By Rev. Elizabeth Rowley,
Spiritual Director
July 5, 2019
“We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness….” [The Declaration of Independence]
What I love about this statement from the Declaration of Independence is that they were laying the foundation for the future. It’s an intention in which others enrolled in and signed their name. The unfoldment of which continues in civil liberties even today.
The truths of which they spoke were far from evident at the time it was written. All thirteen colonies legally practiced Slavery, women, and people of color were not allowed to vote. The only people who could vote in 1776 were those who owned land. When George Washington was elected president in 1789, only 6% of the entire population was legally allowed to vote. 150,000 voters determined elections out of 2,500,000 people.
The founding fathers of our United States held those Truths to be self-evident, meaning that they believed the Truths that followed did not need demonstration or explanation. They were obvious to them, and the declaration of their apparent clarity would be the foundation of the words to follow.
Many of us hold on to our stories from the past, illusions, false ideas, and disempowering beliefs with such ownership that we cannot see the light shining upon us, through us, and as us. We hold on to them tightly enough that they become self-evident for us.
I invite you to try these self-evident Truths on for size: You are made in the image and likeness of the Divine. You are where you are supposed to be, doing what you are supposed to be doing, right where you are. Everything that exists now is what it is, and it is already in your past. If you want things to be different, it's time to do things differently. You are not your past. You are a child of the Divine with glowing qualities of love, bliss, joy, harmony, peace, wisdom, abundance, and freedom.
You can always create something brand new at this moment, regardless of what happened last year, last month, last week, yesterday, or even this morning. English author whose works influenced the New Thought Movement and mystic Christianity, Thomas Troward, observed, “Principle is not bound by precedent.” Rather than limit our expectations of the future, we would do well to plant our universal stake firmly in the ground, declaring that all the good our heart’s desire is made manifest now, and allow it to unfold.
Name your good. Claim that you are prosperous, the right and perfect job is already yours, you have found your twin flame, you are healthy, whole and complete, you are loved, lovable and loving, all of your needs are met, and so much more.
As we celebrate our independence this week, I invite you to consider which Truths you hold as self-evident?
And so it is.
