The Nature of Our Slavery – Martin Luther King Jr. Day
In the United States it was recently Martin Luther King Day. This man, through the work of millions of others, has come to symbolize human rights and the desire to end the legacy of slavery in all its forms. He understood, as did others, that slavery still exists in different forms even now. It exists as institutions, it exists in economic forms, and it exists in the minds of people. This last part is rarely mentioned.
So what is slavery?
To broaden the idea of what slavery is to include both the world and internal states, I would redefine it as follows:
Bondage is the state of living without discernible options.
You can see how this relates to the common definition of being bound in bondage to another. In such a state, there is no discernible option to disobey; the punishment is too great and death can be given on a whim.
I like to look at slavery in terms of choice, because it shows how much of how we live our lives is entangled in a worldview without it:
- Much of the world’s employment is where the pay is low, there is little respect, and there are few options to quit because of the economic fallout. This is known as “wage slavery.”
- In society, depending on your social circle, there are certain assumptions that are not questioned without serious consequences. Noam Chomsky wrote about this in the media. We are trained to follow thought patterns by heart, automatically and without conscious choice. This could be known as “thought slavery.”
- In most relationships, each partner soon learns the roles to play, topics to avoid, habitual behavior, and ways to avoid causing each other pain in order to keep the relationship stable. This is done without knowledge or conscious choice, so it could be called “relationship bondage.” No matter who seems to have the upper hand in the relationship, if there is no perceived choice, it is still bondage.
- Internally, when we react to fears, we often feel like there are no options. I may be afraid of missing out on my life and losing control of the time of my life, so I think I have to jump on things so I don’t miss out and not feel the fear. It is done automatically, without conscious choice. This is what fear does. This could be called “fear bondage.”
Freedom
In a recent article on enlightenment, I described enlightenment as simply living in the perception of Who You Are. You could also see enlightenment as freedom, a state of being aware of every little choice you have in every moment.
Life is choice. We are here to learn to choose consciously. This is power.
Even in self-improvement circles, we are encouraged to think that we have problems and therefore cultivate
need to improve. It is a need, not a want. So if we look at the word “necessity” again, it implies that there is no choice. The desire for balance becomes another form of bondage.
The term “workshop junkies” can be applied to this. When you see that something is missing, perhaps because you feel exhausted or because you believe in the hype, you do not see an option: you try to fill the lack. This is a form of addiction, which again is a perception of lack of choice and therefore bondage.
the power of choice
Meditation, simply being fresh, aware and expansive in each moment, is related to the complete perception of all available options. If I am watching my breath and my mind and someone insults me, I can take a deep breath and consciously choose my reaction. It could be a firm answer. It could be a peaceful turn of the other cheek. It could be a humorous and kind response. But if I am fully aware of all my choices, there is a great source of freedom and power available, knowing that whatever the other person does, I cannot disconnect from my inner ground. If instead I go into reactivity it is because I don’t see an option. I am attacked, therefore I must defend myself, even if doing so hurts me in the long run. This is being a slave to reactivity and habits.
All men are caught in an inescapable web of reciprocity. – Martin Luther King Jr.
If you think about what it is to love another, choice is present during all manifestations of the expression of love. Often the best gifts are those that open doors and create more awareness of options that have been overlooked. For example, if you are depressed and depressed, displaying different perceptions, new experiences, new emotions, or new thoughts can offer you much more awareness of the choices you are making that are contributing to your depression. Someone trying to make you happy by blinding you without this being able to depress you more by contributing to that state of lack. Another possible gift could be to offer the option not to resist: that one does not have to fight depression, as there are gifts within it. This is a valid choice, and one with freedom within it. But without the element of choice present, there is bondage, and where there is bondage there is no Love.
As Karen Murphy wrote, the simple act of seeing everything as an option, no matter how demanding it may seem, brings us back to ourselves. It is quite easy to think of the world as a dark and threatening place full of cold demands, which is the world of slavery: in this world we have no choice but to react. Bringing options shows how receptive the world can be to our creative powers.
The world
Now, Martin Luther King didn’t just talk about racial equality. In fact, he is rarely mentioned in the standard history books that during the last years of his life he spoke more often against the economic system that creates a form of slavery, as well as the military industrial complex. This was a man who went from working against one form of slavery to seeing all beings as brothers and working against slavery in all its forms. He also spoke of the power of love to bring light to the world.
I myself am involved in activism and work for a world where people have all the options they want. There is no reason with all of our advances that we need to enforce slavery in any way. We don’t need it financially, in parenting, in relationships, or internally. Giving freedom to others brings joy to all of us because of the great interconnectedness of which we are a part. Giving it to ourselves creates ripples that show a better way of living to everyone.
When we inhabit all the power of the choices we have at every moment – that is, our powerful and creative nature – it is when we learn that our identity is nothing Love. The most creative and powerful force that exists.
