by Pamela Ziemann
While on a recent visit to the Midwest, I inadvertently found myself at a Ku Klux Klan meeting. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that I would be in the same room with an organization like this. It came about when a local farmer was about to lose his land in foreclosure. My parents were under the impression that friends and neighbors were gathering to help boost his morale. After all, that’s what the advertisement in the local coffee shop said. We agreed that it would be better to forego the movie we had planned to see and join the support group. What was about to happen was much more eye- opening than any movie I had ever seen!
The speaker was a smooth talking kind of guy who casually threw out ideas like, “The Jews are buying up your farm land,” and, “The government is allowing immigrants to work your land,” and, “Because of the blacks moving in, our families are no longer safe.” Then he questioned, “Are you going to take this or are you going to fight back?”
As I looked around the room, I was amazed at the good-hearted people who began to nod their heads in agreement. In less than an hour, they had allowed themselves to be labeled as victims and were making a list of people who had wronged them. Rather than finding a solution, their faces began to contort in anger, and hurt built up inside of them. They looked heavier and heavier as the night progressed.
Throughout my life, I have often wondered what type of person would actually be drawn into an organization filled with such hate. It became clear that night. These people were losing land that had been in their families for generations. Maybe in their own creative ways, they figured, “If someone is doing this to me, I must be innocent of whatever misfortunes have come to me. It’s not my fault.” Easy way out—or is it?
When you give your power to someone else, you inevitably lose some of your power. You’ve given it away. Someone else is responsible for the way you’re living your life. Any type of blame is contrary to taking responsibility yourself. Gradually it becomes easier to let someone else make the decisions, and that’s when people begin to welcome indoctrination. Their own will and decision-making ability goes to sleep.
If you really want to feel the difference, take a few moments to remember the last time you blamed someone for something that happened in your life. It could be a major event or just saying something as simple as “the devil made me do it.”
Now remember an event that you took total responsibility for. Maybe it was hiking to the top of a mountain or helping a friend in some way. Chances are, you were not afraid to own it, to say, “I did it.”
Does one feel more constrictive? Does the other one feel more expansive?
When a situation is one that you are less proud of, when you own it, you have taken responsibility for it. As Harry Palmer, author of the Avatar Materials says, “When you adopt the viewpoint that there is nothing that exists that is not a part of you, that there is no one who is not a part of you, that any judgment you make is a self judgment, that any criticism you level is a self-criticism, you will wisely extend to yourself an unconditional love that will be the light of your world.” If we can be honest with ourselves, we nurture self respect. And when we have respect for ourselves, we naturally respect other people. Imagine a world where everybody takes responsibility for their own thoughts and actions.
One of the things I love about delivering Avatar is watching how people welcome back total responsibility for their lives. All of the energy they might have used to pass the buck can now be used for creativity or other more productive uses. A shift in viewpoints occurs as they learn to take the labels off people and themselves. Their faces reveal the calmness that has come back into their being.
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