is way out of balance right now. In energy healing terms, of which science concludes we are made of energy: We need to get our chakras back into alignment. Let’s focus on opening up that crown chakra to a loving world of abundance, hope and possibilities for everyone. We Free Willers are easy to work with. We love truth and aspire for the best possible outcome for all.

Until someone chooses to look within, their life will remain a travesty. A series of unfair and cruel events. Moments of happiness and joy, surrounded by dullness and duty. A repetitive cycle of doing and being done to. Void of inspired creation and knowledge. They will miss the unspoken beauty in this gift of life and never find meaning. They will spend their days reacting and never find their purpose in their creations.

Authors opinion? Of course, but the opinion of one who has walked in many shoes and experienced a gamut of emotions and life. I have made life changing mistakes that led to powerful epiphanies. Events large enough to shatter ones will to keep going, followed by miracles that left me standing in awe of life’s offerings. This is not to say I have drank from every cup and played every note; rather I have followed enough fear, known enough pain and lived enough chaos to recognize the patterns. 

I have fallen and risen on my own until all that could save me was Divine intervention. I clawed and fought my way through darkness; bruised, angry and lost…..helpless. Always refusing to let go of what I thought was right, but which was in fact holding me down. Until I discovered the truth. I saw my real enemy was my own shadow. What was tracking me, haunting me was not the monster before my eyes, it was always the handicap of inner blindness that creates the illusion of darkness. I was given the opportunity to let go of the fear that had been learned, and begin anew in the light of what I desired. True connection and pure love. You are not my enemy, what you do, you do for you. Sometimes guided by fear as I had been guided by fear. Fighting to fill the hole within you as I was also striving  to fill the emptiness. 

We are not born in darkness, we are brought into the light. The darkness comes when we continuously feed the needs of the ego and ignore the soul. Instant gratification, acceptance, respect, love but not love in its purest of forms; rather love in appearance not depth. We are taught to search for our needs outside ourselves instead of filling our cup within. When we search within, we find the truth of who we are and the answer to our needs. We find our owners manual, our operating system. The more we come to understand ourselves, the easier it becomes to navigate through life’s emotional currents. 

The heart and mind that have connected with their soul are not at the mercy of the opinion of others. You come to know outside influences have no power over you unless you allow for such fear. When your heart beats in connection with your breath of life; you are moving in sync with the spirit of your creation. You instinctively know and recognize fear. Your awareness allows you the choice to not let fear be your guide. You have protection and access to all truth and wisdom when you remain connected to the Divine love within. Connected to the source of your energy. The actions of others do not dictate your feelings, you do. You become aware that all the power you need is within. The power and control over your own thoughts and actions.

Imagine living without fear? Knowing that irregardless of the swirling winds of change around you, you will land where you are meant to be. It is a thought process that changes absolutely everything. You cannot prove this untrue, but I can prove that choosing to live under that belief will remove fear and bring peace of mind. You will not suffer beyond what you choose to suffer from. The outside circumstances may be terrible, but the inner wisdom will guide you through it if you can learn to trust and believe. When you know without an ounce of fears doubt, that everything happens for you and not to you: Then everything that is placed before you becomes a gift. There are no coincidences, only sign posts and messages. Love abounds. 

The spiritual journey is about knowledge and learning to love. When we come to accept and love our unique and limitless selves, we learn to allow and truly love others. The world becomes like sunlight dancing on the water. A united powerful body glistening with billions of individual sparkles. Tiny lights dancing with unabashed joy unhindered by judgment. Brilliant energy in constant flow. A pictorial metaphor for the potential of the human spirit united in love.

Don’t let fear dictate what makes you happy

I am not just choosing, I am compelled to share what years of dancing with  fear has taught me. What I have lived and read and consumed through others.  What I have spent so much time pondering. I did not consciously choose to become an expert in the actions of fear, my journey chose it for me.   I finally saw fears slight of hand. I know how the tricks are performed and how the illusions are created. And I know how deceitful and hard to recognize fear can be; because fear once owned almost every part of me. 

Fear has many disguises that it will use to create disharmony. Doubt, anger, resentments, low self esteem, the need to control, mistrust, guilt, shame. Fear creates the battle ground. The perceived threat and the call to unjust action. Your soul knows when your actions are wrong, when mistakes have been made. It will whisper to you lovingly and softly. But fear is loud and speaks with urgency. Fear is formidable by design; so you cannot easily see through its facade. It would rather help you find ways to justify errors then take responsibility or admit to a mistake. It convinces you that mistakes are worthy of punishment. That even though you have never encountered a situation, being wrong is unforgivable. Fear wills to keep the battle raging so you cannot find enough peace and stillness to hear your inner wisdom and know its sanctuary. So truth cannot find its way to your stream of consciousness.

In the material world without faith: Fear would have you hold your brothers and sisters in contempt while you are the one wielding the sword around their heads. Fear will have you convinced that the unthinkable is acceptable because you are right, that you are only defending and have no other recourse. Fear will allow you to dismiss another’s rights and life as inconsequential because they do not value your needs as much as you value your needs. Fear will blind you, it always has and it always will until you are willing to face the truth. It is you that gave fear its power, because you have no faith in the actions of love. Because you have no faith in who you are. 

You give lip service to the world you desire to live in. A world of love and peace, of respect and honour. A world where no one need suffer, go hungry, or be alone. You could have that world if you were willing to have faith and let go of control. But you are not content with that world when it is offered, you want the one that is built the way you would build it.  The one that you control and the one that revolves around your beliefs, needs and demands. It’s a grown up version of barbies where everyone thinks and behaves as you would have them. Everyone is happy, because everything works out as you directed. It is your lack of perceived control that haunts you and leaves you empty. You are always empty because things do not materialize as you would have them. Your lack of vision makes you ungrateful, for you have no substance in what you seek. Your lack of faith, lack of willingness to search within and meet your soul. Your spirit of truth and love. You will do anything not to have to face that truth. That life could be something other than what you dictate it must be.

