Liberty – If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.
Truth – In times of universal deceit, telling the truth will be a revolutionary act. George Orwell said that…
These are words that challenge our commitment to both liberty and truth. Part of growing up and becoming a mature human being is translating words such as these into actions that validate the commitment we claim to have made. Often characters in stories, plays, and movies say things that are profound, which means the ideas they represent get wide distribution. In the successful movie Batman Begins, Bruce Wayne in his Batman persona, says to Rachael Dawes, “It’s not who you are underneath, it’s what you do that defines you.” It was his to response to her wanting to know who he really is. He argues the best way to know me is by what I do, which is a profound and far-reaching truth.
Who are you?
Are you someone who only talks about liberty and truth, or are you someone who does something about it? That is the question. Remember, it is what you do that defines you. As a Christian, the Apostle James argued that what you claim to be by statements of faith means nothing without the fruit (or actions) to back it up. It is what you do that defines you.
“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it-not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it-they will be blessed in what they do.” James 1:22-25
So in the end it is “what you do that defines you,” both to yourself, the people around you, and to God. Never forget that as your gluteus maximus gets sore on the coach.
Some of us can never truly be defined, we are malleable and ever changing. To try and confine oneself to a set of labels, rules dogmas etc. is where suffering may begin, but to embrace everything with unconditional acceptance and love is where true freedom begins and truly frees you and therefore true transformation begins. You forgive yourself for the temporary expression of what you were or could of been and you forgive others for the temporary expression of who they were or did because everything and nothingness is part of the whole/wholly/holly or what we express as the Creator/God. A normal human may live on average 120 years and compared to the 14 billion years of this Universe’s calculated existence by the collective is almost non-existent, in order words, we create our own suffering by confining our temporary existence to unintentionally misinterpreting words of wisdom. The Creator lives and expresses itself within all of Creation and there is nothing (no thing) to fear because the Creator never dies. Knowing that I am not God but that God is within me is liberation and true salvation. Much love and respect to all of Creation including you.
I understand your universalist approach and its attempt to avoid suffering, but as a Christian wholly submitted and dependent on the saving blood of Jesus Christ shed on the cross of Calvary, I embrace the suffering that dealing with my falleness brings as it is part of my redemption into eternal life and the perfection of my soul. May you come to understand that Jesus is the only way, the only truth, and the only source of life and no one comes to the Father of all except through him. I confess Jesus Christ and him crucified as my only path to redemption and eternal freedom. I consider everything else a delusion of Satan in an effort to capture my soul to keep me from the only thing that will save me.