3 Requirements for Liberty

Liberty requires all people to uphold the rights of all.

Liberty

In America we like to talk about liberty and freedom. We like to claim our rights, especially our rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We also pledge liberty and justice for all. We celebrate independence day on July 4th, which is why I dedicate the month of July to discuss Liberty & Justice, Growing Harmoniously.

Liberty means to be free from oppression and restrictions on one’s way of life, behavior or political views. It’s true freedom, and not “my freedom is more important than yours.” We all have equal value, and an equal right to liberty. There are three requirements to ensure our right to liberty:

• Justice

• PEACE

• HOPE

We require a system of justice to ensure that people’s rights are not infringed, a PEACE practice, and  HOPEful habits. 

Justice

Justice means to receive just or fair behavior or treatment; free from bias or favoritism. We need to find a way to let everybody thrive. We need to work together to uphold everyone and to harm no one.

What if one’s way of life oppresses another’s? History is full of examples, such as plantation owners having slaves as property, or men treating women as property.

Our ancestors have worked diligently to right those wrongs and to move toward all people having equal rights and being treated equitably. We need to continue the process wherever we find oppression or unjust restrictions. 

I believe there is a hierarchy of rights to some degree with the right to life being the highest of all. Nobody is justified in taking another’s life, unless in true self-defense. Some people don’t believe it is justified even to save your own life. We’ll leave that discussion for another time. 

Liberty is the second listed. The only justification for restricting an individual’s liberty is for the protection of another’s life, such as a murderer being jailed for public safety or restricting a company from pouring toxic chemicals into public water sources thereby harming the individuals drinking from that water source. The harm to another’s life could be indirect as well, such as withholding food, shelter and healthcare. We need to have a much deeper discussion around this idea of infringing on people’s rights to life and liberty.  

The pursuit of happiness is the third right listed in the USA pledge. While we have a right to pursue happiness, that right should never infringe on another’s life or liberty. Greedy people pursuing happiness at the expense of their employees’ and consumers’ health and wellbeing are infringing on others’ rights, whether or not they are doing so legally. 

The best way to ensure equal rights is through compassion for all. 

Compassionate Motivation

“Whether one’s special emphasis is 

global warming or child welfare, 

the cause is the same cause. 

And justice comes from the same place 

being human comes from: 

compassion.”

• Carl Safina

Compassion means to suffer together. It is the feeling that arises when you see another’s suffering and you feel motivated to relieve that suffering. Compassionate motivation and action is easier when we actually see what is happening to others, but how much of the world’s suffering do we really see?

Modern media seems to focus on negative news and to no longer care about pointing out lies and greed. Our so-called capitalistic economy is not a free-market. Policies favor the rich corporate owners and the politicians they support. Previous measures to protect employees and consumers have been largely dismantled. Many of the welfare recipients are employed at large corporations that do not pay livable wages or provide benefits. 

The world offers some wonderful models in the most successful countries. They have a form of democratic socialism that honors people’s freedoms, while using social programs to support their basic rights. They have a form of compassionate capitalism that honors businesses and also protects employees and consumers. These countries emphasize the rights of the people over the rights of corporations.

Action Aligned with Values

Aligning our choices with our values of liberty and justice means that we choose to honor the lives and liberties of all people. Choosing to open our eyes and hearts, we can work together to ensure that all people have a chance to thrive and are not discriminated against in any way.  

PEACE

My acronym PEACE is what I wish for the whole world, to have all people:

• Practicing

• Equity

• And

• Community

• Everywhere

A PEACE practice can begin at home or in small groups. 

Equity

I emphasize equity over equality in this discussion, because people don’t have equal needs or abilities. It would not be equitable to make a wheelchair bound student race another student with healthy legs. 

Equity is better than equality. I saw a meme on Facebook that explained the difference very well. Picture a 6’ tall person, a 5’ tall person, and a 4’ tall person trying to watch a ballgame over a 5’ fence. We could give each of them a 1’ box to stand on, which would be equal treatment. The 6’ person doesn’t need it. The 5’ person could now see. But the 4’ person would still be unable to see. The equitable solution would be to give the 5’ person a 1’ box and the 4’ person a 2’ box, so all three would be at equal viewing height. True justice would be to remove the barrier that caused the discrepancy and give everyone a seat at the game.

Let’s work together to discover ways to be fair and compassionate to all.

Community

The true strength of humans is our sense of interdependence and community that has led us to overcome many large predators and other problems such as famines. 

We need to ensure that all members of the community are taken care of and have adequate opportunities to care for themselves. Let’s get back to that sense of community, starting with our family and friends, the larger local community, then our city or town, our county, state and country, and finally the global community. We can overcome anything that comes our way if we work together for the common good.

Practicing Both Everywhere

We have common pillars of health, housing, education and community that we all strive to do our best to uphold and improve. We also share common principles, such as the various versions of the golden rule that are found everywhere, suggesting that people treat others the way they would want to be treated.

It’s not enough to have common goals, we must be constantly practicing to achieve and maintain those goals. We must practice both equity AND community everywhere. We can coordinate activities at various levels. There are already many organizations promoting peace. We can also do more to amplify each others actions. Let’s broadcast all the good that is occurring in the world, which can only serve to motivate more people to join in the efforts. 

HOPE

My acronym HOPE describes the energetic state we should live from every day:

• Habitually

• Optimistic

• Purposeful

• Energy

I remember reading a long time ago that people with dangerous jobs, such as professional firefighters running into burning buildings, who were the most  successful and happy had a common attribute - a sense of hope.

Optimistic & Purposeful

Lots of people spend most of their energy worrying about all the possible bad things that could happen, the worst case scenario. The human body does not distinguish between what is actually happening and what you imagine is happening. When you imagine something fearful, your body will start a physical reaction as though it were happening in real time. Your body will experience the event as though it already happened, even though it may never happen in real life. 

It doesn’t take any more energy to imagine the best case scenario, so you can instead experience the physical response of the best case scenario instead. You’ll feel much better and have a lot more energy left to face anything else that may actually happen in the future.

Even if the worst happens, you’ll only experience it once, instead of twice by worrying about it too.

Maintain an optimistic and purposeful mindset to be in the best state to enter any situation.

Energetic Vibration

Keep your attention on your intention for what you truly want to occur to maintain an energetic vibration that aligns with that attention and attracts it to you. Align all your actions with your purpose and vision for your best and highest good and the good of all. Act as if your vision is already realized; be the person in your vision, so it can unfold naturally.

When we anticipate meetings, we usually project what we think will happen. If we fear the worst things happening, then we’ll carry negative energy into the meeting with us and the other people will react accordingly. Think about walking into a room where two people have just been talking, without them saying a word, you will feel the energy in the room and know what kind of conversation they were having, a pleasant one or one “so tense you could cut it with a knife.” 

Before entering any meeting, send loving, positive energy to all involved, and set an intention for the meeting to go well and result in a win/win or all win scenario.  

Habits

Consistently create habits that include optimism and purposeful action. Set intentional affirmations for your best and highest good and the good of all, and revisit them throughout the day for an energetic boost. 

Habitually collaborate and communicate to ensure the best relationships you can create and maintain in your personal and professional life. Remember your interdependence with all.

Create rejuvenating nourishing rituals to give yourself everything you need to thrive and to contribute your best to the world.

Going Deeper with the 3 Requirements for Liberty

In the next several blog posts, I will discuss the requirements for liberty in more depth.

• 1 Possibility for Justice

• Join those already working toward justice for all.

• 5 Steps Toward PEACE

• Practice PEACE with those already promoting world peace.

• 4 Aspects of HOPE

• Learn to live with HOPE every day.