Life, Liberty, And The Pursuit Of Happiness

July 4, 2004

Samuel: Hello, dears.

Hello, Samuel.

S: What a week, yes? This is a splendid day to use the energy. The energy of the whole world is looking at you to see if you, as a collective whole, are living up to what you came here for. And I mean that nationally speaking, not necessarily personally speaking, because you know you’re already used to that—personally. Right? The whole world looking at you, seeing if you’re here to do what you came here for. Yes? How are you doing?

Before we go there, I want for just a few moments to give an announcement with a thank-you attached. Mary Claire, what do you do on first Saturdays?

The Temple Team comes in and we do a focus, get ourselves in a really positive, loving place, and we work together and clean the building.

S: And I think, perhaps even more than usual, it’s good for you to ask Saturday’s Temple Team to stand up. All right. Yes.

And don’t stop yet. Don’t sit down yet. And the reason that I want you to stand up is twofold. The first one is that the energy in here feels marvelous, and the second one is that you were so needed, and you stepped forward and said yes. You let the priorities that go beyond the day rule your heart. Thank you for that. Good work. Thank you. May you know what comes to you in reply to what you give.

And you know that when you come and take care of a place in which you are giving and receiving, which is to say, as well, that this is the sort of thing that would also come to you in your own home, if it is a home that is oriented around love, and giving of that love and the opportunity to receive that love. Although the fact of it is, sometimes homes aren’t necessarily dedicated to that, unfortunately. But what you receive when you give there is like unto what you give, which is to say, literally—and you can find this in your life over and over—when you wash the windows, your personal self sees more clearly. When you sweep the entry, you are releasing those things that are getting in the way of your clear function in the world.

Let yourself see those connections, and don’t think about the ones attached to cleaning the bathroom. But that’s there too. Purification, such as that. You always receive when you give. Always. And when you give from love, where you love, you receive that back which builds more love in you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Good work.

So what is this day?

Independence Day.

S: Independence Day. And what is its story? Now, this isn’t like some of them where you have to be religiously tuned to be able to tell what the holiday’s about. You group of heathens should be able to tell this story. What is Independence Day about?

It’s about our country.

S: Which is?

The United States receiving its independence from the overseeing of Great Britain. There were colonies that were formed here, and there was a declaration of independence, and it was to state that we were independent from England. We were starting a new country. And it was the declaration that we have rights for all people, equal rights. And it was the formation of the country that we have known for so long.

S: Any additions you want to put into that? Stuart.

It was basically saying enough’s enough. The colonies were tired of taxation without representation. They felt like they were being somewhat taken advantage of and they had no say in it, so they were wanting to control their own destiny.

It was a declaration of war against England, and because we won, we can celebrate it.

S: All right, do feel very free to correct me with this, because what I am attempting to do at this point is tell you your history, and I’m just barely good at your name. The history of a country that started just then. You see? Just then, there it was. But I’d be pretty good at telling you about the history of what, oh . . . a few . . . twenty six and half million years ago, something like that. Give or take.

A couple of hundred years previously—and that’s being inaccurate; it was many hundreds of years previously—Europeans discovered a new world. I love that, don’t you? Look, I discovered Steven here! There is somebody on the front row. I will call him Steven. I claim Steven a great and new thing that has never before been known. Steven!

And this country that was just discovered—because nobody else knew anything about it—had people in it. Isn’t that always how it goes, though? You finally come up on something incredible. You’ve got an awareness of truth that has never flashed across your mind, or the minds of humanity as you know it, and you, with a full and delighted heart express this thing that your audience says, “Yeah. So? I knew that.”

Well now, in spiritual work that’s good news. That’s really good news. You want to be careful of those great truths that you’ve never heard before, because the fact of it is, you are the best truth filter there can be. You run it through that incredible heart of yours and you say, “How does that work for me?” And if it does work, and it works for you, well, let it play around in there for a while. Play around until you realize that’s something you’ve always known and that really all you’re doing is remembering it. But if it doesn’t work, and/or it doesn’t work for you, don’t waste your time. Get up and run, if you must, because your life is too precious and you have way too much more to do than to waste your time and waste your life on what somebody is calling truth that isn’t practical for you now.

