Positive Liberty

What is Liberty?

This can be quite an emotive word, and one that can cause a lot of misunderstanding.  Probably everyone who reads this believes in freedom, in liberty.  It is the way the word is interpreted that can cause sometimes quite passionate differences.  Many people at different ends of the political spectrum may totally believe their interpretation is the only correct interpretation, and are therefore incapable of understanding the points of view of those at the other end of the spectrum.

For the purpose of this article, though, I am focused on a very particular form of liberty.  An aspect of what Isaiah Berlin referred to in 1958 as "Positive Liberty".  Berlin introduced the idea that there are two basic forms of liberty that are quite different - "Negative Liberty" and "Positive Liberty".  

Negative Liberty (or Negative Freedom - the two words are quite interchangeable here) is all about the removal of external restraints.  You could say it is the Liberty that concerned the Founding Fathers of the United States.  The Liberty that is central to both the Constitution of the United States itself, and the First Amendment of the Constitution.  A system that allows people the freedom to do, say, think and believe whatever they wish as long as it does not interfere with the freedom of others.  The freedom we expect from a democracy and recognize is not present in a totalitarian system.

Positive Liberty is quite different.  It is not concerned with removing external forces that prevent us from acting in the way we wish, but rather the removal of internal restraints.

Both forms of liberty are ideals.  In my view, ideals for which we can and should always strive, but also ideals we will never completely achieve.  Striving for the ideal of negative liberty is a political aspiration.  I hope you have reasonable negative liberty wherever you are, and wish you all the best if you are striving for greater liberty.

Striving for positive liberty is central to personal development.  In my view it is even more important than negative liberty.  It is possible to live in quite a controlling political system but still be happy and feel free because one has positive liberty.  But it is not possible to be happy and feel free without any positive liberty no matter how free the political system may be.

What do I mean by positive liberty?  I mean removing all the internal constraints that prevent us from achieving what we want to achieve.  The human spirit is an amazing thing.  There are virtually no limits to what it can achieve if it really wishes to do so - provided it doesn't have internal limits constraining it.

Let me give you a simple example of an internal restraint restricting positive liberty.  Imagine you live in a village in a completely free and safe society (in fact, I hope you do!).  You have an appointment with a friend in the next village which is a pleasant 15 minute walk away.  The friend is leaving for many months and you have something important you want to discuss with her before she leaves.  She is very busy preparing for her trip and was only able to book you in just before she has to leave, which is in half an hour.  You only need 10 minutes with her, so you are happy that you are in plenty of time.  When you are only 5 minutes away you have a sudden desire to smoke.  You reach into your pocket and realize you forgot your cigarettes.  The desire to smoke is so strong you turn around and walk back home to get your cigarettes, even though you know that means you will probably now not have enough time to have that important discussion with your friend before she leaves.

In that example, how free were you?  Nobody was stopping you from visiting your friend.  No policeman barred your way and told you to go home.  But nevertheless you were not free to do what you really wanted to do - because you lack positive liberty.

I know many people reading this will feel quite smug.  "I don't have a tobacco addiction, or an addiction to anything else, so this could never happen to me!"  If so, I am pleased for you.  It is good you are not addicted to anything.  But I only used the example of an addiction to tobacco as the concept was simple and something all my readers could follow.

The reality is that we all have inner barriers and restrictions that so often prevent us from achieving what we really want to achieve.  They are not as obvious as an addiction, but the way in which they restrict our positive liberty can be just as strong.

For example, an inner belief that you are not good enough to deserve whatever it is you are striving to achieve.  This is a very common limit to positive liberty.

Or an inner belief that what you are trying to obtain is a bad thing - even though you know full well it is not.  Again, a very common limit to positive liberty.

These inner restraints that limit our positive liberty are quite insidious.  It is almost as if they know that if you could shine the light of day on them they would burn up and disappear completely, like the vampires they are!  So they hide deep down within you, shunning the light of day and never really letting you know they are there.  You believe you are free to do what you want, to achieve whatever you put your mind to, but you are not.  First you have to identify and then clear away these inner limits to your freedom.

The next time you think about what it is you want to achieve, try to become aware of the inner constraints holding you back, your limiting beliefs.  There are many ways to do this, the best of which is to have "clearing" sessions with a good energy healer, such as Christie Marie Sheldon.  You can book a free energy clearing masterclass here:

Love or Above Free Masterclass

Even if you decide not to go that route, find a way, any way that works for you, to identify and clear your limiting beliefs yourself.  For example, while thinking about your goal have a blank sheet of paper in front of you and sit with pen in hand.  Write down all the thoughts that come to you.  Don't be critical about those thoughts, simply write them down.  When you have finished the exercise look at what you have written and I think you will be amazed.  You will almost certainly see lots of limiting beliefs there.  Now you have exposed them to the hard light of day, focus on each and recognize the error of such a belief.  Watch it crumble into dust before your eyes.

