As we prepare to celebrate the birth of a noble vision for a country of free men, I pause to consider just what free means. At the time of the birth of our country, the driving need was for freedom from the tyranny of the overbearing English troops stationed in America. The deep needs of the people were codified in the preamble to the constitution – Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. It is hard for us to even imagine an environment where our life and liberty were in constant jeopardy. We take for granted that we can always chase after what we believe will make us happy, even though we may never achieve it. Yet those were not given assumptions back then. You could be killed, imprisoned, or forced to work as conscripted labor at any time.
Life and liberty are pretty self explanatory, but what is pursuit of happiness? Obviously happiness looks different to everyone, but is there a deeper common meaning that applies to everyone? I suggest that there is a common deeper element to happiness. The common aspect can seem elusive because it concerns the resolution of our most basic conflict in life – How to be our true self while still being connected to others who are all so different from us. Solving this deep dilemma is, I believe, the root of happiness.
Our true self is not what we do or what we think or even what we believe and hold dear. Our true self is built into the very structure of our brain and body. I was muscle testing to get further information on what that all meant and got that 1/3rd of who we are, our core blueprint, comes from our genetics and epigenetics. Another 1/3rd comes from how our brain and body develop while we are in our mother’s womb. The next 21% develops by the time we reach the age of five. Eighty seven percent of the blueprint for our true self is formed by the time we are five. So who were you when you were five years old? Most of the stuff we believed is our true self is really just adopted character stories we have learned and developed to empower us to participate with others in life. These masks, personas, and stories are not the true us. While pursuing the goals of these personas is exciting, it does not bring us actual happiness.
I should pause here for a moment to clarify the difference between excitement and joy / happiness. Excitement is based on the drive to win, to come out on top, to be number one. Excitement is the pursuit of the ego’s desire to be the center of all things and get its way with the least participation or risk. Survival is the job of the ego and excitement is the feeling feedback that says we are maximizing our potential to survive in a competitive environment. Ego thrives on a win-lose mindset. The joyful heart, on the other hand, thrives in a cooperative, connected, win-win environment where survival is enhanced by everyone’s supportive participation in common goals. Excitement is an ego thing, while joy is a heart thing. That is why the pursuit of ego goals, like safety or money or power, does not bring happiness – it can’t. This kind of puts the intention of the constitution framers into a very different light. They were saying that we need to be free to pursue heart-centered goals – goals that bring people together and support working together for the common good. You see this same consciousness echoed throughout the US Constitution.
The common man today wants to believe that they are entitled to the right to pursue their ego desires. And considering how ego operates, it is a small step to believing that they are therefore entitled to their desires without having to participate. This has given rise to the entitlement based government programs that are bankrupting our country – not just entitlements for the poor, but even more so, entitlements for the rich. It is the same consciousness whether you are poor or rich. It is trying to get something for nothing, instead of creating a country where everyone participates to create win-win cooperative connection for the good of all. Ego’s have turned the beauty of the noble vision for our country into a dog eat dog world.
We each have a personal noble vision built into us. I call it our feeling blueprint – that thing that is 87% constructed by the time we are 5 years old. That part of us starts out simple and immature, filled with fears and needs. It is those fears and needs that give rise to the ego skills to help us survive. But it is imperative that we do not let the ego run the show. It is a great servant, but a terrible master. We must keep the heart open and in charge of our life. Maturation is basically the process of figuring out how to do this; how to keep our heart open and in charge, while still conquering our fears and meeting our needs.
Consider this while you are celebrating the formation of our amazing country. We still have so much potential waiting to manifest. We need to get the ego control under control and put the heart in charge of our lives and the fate of our country. Given free reign, the ego will choose “all for me and none for you,” while the heart sees us all as one. Changing to a heart-based society is about each of us changing to a heart-based life every day, moment by moment. The heart calls for everyone working together – no free rides and no something for nothing. Every act we perform needs to be mutually beneficial for those we participate with. Competition with others is out. The only good competition is self competition.
As I see it, this is the way to make our country great. We have lost our way lately, but each of us can turn it around by our own actions in our personal lives. We don’t need crusaders. We need honest people living in integrity and truth.