In NEW YORK, August 8, 2012.
Released for the Semiquincentennial
A DECLARATION
For the FORLORN SEEKER
and the HOPEFUL PROCRASTINATOR of the
RAINY DAY rEVOLUTION
In CONTEMPLATIVE MEDITATION assembled.
Inspired by the many universally liberating ideas proclaimed before.
Driven by personal revelations with an emboldening hope for that which should no longer be postponed for a Rainy Day.
WHEN, in the course of one’s journey through life, it becomes necessary to transform an incongruous consciousness and to assume by one’s own faculty, a new and individual station to which the laws of nature and human rights entitle one, and ought to empower one; a decent self-respect requires that one declare the causes which impel one to rEVOLUTION.
I hold these truths to be self-evident, that ALL are born free and ought to be treated equally, regardless of identity, race, gender, age, class, religion, sexual orientation, nationality, political beliefs, or any other factor. That we are endowed by our very existence and by virtue of our rationality and sentimentally with certain unalienable rights that, among these, are: life, liberty, and the freedom to develop one’s own consciousness. These rights also include: the right to freedom of thought and expression, including the right to manifest and change such manifestations as one sees fit; the right to peaceful assembly and association; the right to security of person and mind, including the right to defend oneself from threats both from without and self-inflicted; the right to be free from arbitrary interference with one’s manner of living, provided it does not interfere with another’s enjoyment of rights; and the right to live free from want and fear. Principal among these rights are the rights to harmoniously pursue and sufficiently actualize happiness.
That these essential rights establish a basis upon which a just and compassionate consciousness might form, and through which, one might not only pursue relative happiness, but come to understand it on one’s own terms, define it, and experience it with a willingness to help others attain the same for themselves. That one has the right to grow such a consciousness by engaging in mutually respectful relationships and partaking in enriching activities which inspire, stimulate, and exercise; leveraging universal events in order to learn through personal exploration, experience, and by assigning meaning to both successes and failures. Furthermore, that one can seize opportunities to act according to one’s principals, thereby developing and reinforcing one’s belief systems. That through self-examination, one can become a better, wiser, and kinder individual. Above all, that through one’s own enlightenment, one does indeed have perpetual permission to hope and ought to believe that one’s actions and convictions can realize one’s own aspirations as well as those of others.
That one’s individual consciousness is, and by right ought to be, self-governed, and one has the right not to, and ought not to, assign consent for any other to govern. In order to secure these rights, one’s essence is miraculously endowed; evoking just powers from within. That through one’s salient autonomy and agency, resulting character can nurture one’s unique voice and identity. And, from the wellspring of identity, one can draw the creativity, resilience, tolerance, endurance, focus, and faith which are not only needed to survive, but generate a sense of purpose, and motivate action that will improve oneself, others, and our collective Karma; that, in celebration, one has the right to claim one’s place in the universe.
That whenever any order of consciousness becomes destructive of these ends, it is one’s right to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new order of consciousness, laying its foundation on such principals and organizing its powers in such form, as to oneself shall seem most likely to affect one’s safety, happiness, and identity. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that an order of consciousness long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience has demonstrated, that one’s order of consciousness is more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right itself by abolishing the forms to which it is accustomed. But when a long succession of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce it under absolute despotism, it is one’s right, it is one’s duty to throw off such an order of consciousness, and to provide a new guard for one’s future security. It is one’s duty to compel oneself to obtain recourse for self-preservation. Such has been the patient sufferance of my order of consciousness and such is now the necessity, which constrains me to alter it.
The history of my present order of consciousness is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over my happiness and identity. Furthermore, this is a history robbed of essential self-determination, plagued by global obstruction, which causes me to postpone these ends for a metaphorical Rainy Day that has yet to appear; the nature and existence of which, is neither derived from, nor restricted by privilege.
You have led me to believe that I ought not to be treated equally, leaving me exposed to and defenseless against all dangers of transgression including unfair treatment of person, mind, and property.
You abdicated my self-respect and deemed others exempt from demonstrating respect on my behalf.
You have subjected me to relentless and powerful psychological attacks, both outwardly derived and emanating from within, including acts of malice, manipulation, moral judgment, ridicule, and condemnation.
You have continually suspended my ability to reason, by way of distraction, inhibition, intervention, doubt, and abasement, with the dual intention of fatiguing me from engaging in constructive contemplation.
You have convinced me that I have nothing to contribute worth-while, wholesome, or necessary for the public good; nor is there an audience soliciting such contributions.
You have stunted my ability to identify, retain, and apply language to the manifestation of my principals, ideas, sentiments, and grievances, not withstanding, the language to serve in my own defense.
You have considered my partaking in enriching activities to be unearned and acts for which I should reside to guilt; that any joy, satisfaction, inspiration, or lessons-learned therein, would achieve no end.
You have classified my personal character and experience to be of a lesser value than that of others.
You have attributed my successes to haphazard fortune and my failures to an innate naiveté and ineptitude.
You have blinded me from opportunities to act in accordance with my principals and in defiance of corrupt moral authority.
You have caused me to be unnecessarily busy, forcing upon me, the assumption that harmony cannot be achieved by means of the current activity.
You have cheated me of the self-assurance, which would impel me to associate with respected peers and to engage in mutually respectful relationships.
