{"id":41602,"date":"2015-07-03T16:30:13","date_gmt":"2015-07-03T21:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/horizonsmagazine.com\/blog\/?p=41602"},"modified":"2018-07-04T04:00:54","modified_gmt":"2018-07-04T09:00:54","slug":"spiritual-significance-of-the-4th-of-july","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/horizonsmagazine.com\/blog\/spiritual-significance-of-the-4th-of-july\/","title":{"rendered":"Spiritual Significance of the 4th of July"},"content":{"rendered":"

To me, Independence Day is a chance to celebrate granting everyone else as much freedom as I\u2019d like for myself. I\u2019m not a history buff. I don\u2019t celebrate most holidays. But part of my spiritual practice is being a vision keeper and the holder of a higher feeling thought. My experience is if even one person can contemplate a scene and have faith in a successful outcome, that can entrain the consciousness of everyone who was aware of it. It’s been said that <\/span>when just 1% of the population meditates upon peace and loving kindness<\/a>, the effect spreads to the other 99% – even if they don’t believe it.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

We celebrate July 4, 1776, as a day that represents the Declaration of Independence and the birth of the USA as an independent nation, no longer subjects of Great Britain. Our founders decided the king\u2019s laws were unfair and that it was worth the risk of war to win the freedom to govern themselves. In 1783, the USA won the Revolutionary War — as a result, the USA got to be free. <\/span><\/p>\n

Today the 4th<\/sup> of July celebrates the fact that we live in a country which guarantees us certain rights and freedoms. We use these rights every day when we pray (or decide not to), when we read a newspaper or meet and talk with friends. We can do these things because our country guarantees us the freedom to practice religion the way we want, to say or write what we want, to go where we want with whom we want, to live the way we want, and to work and earn money the best way we can. <\/span><\/p>\n

These rights are spelled out in the U.S. Constitution and its Bill of Rights. In return, citizens have certain responsibilities, like going to school, voting, paying taxes and obeying the law. Being a good citizen also means taking care of the country by respecting other peoples\u2019 rights and looking out for our fellowman. To me, it all boils down to freedom. Grant everyone else as much freedom as you\u2019d like for yourself.<\/span><\/p>\n

My work as a vision keeper is done subjectively, in my mind during meditation. I enter a meditative state, typically through prayer and chant, then I go through a specific set of creat-ive visualizations and exercises.<\/span><\/p>\n

For Independence Day, the topic is freedom and independence. I’ll visualize everyone celebrating their freedom, and I’ll practice breathing in that happiness and offering it up in gratitude to God. Next I’ll breathe down God’s blessing and strength upon the people. I’ll breathe in their doubt and fear and offer it up to God, and I’ll breathe down God’s faith and comfort and offer it to the people.\u00a0This is adapted from a Buddhist form of meditation.<\/span><\/p>\n

RELATED: \u00a0<\/span> You can hold a vision and help train friends into a better feeling thought <\/a>
\nHolding a Vision for the Downed Power Line on Summer Solstice<\/a>
\nGregg Braden on Consciousness and intentionally creating emotion to help heal yourself and your world <\/a><\/p>\n

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