Or barring that, not everything is practical at every moment, and sometimes you’ve got to just stuff it in the lake of the unknown to see if there ever comes a time where it might pull itself out a bit and say, “Oh, that’s what that was.” So maybe it’s not at exactly this moment workable for you, but it still fits the truth filter, that part of you that says, “I knew that. That works. I can fit that in. That’s a good thing.”

Back to where I was going with that: This holiday is about independence. It’s not about winning the war. It’s not actually about taxation or individual freedoms. It’s not about Britain’s tyranny. It’s not. It’s about a group of people who were willing to face death to say; “We are united. This is what we see is right, and this is what we choose to live by.”

The fact that once upon a time that land had been discovered, and there were all sorts of forays back and forth from Europe—they’re not going to mention the ones across the Pacific or around the pole, or any of those—but back and forth from Europe, so that the winners of the most wars were able to say, “I claim it. It’s mine.” That’s how things always work in life, isn’t it? The one who wins the most wars, personal relationships, national relationships, they’re the ones who get to say, “Mine!” and sometimes you’ve got to . . . [Oma barks] now, she’s saying the energy’s changing. It’s starting to get exciting. They’re starting to figure out where you’re going with this. Got to love a dog. You tell them, Oma. See? She’s looking around. She’s looking at the energy. It’s all right, Cindy, I like it. Now, she’s going to go through and see who’s putting out the best at the moment. She’ll try and suck a little of it off of you, then she’ll come up back around. She’ll stare at the puka for a bit to see if it moves, and then she’ll wander through.

All right, where was I with that. Getting off the subject so that you would know that I think Oma is a very good thing. Where were we?

Independence across the waters into the land that had been claimed, and they had, because they had made the claim, decided that they would probably send some people over there to check the place out, do some exploration. And when the word came back, “Well, you know, it’s a mighty wilderness. It’s not going to be hard to subdue. I think we can do it, but we’re going to need some really stout people to do it,” they did the thing that most countries do: “Good. Let’s send the criminals. Let’s send the unwanted of our society across the ocean. If they make it, well, they’ve been clever enough to get in this kind of trouble, we’ll see what happens.” Some things never change, do they?

And boatloads were sent, bit by bit. And I think that you’ve got all sorts of stories about what those early days were like while those who discovered the country and populated the country and then ruled the country and subdued the country—all through history—did to come to a point that there were those who no longer chose to live that way.

Now, “that way.” I want you to try not to fill in “that” right now, all right? “That way” I don’t want you to fill it in with taxation without representation, and government interference in the everyday experience, and invading countries that were doing fine as they were without just cause, or any of that. Hold for a moment, because this Independence Day story is your story. And I don’t mean you as a nation, I mean you as the multitude each one of you certainly is. You, as a daughter, a son, a wife, a husband, a friend, a child, a . . . all of the “you” that’s sitting in one of those seats or lying over in that corner or out in that room. This is your story, because it is as much the story of Guardians as it is patriots.

Can anybody tell me what a patriot is? Some sort of semi-official—at least for tonight—definition. Patriot. Oh, goodness. Want to give it a whack.

Someone loyal to the cause of their particular country. So you’re patriotic to that cause and loyal, and you live by it.

S: That works. Want to add to it anywhere?

At some point it’s often applied to those people who are willing to fight for those beliefs and those rights.

S: And . . .

Those that are willing to do what is necessary for the cause because it’s greater than who they are as one.

S: I like that. And, of course, all of it fits in there together.

I heard last night on TV from one of my favorite people describing a patriot as someone who loves his country so much he’s willing to have a lover’s quarrel with it, and to keep it honest, and to criticize it when needed.