You have conceptualized happiness on my behalf, as an unattainable, ephemeral, and retrospective occurrence; a mystery and luxury, which others alone can enjoy, and need not share in practice or elucidation.
You have deluded me with the notion that by pleasing, rescuing, and helping others to actualize their happiness, I would attain happiness for myself.
You have supposed that my actions and convictions are not capable of achieving my own aspirations and that I should, therefore allocate energies towards the aspirations of others, which furthermore, are of greater priority.
You have utterly neglected and denied my general preferences, indefinitely assigning a greater importance to the preferences of others.
You have caused me to focus solely on the negative in myself and in circumstances through destructive internal dialogues and excessive self-critique.
You have cautioned me that I cannot escape the trappings of the past and that any error committed therein is entirely irreparable.
You have clouded my ability to call upon my memory as a battery of prudence.
You have encouraged me to avoid difficult and unpleasant tasks, leading me to believe that no good can come from them.
You have endeavored to prevent me from seeking or engaging in cognitive therapy, so I ought not identify behaviors or circumstances that lead to trouble or find recourse to eradicate them.
You have rendered my feelings useless; either demanding proactive suppression or remedy by way of “rational thinking”, resulting in elevated hostility towards myself and others.
For plundering my self-esteem, ravaging my self-confidence, and undermining my competency.
For being indifferent, negligent, and withholding any sign of consideration or remorse.
For leaving me bound to anxiety, fear, and pessimism for the outcome of any situation.
For alienating me.
For causing me to disengage from the present.
For suggesting that I am ungrateful.
For leveraging my weaknesses to grow your own strength.
You have forbidden the assent to reality, those things which might lead to my well-being.
You have incited insurrections against me upon my attempts to assert jurisdiction over my own destiny.
You have overwhelmed my submission response; forcing me into compliance and driving me towards deranged dynamics of dependency.
You have effectively affirmed your dominance over me by establishing perfection as the one and only standard; and as one who could never achieve it, I should therefore, live forever in shame.
You appropriate my hope as an opiate, meant to blind me from want.
In every stage of this existential and cognitive dissonance, both externally inflicted and self-imposed, I have petitioned for redress in desperate and humble terms; my repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated spiritual, moral, physical, and psychological injury. A consciousness which will permit and passively foster such wrongs, offenses, abuses, and exploitations; is thus marked by every act which may deem it defective, and is unfit to be the presiding force of a dignified existence.
Nor have I been wanting in attentions to my kin and comrades. I warned them from time to time of attempts by external and self-generated forces to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over my reason. I have reminded them of the circumstances of my turmoil and the nature of my despondency. I have appealed to their supposed compassion and self-declared magnanimity, and I have conjured them by the ties of our common interests to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of empathy and primordial consanguinity. I must, therefore, observe the necessity, which denounces my transformation, and hold them, as I hold all influences, inconsequential when committing acts of malice, and dear when engaging in deeds of love and kindness.
I, therefore, a vanguard of the RAINY DAY rEVOLUTION, in contemplative meditation, assembled, appealing to the compassion of all sentient beings for the rectitude of my intentions, do, in the name, and by authority of my true voice, which has thus emerged and will continue to form through this imperative paradigmatic personal metamorphosis, solemnly publish and declare: I am and of right ought to be of a NEW ORDER OF CONSCIOUSNESS; that it is absolved from allegiance to external and self-destructive influences, and that all connections between it and its former order, are and ought to be totally dissolved; and with this new order of consciousness, I have full power to maintain physical and mental health, find inspiration, establish and express beliefs, pursue education and skills, form relationships, seek refuge, solicit support, build a home, travel, obtain property, develop interests, provide charity, and to do all other acts and things which an independent consciousness may of right do. Paramount among them is the obligation to RESIST THE AFFLICTION, WHICH CAUSES ONE TO POSTPONE AN ENTIRE WAY OF LIVING, lest I renounce the establishment of my own happiness, FOR A RAINY DAY. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on self-love, self-worth, self-respect, and self-discipline; I emphatically pledge my life, my resources, and my sacred honor.
May I, through this non-violent rEVOLUTION, find wisdom, character, and harmony; may I find beauty, adventure, and moments of high victory. May I resolutely believe that I am capable of doing improbable and impossible things. May I learn from and recover swiftly from failure. May I forgive myself as well as others. May I be medicine for all sick beings in the world until I, and everyone, are healed. May I experience and be a servant of peace. May I hope and be a purveyor of hope. May I see the way and be a guide for others. May I defend my true self and be a protector for those without protection. May I never forget that oppression rallies the power to oppose it. May all those who wish harm upon others have the fortune to fully awaken.
May TODAY forever be that RAINY DAY on which I live and love with my whole heart.
Signed by you and I, with volition, and in behalf of the
RAI NY DAY rEVOLUTION.
[soliloquy]
ATTEST.
ONCE & FUTURE EVOLUTIONARIES
*
This Declaration is a creative exercise in human autodidacticism, insofar as that is that is respectfully possible.
It draws inspiration, wisdom, and language from psychological theory, The United States Declaration of Independence, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
Shantideva’ s Bodhisattva Vow, and Chancellor John Gabbert Bowman’ s commemoration of the University of Pittsburgh’ s Cathedral of Learning.
PLEASE ADVISE OF CONTENT WHICH REQUIRES CITATION, REFERENCE, OR OTHER ATTENTION