Without letting go of the need to control, you will always be led by fear. To learn to accept life as it plays out, that is where real peace is found. To accept the gifts in the form they are offered and not as you would have them is where true happiness lies. To love, to learn to truly love is to learn to allow. To meet someone and see the beauty within, to stand in their energy and know the magnificent and brilliant life force that is shining beneath the surface. It is a world of magical possibilities when we choose to look deeper. When we choose to accept without judgment. To allow; to know that we all make mistakes but we are all worthy of love. It is the lack of knowing love within that creates the environment for hate to manifest. Love is continuously extended through giving and receiving, when that chain is broken in one of us, it impacts all of us. It interrupts the flow of the river. 

You think we are at war, that our differences are irreconcilable. We exchange talking points but never hear one another. We are both convinced we are in the right, that our position is one of logic and compassion. What we cannot comprehend is how the other could possibly think what it is they think. That is where our blindness leads us astray. We do not take the time to put ourselves in their position. We do not try to understand why one would believe different than ourselves. And even when we do, we dismiss their stance as being wrong regardless, because we know better. We were taught or learned the correct way.

What if we were both right? What if the problem had nothing to do with the tools we were fighting over? That we were both using the correct tools for the job. Our real problem was  one of us had plans for building a steel temple, and the other had blue prints for a wooden church. We never communicated a combined vision, we never discussed our desires and we never took into consideration the needs, beliefs and lives of all concerned. 

A Course In Miracles teaches that Every single problem has a solution where no one need suffer at the expense of another. If they do, than it is not the solution. I take that lesson into every dispute and chaotic situation I encounter. Without fail I have discovered the problem is never what the argument is about and the answer is never found in the fog of the battlefield. To rise above is to seek truth. To look again from a different perspective. To seek truth is to love and have compassion for all life. 

Living without fear is as simple as choosing to not follow negative thoughts. Choosing to remove yourself from situations where fear is being promoted. Choosing to stand up against fear. Speak out against harsh words and judgments. It is not being willfully blind, it is willfully choosing to live in a world guided by love. Love as your guide, your internal compass. What that looks like to you, is what makes it your journey. You are a unique soul within a powerful body of love. An energy that is connected to all life with its own unique part to play. Your emptiness is filled when you begin to recognize and embrace you have a purpose.

Should you choose to embark on a journey to love; if you commit to it, you will never go back to easily following fear. You will begin to discover parts of you forgotten, discarded or perhaps never known. You will begin to discover increased courage and empathy. You will begin to understand how empowering it is to let go of the need for control. How trust and forgiveness are enlightening and freeing. Your heart will feel light where it once was heavy. You will begin to easily make decisions and know they came from your higher self. You will act and live without regret. Guilt and shame will no longer follow; as you no longer let fear lead. You will learn the beauty of living in the moment and let go of the pain from the past and the anxiety of tomorrow. Judgment and punishment will hold no value for you. You will see past the fear that holds people in contempt and gravitate to the love that changes lives. You will come to know there is nothing in this world worth anything if it is not love. The fear of death disappears when you connect to the guidance of your soul. You do not desire death, but you do not wish to waste any of life’s precious moments under the direction of fear. You will stop seeking control to change others, and you will understand all of the control you ever needed was to change what needs to change within. 

You were given free will for jurisdiction over your own actions. That choice and the air you breathe are the only entitlements born unto you. They are all you need to carve out the adventure of your dreams.  Do you follow fear and try to direct and control everything to suit your needs? To have everything just so for you? Or do you follow love and know the cycle of your life will unfold as it was meant to? A world where everything is happening for you and not to you. You are exactly where you are meant to be right now. There is nothing that cannot be forgiven and that love cannot heal. 

The war is never about the issue at hand. The war always begins when we seek control outside ourselves. When we feel threatened and seek safety and security where it does not exist. War will always permeate in a world without faith. The answer is not hidden, it rests openly in front of us. When we forgive and learn to trust. When we stop giving in to the demands of fear. We will finally come together in love and build that world of hope and possibilities. We will finally understand what it means to be made of energy. An energy that can move seamlessly and joyfully in unison when it looks to its source for answers. The spirit, the soul, the love within. 

My Gypsy soul is rising, no longer content to rest in mundane comfort.

This sail must open for the winds of passion to unfold its aching heart.

The repetitive dance of the material world.

The same four steps in a circle of insanity.

Toxic noise and clamour.

Life’s ego driven calamity.

Gypsy Soul, do what your heart was called to do. 

Skip, dance, create and love your way to that enchanted Forrest of golden dreams.

Let them judge and laugh at your rebirth, you were born again. 

Broken free from the time I tried to tame you. 

When I extinguished your flame so you might fit in, 

The time when I left smouldering the once brilliant life force within.

Gypsy Soul, A higher realm awaits you. A place where the light is remembered.

Where life is experienced and explored not controlled and shamed.

The house where thought and mysticism are wrapped arm and arm, hand in hand. 

Intertwined and moving jointly towards truth and beauty.

The exploration of higher consciousness, seeking the knowing of the why.

The wisdom of the Universe, the energy of our being, the source of our love.

Gypsy Soul, dance unabashedly in the freedom of your will.

Let the moonlight caress your heart and the sun ignite your spirit.

Feel and delight in the oneness of all but embrace the completion of you.

For no step is as big and profound as the one you take now: 

Until you take the next one. For that is all you had, all you have now, and all you will ever have.

The thoughts, intentions and beliefs you hold as you set sail into tomorrow.

Inspired by Van Morrison Into the Mystic