On July 4th, 1776 the United States of America announced its independence from England with the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. The colonies broke free from the oppressive rule of King George and the centuries-long experiment of democracy began. Here we are more than 200 years later, in the midst of this very imperfect union.
I actually enjoy celebrating Independence Day. Who doesn’t love some good BBQ with family and friends and fireworks?
This year I realized that I hadn’t read the Declaration of Independence since high school. There’s a passage that jumps off the page and I decided to follow the thread. And even though I was peripherally aware of this dichotomy, somehow my view shifted about the day and the actual document that spells out in detail all the wrongs of King George. In the long list of complaints against the crown, this section jumps out:
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions.
It turns out this passage is widely written about as one of the most controversial lines in the Declaration of Independence. It’s not hard to see why. Jefferson was a slave owner. He and most of his fellow founders were all slave owners and they all saw Native Americans as “savages” who needed to be eliminated. Hold up. That’s a far cry from BBQ, fireworks and just telling King George to fuck off. What’s up with the slaves and the savages? So all men aren’t created equal?
This wouldn’t be a Monday Meditation if we didn’t stop and think about this holiday through a different filter. What if—like so much in life—we looked at July 4th and the Declaration of Independence as a really complex blend of both positives and negatives. No doubt there is a positive element of pure freedom from tyranny and the economic pressure under King George. It’s easy to embrace the celebration of the spread of deeply constitutional “republican” ideals based on some lofty principles. I mean, come on, we inspired the French Revolution. But the same founders who penned some of the most inspired socio-political changes, were also slave owners who held this view that Native Americans were a problem to be eradicated; they were savages who had no legitimacy to defend their land. The hypocrisy is thick.
But what if we looked at this model of declaring independence not for a country under the oppressive rule of a monarch, but instead we looked at it through the lens of our personal lives?
What tyranny do we need to resist?
What would your spiritual independence day look like?
What blind spots of hypocrisy are hiding in that call to break free?
My take on the tyranny in our lives revolves around elements we have either consciously or unconsciously decided to tolerate. We claim we want freedom, but we still cling to attachments. We claim we want the truth, but we avoid self-honesty. We demand respect, but we we struggle to extend it. If we don’t examine the shadow as we proclaim some “self-evident” truth, we are missing a huge component of the personal growth we claim we want.
So here’s the Independence Day meditation: on a 10 count, reflect on one area in your life where the light of a “self-evident” truth is being obscured by the dark side of your shadow self. It’s the wound that never gets cleaned out, but just gets a band aid. Over time, it festers and it can never heal.
Ok, I’ll start. I have repeatedly lived a life that holds one of my “self-evident” truths is physical fitness. The need to maintain a strong, healthy body has been a cornerstone to my personal beliefs: strong body = strong mind. The dark side is an acceptance of inaction in this area and tolerating a weekly schedule that doesn’t formally prioritize this “truth.” So this Independence Day, my son and I did a deep dive in our home gym. We reset the space with a deep clean and got in two solid training sessions. The soreness in the body today is a nice sign that the old energy is being cleared out and we can build a new rhythm.
This is the way we break through the layers of darkness and hypocrisy. Looking honestly at the areas of our lives where the dust from habits and patterns accumulates and covers over a self-evident truth. This Independence Day, commit to uncovering the tyranny of one blind spot in your life. It’s the way forward.
