“America the Beautiful – Land of the Free and Home of the Brave.”
Land of the Free
We know by heart many of the freedoms listed in our Bill of Rights –the freedom of religion, the freedom to bear arms, the freedom of assembly, the freedom of the press, the right to vote for all, and more. We may fight over their meaning or how to always implement them, but we take these freedoms very seriously. However, let’s take a moment today to look at freedom from a spiritual perspective.
Freedom demands consciousness to expand.
When a new desire for freedom rises to the surface, we are forced to look at where we must change to allow that freedom to become birthed into our reality. And this required change is rarely easy.
Many will cling to the old out of fear of what the new freedom will bring and how it will negatively impact the status quo or even worse somehow infringe on the freedom they already enjoy. So rather than expanding in consciousness and understanding, the knee jerk is to constrict and confine. Trying to restrain a desire for freedom rarely works. It may squelch it for a time but that newly expanded desire for freedom has already been brought up into our collective consciousness, and it can not be put back into the bottle no matter how hard we may try. That brings us to…
Home of the Brave
There is a reason that the words “land of the free” are followed by “home of the brave.” It takes bravery and courage to be willing to expand one’s consciousness when not to do so may be more comfortable. It takes courage to own and to confront your fear when a new sense of freedom is rising. It takes courage to move from what you have known into the unknown. Freedom requires tremendous courage.
Our nation was birthed during a time of expanding consciousness. It was literal an explosion of consciousness. It is our job as citizens to remain brave and to do our inner work, confront and remove our fears of change and one another, and trust that an expanded consciousness is never to be feared but should always be embraced.
And once we have taken responsibility for expanding our personal consciousness to include the new desire for freedom, it is our job to mirror the beauty of this new freedom for our fellow citizens with dignity and respect so they too can embrace this new sense of freedom without fear or trepidation. Then it really will be America the Beautiful.
“America, the Beautiful, Land of the Free and Home of the Brave,” is not just a pretty phrase. It is a roadmap of how to grow into our best selves.
Happy Birthday to the American Experiment in Consciousness!
Until the next time be the light the world needs and stay in love for all.
Joffre McClung is the author of two books The Heart of the Matter: A Workbook and Guide to Finding Your Way Back to Self-Love (“Powerful insights…life-changing” FOREWORD CLARION ” A virtual hug…enriching” BLUEINK REVIEWS, “enlightening self-discovery process” KIRKUS REVIEWS and How Learning to Say Goodbye Taught Me How to Live ( “A thoughtful think piece.” Kirkus Reviews )