Recently, I wrote a song called Risky Business. actually, I’ve written a lot of songs but this one is one of may favorites. You can listen to it below…
I’ve had a number of reactions to the lyrics however. I say that “you must blame yourself” in the song – which is about life in general. A couple of people queried this line and I thought I would respond. What this song is about is accepting personal responsibility. That’s a pretty unpopular idea these days as everyone more or less blames everything and everyone for their problems and rarely simply accepts that their life is their own responsibility.
In my little book on creating reality, I said…
As an esotericist, I have come to the conclusion that I am responsible for myself. I have half an idea that for many new agers and the like, this statement is akin to saying I am a Satanist, but I stand by my statement, nonetheless. We all create our reality—this place in which we live. We create it in the way that we see things and how we act. Thoughts are things, and they manifest as reality. Only I can create my reality, therefore, I am responsible for my thoughts and what they create. As a self-responsible co-creator of this reality we live in, I must strive to improve myself. I don’t mean make more money or buy a bigger house. No, I mean improve myself spiritually, and as I do so, the changes in my thinking, perceptions and actions will help to co-create a better reality.
Today, too many people are here for the ride. They seem to believe that they are owed a life and not just that, but a good life. They look to others to take responsibility for their lives, too. In part, the system creates this codependency as we now fail to educate or even value education. We fail to value charity as well. In the USA, the whole system was based on the freedom to build a life and then pay society back through charity, but the do-gooders want a safety net. They want the wealthy to pay and forget charity. They want a socialist utopia that fails and will fail because it creates dependency. It erodes the idea of taking responsibility for self-improvement. It enslaves people to misery by having them rely on others to create reality.
These days, there are so many people cheating the system. Collecting benefits by fraud, not paying taxes by dealing in cash, not issuing receipts to avoid VAT, cheating on expenses and so on. There is this pervasive sense of ‘I must get ahead at any cost’ and it crosses social and political dividing lines, too. This erosion of moral values is another facet of the idea that ‘I am not responsible’ – someone else is. It is all about understanding that each and every one of us is personally responsible for own actions and behavior. If we cheat the system then we are contributing to a reality in which it’s okay to cheat your neighbor and in which others will emulate.
I often hear people say, “Well, I have no choice because the system is a certain way.” It may very well be, but that doesn’t give you an exception from accepting personal responsibility for your life and actions! In essence, if you don’t accept personal responsibility then you are simply just another manipulated and semi-conscious sheep.
If we are to improve our communal lot, it isn’t through leveling the playing field, punishing successful people, rewarding sloth and laziness with unnecessary benefits, idolizing the useless (sports people, actors, singers, etc.) while penalizing the talented (teachers, nurses, etc.). No, we must continually remind ourselves that we must all accept personal responsibility, not just for ourselves, but for the reality we all live in. We must seek to improve ourselves so that we improve the whole. We must learn that true love of our fellow man isn’t giving them something for nothing and making them more dependent. No, it’s teaching them self-respect and how to accept responsibility.
So what I mean by accepting responsibility and blaming ourselves is this – we create our own lives albeit in an environment that we must deal with and sometimes respect. Given that, the only person to blame for not succeeding is ourself. We must know who we are and what we want and then we must imagine, pray, visualize and meditate it into reality and the only way that works is through work. There are no shortcuts or magic bullets and if there are, they usually come with a cost, a downside.
So, yes. It may be unpopular and politically incorrect but we must all accept responsibility for own lives first and foremost. We must accept life is a risky business but the risk is worth taking…..