Responsibility

[a fine naked fellow]

When you all think of responsibility, you all think of a weight on your shoulders.
A burden of consciousness, alive with the weight of the world.

And the action is that of a mechanized approach to a program fulfilling its task.
And keeping your responsibility. Or finally failing the test or shirking both the weight and the world.

And what vessel could contain the bittersweet taste of responsibility if the task is uncertain?
.

You would seek for it in lines and underneath them, consulting the gods and listening to oracles.
Following the great and grand mystic trail with fervor and ample dedication, burning at the ends.
.

But I tell you in my quiet passion this, if responsibility were heavy the wind would not sing,
and the grass not grow and the trees would not dance.

The define of responsibility is a line written in the surf. To be washed away and rewritten with each tide.

Like an illusory territory, cast with all your dies and colors. But only as real as your focus upon it.
And what wayfarer would you call vagrant if they passed your line and performed not the rituals.
For many have entertained angels and have not known it.

When the mind is open the dance of light can perform miracles.
.

And often in your speech of what must be done your gaze is fixed on the majesty of endless horizon.
Loosen the trance of your gaze, vary your vision and come back to the tapestry and slowness of the moment.

For the need of a bird is flight, and the need of a fish is to swim, and the planet proper to give all with a free hand
and with love thought.The need of a person is to grow wholly and completely in body and mind. Man, woman and child.

And if all these nourish their needs, do they not also find nourishment in skill, specialty and new creative wonders?
And in such wonder their responsibility is fulfilled.
.

Not like a rushing traveler walking on their way to a responsibility with bent backs.
But a peaceful child walking with its own ability to respond with choosing and measured steps and happy.
.

Remember in your existing that you exist. Look no further for wisdom beyond your powerful dreams and pleasant skin.

If a person will look for wisdom anywhere and not found it first within,
All Knowledge gained is but then temporary and half-told. And half told mystery.

And if a person finds wisdom first in their heart, no matter what road is traveled the mystery will be clear.
.

And if you feel like I feel, laugh the laughter of myself and the animals. Dance within the spirits.
Loosen and cast off the garment of formality and find the future free for all decent beings.


* I was in a merry mood* :p

[lifeofbrian]

I'm afraid I did not understand all of that :)

Responsibility is not pointing the finger when in a situation you played a part in.

Responsibility is awareness of cause and effect.

Responsibility is knowing karma.

Responsibility is understanding change is yours alone.

Responsibility is being a grown-up.

[zaira]

I agree with lifeofbrian. I didn't understand all of it.

I have learned to take responsibility for myself, for my own words and actions, blaming no one. It wasn't easy but it felt like an enormous weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I would recommend it to anyone. Once you realise that you are responsible for your own life you can change anything about it that you are uncomfortable with. The emphases here is 'your own life'. You are not responsible for the life or the journey of another person - unless you are taking care of a child until they are old enough to take care of themselves. People, help don't hinder others.

[a fine naked fellow]

Plainer words then.
Responsibility is nothing more than your ability to respond.
The ability to respond to yourself, the world and your immediate environment at any given time.
Indeed, nothing more could be asked of you.

Everything added on past this simple premises is rhetoric.

You think of responsibility in terms of what you must do or what you should do.
But it is simply what you can do.

[zaira]

Yes, what you can do - for yourself and others without getting in the way of their journey - their life-path.

[Anders Lindman]

People stick to authority, because that relieves them from much heavy responsibility. And when done the proper way, that is a good thing. I love to outsource responsibility to authority that I can trust. In that sense, authority can be a very good thing indeed.

For the individual, responsibility management can be helpful. Outsource those responsibilities which you do not need or want as a burden on yourself. Put demands on the authority you outsource responsibility to. You are the customer.

[zaira]

True, they are working for us. But maybe that is what they want us to think, like the crafty sod who makes all the decisions and lets you believe it was your idea.

[Anders Lindman]

True, they are working for us. But maybe that is what they want us to think, like the crafty sod who makes all the decisions and lets you believe it was your idea.

Yes, the misuse of authority has been very prevalent throughout history. What we need is more individual choice in what authority to outsource our responsibility to. If the authority turns up to not behave the way we like it, then we should have the option to choose another authority. In many cases, authority in the past has been based on monopoly, and still in many cases is so today. The rigid top-down hierarchical forms of authority pyramids are too inflexible; in many cases they are even what Ken Wilber calls pathological hierarchies.

[zaira]

As for choosing the ‘authority’ we want, that’s what voting is for. But too many of us have given up that right because of the lack of choice. ‘They’ put forward two or three people and expect us to choose one of them. What if we don’t want any of them to be the ‘authority’ working for us. What choice do we have then?

[Anders Lindman]

As for choosing the ‘authority’ we want, that’s what voting is for. But too many of us have given up that right because of the lack of choice. ‘They’ put forward two or three people and expect us to choose one of them. What if we don’t want any of them to be the ‘authority’ working for us. What choice do we have then?

In a country where everybody could get access to the web, either through one's own computer or from an Internet cafe, or from public computers, it would in theory be possible to vote for all decisions made by the government. It could be called Infocracy or something like that.