Harriet Tubman: Addictions and Freedom

Addictions and Freedom

As I was reaching for my fourth chocolate chip cookie, I was reminded in the reading below that freedom comes in many forms and sometimes a cookie is not just a cookie so Auntie dropped in to set me straight. Then David Johnson asked for a clarifier and my take is below. Please let me know if this resonates with any of you.

“Harriet Tubman” or “Auntie”:

"You gonna give up yo' freedom for that? Freedom's the mos' important thing there is."

Now, chile, I see you reach fo’ that cookie, that sweet that you thinks brings you to de kingdom of heaven but pretty soon it do just the reverse. But you cain’t see that when that need claw at yo’ innards. What I wants to say to you, chile, is, you gonna give up yo’ freedom for that? Freedom’s the mos’ important thing they is. It let you come to Jesus, it let you choose yo’ mark, it let you reach out with love to thems that done you wrong.

Ain’t no piece o’ candy or nothing in this world worth the price of that freedom. Now you let that go, that thing that calls you whatever it be, that thing that keeps yo’ mind from going any place else. Then you gonna feel the world open up around you. Now you can walks where you want to no matter what the sign says. “No Colored Allowed” posted all over de south, but that didn’t change the freedom we carried inside when we marched. “We’ll take care o’ you, you don’t need to vote” was the battle cry of the suffragettes when they made the freedom they carried inside come into being on the outside.

Now you folks livin’ in this topsy turvy world today don’t have nothing on the rest of us freedom marchers. Freedom, chile, don’t you know what I mean? It comes from de inside, the freedom to say what’s true, to see what’s true, and to make what’s true come true on the outside because mo’ and mo’ peoples carry it on the inside. And that freedom is the gift and glory of the Lord who holds our hand through the fire and beyond. Dat’s what you see when you got de sight and everyone have it if’n they just raise their eyes to de Lord and claim that freedom He gave us when we born. They can take our lives, our chillun and our homes, but they can take our freedom less’un we let ‘em.

David Johnson: So is she literally talking about candy?

Ann: Yeah, I think so - and any other substance, or activity I might use to tie myself to a lower frequency consciousness by allowing it to govern how I run my life. I think she is talking about addiction where the addition of choice, food, alcohol, work, exercise, governs your waking life to the exclusion of spirit. For example, if I am constantly thinking about when I have my chocolate, wine, whatever, planning for it, hoarding it, using it as a reward, comfort which I have to have to get through whatever I am doing, then I am not free. And yes, guilty as charged. And it can escalate as it does for example with severe alcoholics for example until the addiction is the only thing I think about. Freedom is the ability to come and go with the chocolate, etc, without having it be central to how I plan my day.

Anyway, as you can see it resonated with me.... So do you think I put the cookie back?

Cheers,

Ann

All blog entries are works of the imagination and are for spiritual and entertainment purposes only.