Some Thoughts On Independence

FRI., JULY 5, 1996, 5:55 AM
FARM, STUDY

Yesterday was the national holiday officially known as Independence Day, even as it is usually referred to as just The 4th of July. You had few thoughts about that Declaration now 220 years back in your culture’s history. There was a war then, and there have been wars since, all fought to maintain freedom and independence. You suspect that My thoughts about these “conditions” aren’t exactly the same as your culture’s “ideal”. Listen and hear.

My ideal is a balance between freedom from external constraints on mind, body, and spirit and dependence on Me. I want you to come to Me willingly, but I also want you to know that you are not free not to come. Oh, I’m lenient in relation to times and frequency, but you know how you feel when it has been more than 3 days without a Teaching. There is no “good”, compelling reason why you should have to spend time listening to Me… except… you know who I Am, and you know, ultimately, that there is no better use of this earth commodity, time.

I want you to be independent of forces that would move you away from Me. Originally, your professional field seemed to be such a force. Your two early advisors and mentors never spoke of spirit as a factor in health or in education, even as they both demonstrated what you now identify as spirit in their teaching. Neither indicated a relationship with Me, at least to you. And you then perceived the field to be concerned only with physical and mental dimensions of health.

I wanted you to be independent of that secular, medical model. I want you increasingly to represent the perception that there is a powerful, important spiritual dimension to health. I don’t yet demand that you see this entirely as relationship with Me, as a professional, but I want you to be perceived as one who has such a relationship and that it is vital to your health. Thus, I want you independent of the secular, medical model and dependent on Me for the important information for your field… My interpretations and perceptions of whatever you may hear or read.

In relation to marriage and family, in days of yore when this was a sub-specialty of yours, you advocated interdependence, rather than independence or dependence. This implied that, as a marriage partner you were independent in some ways and willingly dependent in others, in a balance with your partner. You accepted some dependence on her, but allowed her much independence as a balance. The balance would change with circumstances and situations but interdependence is the goal, for the best life together.

I want our relationship to be similar. I tell you that, paradoxically, dependence on Me results in more freedom than would come with independence. I want you to see yourself voluntarily dependent on Me so that your freedom is at a maximum. In your situation at the university you perform certain duties that you would not fully choose, but in so doing you retain the freedom to think and teach as is best for you.

You are theoretically protected in your freedom to teach and write by your tenure. In that same spirit I have offered you tenure, and you have accepted My offer. I am letting you decide how much you shall reveal about this relationship in your teaching, but I shall be pleased if you share “who you are” with at least a few more students. Some of them need “permission” from one with your standing and stature to accept Me as a partner in personal and even community health. You needn’t be an obvious zealot, but you should accept more of the opportunities I send your way.