BEYOND RULES TO RESPONSIBILITY

In our daily routine we blindly follow other people's directions instead of relying on our own intelligence because it is easy to place responsibility on others. Once, a sergeant in his training session asked the recruits why walnut wood was used for making the rifle. The recruits thought hard and one of them answered, 'Because walnut is harder than other types of nuts.'


The sergeant brushed him off saying , 'Wrong!' Another recruit ventured , 'Because it is more durable.' The sergeant's voice boomed, 'Wrong !' A third person tried his luck, 'Because it is waterproof .' The sergeant tired of the answers by now, replied, 'You boys surely have a lot to learn. Simple reason: that is what is laid down in the rule book!' You say you are obedient, but you are actually shirking the responsibility of owning up to your actions. This is a dangerous and age-old habit — following the rule book is dangerous because sometimes you are not even aware that you are missing responsibility and intelligence. You become a parrot — repeating the same thing for years together because someone told it to you.

Once, a convict was scolding his lawyer, 'You are a useless lawyer. You don't even understand your responsibility of when to raise an objection.' The puzzled lawyer asked him, 'I don't understand. When do you think I should have raised an objection when I didn't ?' The convict replied, 'When the opposing lawyer spoke, you objected. But, when the judge declared me guilty , you kept your mouth shut.'


It is always easy to put the blame on the whole world. But, if you just look a little deeper, you can see how you are responsible for what is happening in your life! Because you do not live every moment with awareness and take responsibility for your words and actions, you do so many things unconsciously. Then, when the effects of these actions happen, you claim you don't deserve the results.


Acting out of your own intelligence is always taking complete responsibility for what you do. When you obey someone else you feel that you are being subservient to that person. But when you disobey that person, you feel guilty. The way out of this conflict is to follow your intelligence with the understanding you alone are responsible for your action. Then you will not hurt anyone including yourself. And you will be responding intelligently to the person you are disobeying as well. Be Blissful!