Personal Responsibility, or, Why I’m a Conservative

Remaining mired in victimhood is a recipe for stagnation and conflict, whereas accepting personal responsibility in all aspects of life leads us closer to freedom from trauma and the recognition of absolute truth. Dwelling on one’s wounds, whether real or imagined, cognitively neutralizes the pursuit of what is wholesome, healthful, and therapeutic, and assigns blame which, when acted upon, demands concessions that may not be given; to the contrary, tension between parties may escalate unfruitfully. Healing at the individual level must occur through the ordered, creative, and beautiful expression of what is internally chaotic so that society collectively can be transformed. As the light of truth is outwardly made manifest from emotional pain, we free ourselves from the oppression that was once concealed under the darkness of blame.

Blaming others for our problems is often born of an unhealthy pride, which convinces the proud that taking offense to the ideals, actions, power, and status of the “perpetrator” will result in vindication. Such a perceived “achievement” results in further debasement and degradation of one’s spirit, concomitantly disabling the self-esteem required to rise above one’s circumstances. A downward spiral toward the shame of complete personal inefficacy may then give rise to anger, and anger to any number of ills that become weaponized by group identification (e.g. gang, economic class, ethnicity, age, gender, race, political party) and lead to familial dysfunction, gun violence, war, political turmoil, social upheaval, inter-generational hate, racism, sexism, feminism, and so on. Blame demands forgiveness or concessions that, when denied, further enflame rage. To circumvent such internal chaos being expressed externally, whether through word or deed, the individual soul must be expressed positively through creativity and ingenuity, which, in essence, are self-love made visible.

Internally recognizing and giving voice to one’s trauma is the first step of personal responsibility. (I accomplish this through therapy and writing.) Unresolved emotional pain, once given a voice, can be further  processed through creative expression, which is the individual’s life force working and playing through the mind and the body. The endless possibilities of such expression may be custom-tailored to one’s personal preferences. My sister, for example, really loves reading, playing roller derby, and baking sourdough bread. Knowing the trauma she experienced during childhood, I hold her up as an example of someone who uses her life force to bring good from bad, light from darkness. For various reasons that I will not elaborate upon in this post, I believe that Americans experience a higher-than-average amount of trauma, and I wonder, “If more people were able to work through pain like my sister, what would the collective effect be on our country?” Truthfully, in the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., love can drive out darkness, and that love starts with the self and the transformation of inner pain into inner and outer beauty. 

Imagine an America in which our traumas rise from the subconscious to the conscious, where we, instead of taking vengeance into our own hands to attack one another, transform our hurts — starting from a grassroots level — into a country that is wholesome, artistic, healthy, beautiful, and decent. If you’re reading this, you may remember an America like that. Unfortunately, many younger people simply cannot relate because of the cultural milieu into which they were born. When we empathize with that reality, the tendency, instead of accepting personal responsibility, is to cast blame. Certainly, I am tempted to blame the ruling elites by claiming that evil runs down from the top. (To quote Terrence McKenna, “We are led by the least among us.”) However, such a sentiment is inherently anti-American and anti-individualist. We are still a free people, yet with the rise of Artificial Intelligence, little time is left on the clock. We effect change by first changing ourselves, and better individuals coalesce into better groups of individuals, from neighborhoods to nations. Let’s be the renaissance this country needs.

For too long, the people of this nation by and large have been rotting from the inside. Whether the conditions that created that rot were of our own doing is not the point; the point is that only we can take personal responsibility for the ways that we feel. No one is coming to save us but us, so let’s be cognizant of when we are casting blame so that we can replace those thoughts with positive ones, such as, “What can I do to better myself, my family, my community?” My hope is that, as you heal from the traumas that have victimized you, you will grow in greater self-love and expressions of that love that are meaningful to you. As your love grows, let it overflow from your heart and into the lives of others. Teach, uplift, encourage, and inspire your fellow Americans. Often all that will cost you will be your words. Finally, as Jesus commanded us, love your neighbor as yourself. 

Now let’s get this American renaissance started!

Photo Credit: https://pixabay.com/photos/pyramid-mountains-5552588/