Freedom 2.0: A Hard Deal
Wanna know the truth about sobriety? Most people don’t know they have a problem until they try to quit. So you did Dry July? Yeah me too, worst month of my life watching the minutes tick by. Check, done! That’s how addiction tricks me into thinking I have control - little binges here and there, of course my choice, until something BAD happens. Whoops! A glitch in the Matrix, surely must be. If sobriety were easy, everyone would do it. Many never do, and die. Others are befuddled with insanity, little cyclones of chaos for everyone they meet. Goodness me, the forgotten apologies I must owe! The single most important lesson I’ve learned in choosing a substance-free lifestyle is this - I will never be free in the world until I’m mentally free through living by spiritual principles. This is no easy task, no permanent state of enlightenment achieved.
Jesus did not say “Come to me - or ELSE.” He invited others to follow, worked and walked with them, shared their life. “Come,” he said - “for my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:30). He healed sick people and defended those on the fringes of society. He criticized religious leaders for their greed and corruption - where giving to the Church was an Old Testament practice, he focused on the posture of the heart: it is better to give generously acknowledging all that is comes from His abundance for the good of all than to give any portion resentfully.
Modern times are not so different - we are free to choose our master, casting votes with time, attention, labor, and cash money. Freedom is not free - perhaps you’ve heard but not considered. Look around - anyone spending is paying taxes (and hopefully their full share) for a set of services, roads and schools and public health programs you may or may not have voted for at the city, state, and federal level, all won by the sacrifice of veterans willing to DIE FOR YOU. Stomping around the bipartisan battleground every 4 years is a privilege, but hardly a chip in our civic duty. I don’t know about you, but these days I like to get what I pay for. Like $3.3 trillion worth.
Living in a broken world means everything we give our time and attention to matters - it determines the quality of our thoughts, flowing to our decisions, words, and actions, creating the environment we live in. “Manifestation” isn’t a cutesy Millennial hashtag, it’s spiritual math living in a closed system. Try and nuke the moon, has anyone tested the Ozone’s resistance to excess radiation and meteors lately? That bad on Venus, eh?
So when I look into the kaleidoscope world and I find darkness, this is evidence of evil doing what evil does. I struggle to reason with it, as my mind lends to despair, desperately wanting the obliteration of drink. Could I blame someone unwilling to sacrifice time, money, comfort, their entire livelihood in exchange for faith that a living God must be working in bigger, better ways? I cannot. But living a spiritual life means choosing to become part of the solution, rather than shaming and blaming others. I don’t get to demand rights or a raise unless I know the value of a day’s work - this shit don’t come easy, but it sure can be sweet. Call it the Golden Rule.
“The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.”
-The Usual Suspects
Content is attributed exclusively to Hype Girl Media without assistance of AI and may not be reproduced without prior authorization nor associated with unnamed individuals or entities.