S: And, of course, truth should be able to hold up to that. It was a group of individuals who recognized that what was going on wasn’t right. But it was beyond “wasn’t right” for themselves; it was that it wasn’t right for those who could not stand up for themselves, for those who did not have a voice, for those who wanted only to make a new life and were, in not just some ways, but in many ways, being kept from that.

Now, everybody has their own way of standing up for someone else, but do not fool yourself; you are standing up for yourself. In standing up for these who had no voice, it was not “Well, I think that there’s injustice going on around there, and I’m going to say ‘stop the injustice.’” If that were the case, there would have been many, many more signers of that document. And, you know, in the real world if that were the case, there would have been enough of those who said, “You don’t represent me! Get out of here!” These were those who moved themselves out of their cushy life to find out what was needed to bring about a greater good for all.

What do you need to live happily? What do you need to feel safe in your world? What do you need to grow and thrive and prosper? What do you need?

And when these leaders began realizing that what was wanted and what was needed were not possible, as is so often the case, those who speak out get known amongst those who speak out, and pretty soon it became a pretty regular group down at the pub denouncing local tyranny of one sort or the other—history as you never knew it. Same thing you do. Have a few beers—you’ll denounce anything. A few more, you’ll go fight for it.

And pretty soon, and I really do mean pretty soon here, because I am unfortunately skipping through a lot of the blood and tears—I’m getting there—and sweat—don’t sing to me—that is involved for everything to reach that sort of point. But just bear with me as I work to come to my point. These people, because what they saw was not going to work, but they knew that what they saw worked was no different a tyranny than was already upon them, these few came up with something that was absolutely amazing. They said “What we are apart is helpless. What we are together can change things.” And they became leaders of people, out in their own neighborhoods, the neighborhoods that were Virginia, and the neighborhoods that were Rhode Island, and the neighborhoods that were Massachusetts, and the places that all of the convicts and prostitutes and carpetbaggers—different war, right?—flim-flam peoples?

[. . .]

S: That works. And they said “Let’s try to do something about this. Let’s come together. Let’s create a—oh, what should we call it?—a congress of people . . .”—because, you know, that’s what a congress is, a congregation, a congress, of people—“. . . and see what we think would help.” Really. They weren’t out there saying ,“Let’s un-elect the king.” They weren’t out there saying, “How can we kill the army?” They were saying, “What do we need? How can we help?” And they took on that road that idea, that hope, that love, out to the people. What do you need? What will help?

And they worked to institute those things; they repeatedly found themselves hitting their selves up against a big red wall, that red wall that looked a whole lot like the government that they were working with at that time. Now, it’s a pretty scary thing to go up against, a government, but they weren’t doing it for themselves, and they weren’t alone. And what they wanted was not based in greed; it was about the greater good.

Now, a whole lot of things happened, and if you read the newspapers of the time—that’s a joke, sort of like now, right?—I suppose your history books, but don’t just read one or two, get as many versions of them as you can, or you’re not going to get a good feel for it. Read the diaries of the people who took part. Read from both sides of the ocean, and do what you can to get to the personal stories, because you need to know that those leaders, they weren’t greedy, grandstanding: “Let me be in charge of the world. “Let me be the next tyrant.” They sincerely had a vision, and that vision was shared.

And so after an extremely long and trying, and sometimes very boring, and sometimes very painful, and sometimes very—oh, you know, as all of life is—tedious, now and again, meeting, it finally came to a time to say “We, the people of—and here it comes—the first, the best—these united states.”

It probably is not required in your country to learn that, is it? To memorize your Declaration of Independence? It is, it’s not, yes.

Some.

S: Some. Aye, well, you know: United States, not united education. That’s all right. Read it. You’re the country with the Internet—read it, and see what they said. “We are here to form a more perfect union.” They talked about what was needed for all people, except the ones that are a different color, that are native to the area, or women. Except for those—but that comes later. What is needed for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? Sounds like Guardians to me. Sounds like Guardians to me. These united states, well, right there was your declaration of war, right there in those words. “We united states,” not “We, England.” You are America. That is expressed through United States.