Do this and you will make a massive difference to your positive liberty.  Release those inner limiting beliefs and be free!

Resonance

What is resonance, and what does it have to do with spirituality and personal development?

Resonance is the way something vibrates in response to the vibration of something else near by.

Before we think about resonance itself, let's just think about vibration, and again what it might mean in our personal development studies and practices.  Everything has its own natural vibration.  A number of musical instruments use this characteristic in order to allow us to create beautiful music.  We can change that natural vibration by altering the tuning, for example by tightening or loosening a guitar string.

Spiritually we also have a natural vibration.  This vibration can allow us to create beautiful spiritual "music" in the world around us, or if we are not tuned right we can create great discord instead.  By focusing on and developing our spiritual beliefs and qualities, especially the latter, we can determine whether the world hears beautiful music from us or, as St Paul described, a clashing cymbal.  Not that I want to criticize cymbal players or other percussionists who play their part in orchestras all over the world.

So, which would you prefer?  To create beautiful music that all around you can enjoy or to make a horrible discordant noise that will make life a misery for all who encounter you?  I hope it is the former.  We are all human, so sometimes we will be out of tune and won't be able to help making a horrible noise, but just as a violinist can learn to produce a beautiful sound rather than the awful screeching which no doubt he or she created when first taking up the violin, so can we learn to become more beautiful inside and produce beautiful spiritual music.

Back to resonance.  If you have tuned yourself to produce a beautiful sound, that is the sound you will produce when something or someone nearby is tuned in the same way.

Students of physics will be aware of the concept of "forced vibration".  If you take a tuning fork and strike it with a mallet it will produce a sound, but the sound is very quiet.  But if you now place that tuning fork on something able to vibrate at the same frequency, a board of some kind, everything will vibrate and a very loud sound will be produced - a beautiful note.  This is a form of resonance.

We can do the same in life.  If we have tuned ourselves the right way spiritually we will respond when someone or something else nearby is on a similar spiritual  frequency.  Also, we will cause the environment around us to resonate, and our small quiet voice can become a mighty, powerful sound.  A sound that will attract similar frequencies in those around us, perhaps lifting them to higher spiritual levels.

I used the word "attract" quite deliberately.  Like attracts like.  If you have spiritual vibration that is full of love and beauty you will attract to you other people and even other things and situations of a similar vibration.  This can only make your life, and the lives of those around you, happier and more fulfilled.

This concept may seem rather obscure, but it is so important!  Work hard on improving your tuning and allowing yourself to resonate to good, pure, helpful feelings.

For further help in both understanding this concept and developing and using it, take a look at this video by the "spiritual vibration" specialist, Christie Marie Sheldon:

"Love or Above Spiritual Toolkit"

How to Expand your Sphere of Availability

In my last article I outlined the concept of the Law of the Sphere of Availability, which came as quite a shock to a number of readers.  Some Law of Attraction gurus view it as a kind of heresy.  If we have the power of the Universe behind us, then how can there be any limits on what we can achieve?  And if there are no limits, then surely the Sphere of Availability is infinite!  If you really want something, then it is available to you right now as long as you use the Law of Attraction properly.

Those who read my article carefully will know that I did state quite clearly that there are no limits on what the Universe can bring us, and that the reason we do not achieve all that we wish to achieve is because of limits we create ourselves.  But just because we have created those limits ourselves, it does not make them any the less real or penetrable.  I am a firm believer in the infinite power of the Universe, and am a great optimist, but I also know that I, for one, cannot simply suddenly decide I want my bank account to expand by a factor of a million, affirm and visualize properly for it, and then expect that to happen overnight.  As has been said many times (and accredited to many different people) "the difficult we do immediately; the impossible takes a little longer!"  So be ready to accomplish difficult challenges but don't immediately expect the impossible!

So, is there anything we can do to expand our Sphere of Availability, and expand it rapidly and substantially?

As I have already said in the earlier article, begin expanding your Sphere of Availability by taking full advantage of it, and manifesting the things you desire from within it rather than initially trying for things well outside it.  You could imagine the Sphere as something a bit like the horizon.  If you simply stay where you are, it does not move, but it expands as you move towards it.  Don't sit there saying there is no point in trying to move forward because you can see the limit ahead of you and what you want is beyond that limit.  Start moving towards your goal and watch the Sphere of Availability move and embrace that goal.

