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Divine Rights
by Richard GeerOver 200 years ago, when people decided to Tell the kings and queens to find other employment, Thomas Jefferson wrote that the only purpose of government is to "secure (our) divine rights," and that "among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." What other Divine Rights do we have? And how would we secure them? What are the absolute fundamentals for human fulfillment? And how do we cultivate them in our own lives and in the lives of the greater human community? Let's start with these: * Emotional Health. Not just healing our psychological wounds, but also fostering the art of happiness. * Aesthetic Enjoyment. Big doses of beauty all around! * Physical Health. Not only the medical care we need, but the safeguarding of what we eat, drink, and breathe. * Freedom of Lifestyle. No oppression by abusive employers or tyrannical relatives or funless mentalists. * Erotic Health. Wiping out rape and sexual harassment, as well as unnecessary loneliness and deadness of heart. * Community. A network of like-minded folks who appreciate and support you. Are there more Divine Rights that are equally indispensable and irreplaceable? What would you add to this list? Each of our Divine Rights is represented astrologically by a planet. Freedom and creativity, for instance, come under the influence of the rousing planet Uranus. Emotional health is the Moon; physical health the Earth. If all our planets are satisfied, we are living the life a human being was made for. And get this: We can go a long way towards claiming all our Divine Rights through vigorous personal effort. Each Right requires us to exercise a different discipline, a different muscle, a different aspect of our many-faceted Self. But wouldn't it be amazing to create a larger support network so that the work to claim our Divine Rights wouldn't have to be so solitary and herculean? What if there were institutions in place that would facilitate ALL people learning ALL the keys to discovering their own richness? The resources for this revolutionary infrastructure already exist in the form of the multitudes of geniuses, avatars, and heroes that live amongst us. A few of them are celebrated in People magazine, but most are not. Many of them are our friends, acquaintances, loved ones -- and us. What if, instead of a government (Are you sure you want to be governed? And by whom?), we had a Volunteer Support Network of the Heroes and Heroines of All the Divine Rights? And what if we had a Department of Erotic Health? No titles, no salaries, just a network of people who take on service projects together: each one autonomous and results-oriented. Anyone can associate with anyone and take on a project they mutually enjoy, and learn from the results. A Department of Making Community Available to Everyone? A Department of Making Relationship Skills Available to All? What greater gift could we possibly give to the world, and to our local communities? And what kind of world would we then have? I'd love to find out. RICHARD GEER has been a professional astrologer for over 25 years, as well as writer and performer, counselor, healer and community creator. He has written a visionary musical play, "St. Boogy and the Price of Paradise," about how the humans saved their own butts when it looked like Big Money was about to gobble the planet. Rob Brezsny celebrates his influence in his piece Black Rock Desert Desserts. Richard can be contacted at yumplanet@yahoo.com, or via telephone in Toronto at 416-968-2789. |
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© 1995-2013 -- Rob Brezsny. All rights reserved |
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