When you read the document, I think if you read it with the heart of a kindred soul, a Guardian reading a Guardian’s word, you might have a much different view of what that incredible document is about, because it was a document written by people who wanted a better world, as all people want. Who wanted for all people the ability to make their living, and create their governments right where they lived.

They were not perfect people. How many slaves did Thomas Jefferson have when he wrote about all are free and created equal, except those that came in on ships and live at my house. They were not perfect people. Did I hear a number there?

[. . .]

S: That’ll break your heart, won’t it? And some of which are slaves still today. They were not perfect. Did I say that already? Did I say it three times yet? They were reaching toward the perfect hope. And by that reach they were setting themselves up and apart, which is always dangerous, because, you know, up and apart means target. Shoot here first.

So, Stuart, does it matter?

[. . .]

S: Well good, take it off. Can you take it off? Yes. Take it off. Throw it away. Now don’t lose that point. It’s very much like having dangles.

We’re doing this live on the Internet.

S: It’s good for them. Don’t you think? Enjoy it, there’s more.

A perfect hope, hope for change. A change that had risks. And a change that likely meant they would lose life, as they knew it, perhaps to being imprisoned. Sometimes prison is made up of words, not bricks. That they may be killed. Sometimes being dead is easier than being alive. But their vision was beyond that single life, because what “we the people” that those who wrote and signed represented were many lives, many dreams, many hopes that together, even now, make up your nation. Many dreams, many lives, many hopes. They dreamed beyond their time. And they helped those who were looking to them, whom they were representing, they taught them how to dream beyond their time.

And, beloved souls, that is the only way you will ever have a declaration of independence. That is the only way that you can move out of tyranny and into hope. We the people of these United States is right there a declaration of, yes, war, and a declaration of hope and power and dreams beyond their lifetime.

You are not free when you seek independence ‘from.’ You will never be free if you are seeking independence ‘from.’ “I will be free when I can get out [from] under the boot of King George.” No, you will not. “I will be free when I am no longer working with this obnoxious boss.” No, you will not. “I will be free when I am. . . .” You will never be free when what you are seeking is independence from; you will only be free when you are seeking independence for, because seeking independence ‘for’ speaks of an internal truth, not an outward condition. And that is the only way in your life you will ever be free.

Some of you in this room know of some really good examples of that. For instance, you may have yourself caught up in that nasty little imprisonment of mind and heart that says, “If I made more money, I would then be free to do. . . . ” Fill in the blank. And what every one of you in here together wrapped up in a beautiful package could ever make, they have more of that than you all together could, and they are imprisoned by it. They’re not free from their own internal jailer. They’re just free to buy the stuff your internal jailer wants to buy.

Freedom from tyranny, from taxation without representation, freedom from being stopped by or for—no, that’s not the freedom that creates a nation. It’s freedom for living, pursuing what makes you happy. Free to be is quite different from free to do, and until you are free to be, you will never do. You’ll always just have one more excuse, one more disappointment that makes it hard, one more red coat standing in your path, one more bullet wearing your name. And you call those things work or marriage or finances or . . . or any other way that you write “I am enshackled, because I believe that my life and my liberty and my ability to pursue happiness are based on whatever is going on outside and around me. I do not see it as within me. I am not a Guardian of my heart, my soul and the world I live in. I am a prisoner.” No name, no brain.

“We”—two ways you can look at that. One way is, each one within the congregation, the congress. We who are writing this document that says this is what we’re about. Or you can spread it out just a bit, as they did, “we, the people of this United States.” Or, to say it another way, they’re no longer at a place where they’re looking at everything through the lens of what only they are about and what only they want. They are recognizing, because they are choosing to recognize they are taking responsibility, they are taking leadership for themselves as a representative of the best and the highest.

