The Reverend Charles Robinson Message continues
Freedom exists, but in ways more limited than we are accustomed to thinking and recognizing. Consider this analogy. Eleven high jumpers stand in front of a bar four feet above the ground. The first jumper is wearing only his shoes and running clothes. The second, however, also has a one-pound weight attached to each ankle. The third, a two-pound weight. All the way up to the eleventh jumper who has a ten pound weight attached to each ankle. Now, the first, the sixth, and the eleventh jumpers are all "free" to choose to jump the high bar, but they are not free in the same ways. They do not share the same level of freedom because of that which is attached to them. That which each is carrying represents you, me, and all of our fellow human beings. For each of us, our freedom is bit different, somewhat more or less extensive. This is why we must never stand in judgment of another; why we must never assume our success makes us better or superior to someone we perceive and judge as less successful. . .
We cannot allow, however, this to move us to simply sit down and give up on ourselves and our lives. We cannot allow ourselves, in spite of the extent that our lives are predetermined or significantly influenced, to lose hope in freedom and its possibilities. A sliver of the pie is the area of our mind where real freedom to choose abides and it is that part of the pie that is Sartre's and Jesus' concern. I suggest that both would want each of us to grab hold of our lives; to take full responsibility for each and every choice while aggressively rejecting any temptation to rattle off a list of excuses. "No excuses!" was Sartre's constant refrain. We are always responsible, and we cannot escape that reality. We must avoid indulging in the exercise of blaming someone else when things do not go our way. According to Sartre, we are always responsible for what we do, who we are and even for the state of the world. We are not always free to succeed in whatever we are endeavoring to accomplish, but we are always free to try, to give it our best, to take hold of our lives and push ourselves toward our goals. And this is why it is always appropriate for us to encourage one another, to praise and affirm one another and to help one another.
Therefore, as is so often the case with spiritual wisdom, we are once again faced with a paradox. Our minds are largely formed and our lives shaped by forces and experiences we did not choose and yet, in a profound sense, we are our choices. We know that our freedom is conditioned and limited, yet nevertheless we must choose to act, to decide, to take hold of our lives to the fullest extent possible. This is what Jesus was saying to the woman at the well: open your mind and heart to choose Love, Compassion, and Goodness and to make your choices from those virtues. Choose to look beyond the limits in which you have yourself imprisoned and see that one is made whole by choosing Love over fear and that which is Eternal over that which is already passing away. The mistake we make is in giving ourselves too much credit when things go well or too much blame when we fail or suffer. . .
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