Do not underestimate the power of doing this.  Maybe start in a small way until you get used to it.  Even a few steps forward moves the horizon a few steps further forward.  After just those few steps you are unlikely to notice the effect, but believe me it is there!  Get into the habit of congratulating yourself for your small successes, and thanking the Universe for granting them to you.  This will encourage you and you will find you can make larger steps.  And as you make those larger steps the expansion of your Sphere of Availability becomes more and more obvious.

What else can you do?

Going back to the horizon metaphor, if you really want to see it expand more quickly, then ride a bicycle rather than walk, ride a car rather than cycle, fly an airplane rather than drive.  In other words, use the right tools.  If you don't yet have an airplane, use a car, and if you cannot afford a car get a bicycle.  This, too, is using the Law of the Sphere of Availability - use what is available to you now rather than sitting down in the middle of the road crying because you don't have something better and faster.  If you keep your eyes open you will see many tools available to you.  Some are very effective but maybe cost more than you can afford right now.  Some are completely free, but are more like bicycles than airplanes!  Use what you can now, but remain alert and "upgrade" your tools once you are in a position to do so.  Such tools include the use of a personal coach, webinars, courses, blog articles etc.

As well as moving towards your goal and seeing the Sphere expand, start trying to find about about your self-created limits.  What are they?  Why are they there?  How can you remove them?

Some of those limiting beliefs were created in you when you were a small child.  Some you picked up later in life when you fell at a hurdle and came to belief that it is impossible ever to jump over a hurdle.  They are reinforced by you and also often by the people surrounding you.  Initially just try to become aware of what they are and then try to find what is continuing to feed them and keep them strong.

Most of these "Abundance Blocks" are hidden deep inside you, so it can often be very difficult even to find them, let alone to get rid of them.  There is a free masterclass on finding and ridding yourself of abundance blocks which you can study online at a date and time convenient to you.  This is called "Unblock Your Abundance", and it is run by the world-renowned expert on removing Abundance Blocks, Christie Marie Sheldon.   Regard taking that masterclass as riding a bicycle rather than walking.  You can find that masterclass here:

http://mval.li/?a=84&c=1762&p=r&s1=

When you have completed the class you will find there are options for you to upgrade your bicycle to a car or a plane if you are ready and willing to do so.  Or just keep cycling for free - it is certainly a lot better than walking or, even worse, standing still and just moaning that the horizon hasn't moved!

Eliminating the Blocks to Success

"I don't have enough money to do it!"

"I don't have enough time to do it!"

"I never get the right opportunities!"

"I am not good enough!"

"I don't deserve it!"

"If I get what I want it won't make me happy anyway!"

"It is selfish for me to want that!"

Have you ever said or thought any of the above?  The chances are you have.  Perhaps without even noticing it.

These are just some of the many reasons we give our subconscious mind, and the Universe, not to deliver the things we want in life.  And when we give reasons like this, especially when we repeat them enough, both our subconscious mind and the Universe listen and act accordingly.

So we are constantly setting ourselves up to fail.

Is it any wonder, therefore, that so many people fail to achieve what they really want in life?  The reason is not because life is unfair - it is because life usually gives us what we ask for, and we are asking for all the wrong things.

Along with many others in the Personal Development arena I refer to these mental states as "blocks".  They are blocks preventing you achieving what you want to achieve.  The only way you can move forward and get what you really want is to eliminate those blocks.  Permanently.  Once and for all! 

This is easy to say, but not so easy to do.

The first step is to recognize what blocks you have.  Sometimes that is quite straightforward.  You may have recognized and identified with one of the above blocks already.  If so, great!  Knowing which blocks are preventing you moving forward is a very good first step.  In fact, it may even be all that is necessary.  Bringing these negative reactions out into the cold light of day may be enough for you to see them for what they are.  Mental vampires as they are, they cannot stand the sunlight and melt away when you expose them.

The next step, if the block does not immediately melt away, is to affirm the opposite.  If your block was "I don't have enough money to do it!", replace this with something along the lines of "The money I need to .... is flowing towards me, allowing me to succeed in my ambitions".  If it was "It is selfish for me to want that", think about all the good things you can achieve, helping others around you, once you have acquired whatever it is you want, and then write and use an affirmation to express that. 

Some blocks, though, are hidden deep within you.  These are much more difficult to remove.  You may believe you do not have such a negative reaction and never recognize it - but it is still there, hidden away from the light of cold logic, resisting all your attempts to succeed.  Meditating on your goal can be very helpful in unearthing these hidden blocks.

A really good way to find and eliminate hidden blocks is to use the services of a coach who specializes in this area.  One I have found who is excellent at this is Christie Marie Sheldon.  Christie runs free online energy clearing sessions which help with removing blocks.  You can check here for the next available free session:

Free Online Clearing Session