“We.” In a sense, it’s possible to say that the other way to look at it is that you, as a unique individual, are here for a purpose that goes beyond yourself, beyond this life. You are a representation of what love is supposed to be, what humanity can do, what Source looks like in form. “We the people of these united states of being,” maybe, “have come together. . . .” The power is not in your standing up there being the target, so stop needing to do that, please. Stop needing all of the credit, needing all of the glory and just none of the responsibility. “. . . have come together to form a more perfect union.” You know, right there they are saying “It’s not as good as it’s going to be. We’re not the perfect ones that are going to make it happen. This is a work of all.” And that is what you need today.

There is all kinds of injustice in your world. Take one step out that door and open your eyes and you’ll see it. It’s not hard. You can find it. You can wrap yourself up in it. You can make it the rest of your life. You can do that, and it would be a good thing to do. It would probably help a few. But better, join with those who feel what you feel and know what you know and share a common vision, a united state of being—a function of love in this world. Show that it can happen. Free yourself from the tyranny of yourself.

Work in this world to be the representative of those humans in this world who seek life—life. The life that is found in being alive while you’re breathing and walking. Not this walking death that so many of you live when you are bound by the shackles of jealousy and hate and disempowered living, cruelty and injustice in your own home.

Let go of fearing death to life as you have known it, the painful, the weary, the burdened soul that must do it all by yourself, with no help, because only you can do it right, because you’ve got to be in control, because nobody knows it like you do, because you don’t trust anybody like yourself, because the vision’s not the same, because . . . whatever else your prison is made up of, and seek the more perfect union. The union that comes from seeking what is the same, rather than that which is different. Oh, that’s a scary one isn’t it? “What do we have in common?” instead of, “How are we apart. What can I fear about you? What’s wrong with you that makes me look better?”

You can guide people with fear. You can only lead people with love. Yes, think about that. You are here to form a more perfect union. You know it. You have known it. You have tried a hundred different ways to rewrite it and reclaim it and release it, but that good old heart of yours, it won’t let you. You know what you’re here for, and you know what you’re here for, and it’s not just these cute little strappy things. I know, that’s a part, but . . .

Especially in the next ninety days, but certainly in the rest of this year, true patriots are needed. True leaders. Those who lead with love. Those who are seeking a world that’s looking at things through a slightly different lens—one based on love and not fear.

You are going to be seeing many, many doorways opening up over the next few months, and you are going to be fraught with decisions, choices. What are you going to do? And I am here in all of my cheery glory to tell you that what you are going to do is fail if you insist on doing it yourself. You’re going to build a stronger prison and be a part of a greater tyranny if you do not seek a united state, a shared vision, a common dream.

And, although, what I’m saying could be interpreted as a very interesting Independence Day political statement, I am not in the slightest talking politics. I’m talking you. The world that happens under your skin, in your heart and in the world that only you touch. Opening that world to others [Oma moans]—I agree Oma—who are ready for seeing things a little bit differently, sharing a dream. That—yes—can be construed and made fun of, and thought of as too simplistic, living love, being what you truly are. Easy to say, hard to live.

You don’t have all the answers. You don’t have the map that’s going to show you exactly what to do next and where to go to get it done and whom to talk to to make sure you do it right the first time. And there are no guarantees that it’s going to just be easy by whatever definition you want to use when you stand up like that and choose to break the bonds of the prison you have lived in for so long ,that you’ve decorated so prettily so you can think of it as real, that you’ve invested so much in that you never let it go.

This is a day that your country celebrates a group of people who stood together and said, “We represent those who want life, and we are willing to do whatever is needed, not for ourselves, but for all of us and all of those that are trusting us, all of those we represent and will for generations to come.” It’s about the freedom to love.

You live in a prison that you made. It’s time to trade it in. Freedom, independence for Guardians to be what you’re here to be.

All right, show over. Your turn, because it really is all about you.

Glochanumora.