Reflections on Responsibility - December 2016

You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.
Abraham Lincoln

One’s philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes... and the choices we make are ultimately our responsibility.
Eleanor Roosevelt

The message to be taught prior to any future peace consists of the following three clear and practical truths:

1. That the errors and mistakes of past centuries, culminating in the world war, are the joint errors and mistakes of humanity as a whole. This recognition will lead to the establishing of the principle of sharing, so needed in the world today.

2. That there are no problems and conditions which cannot be solved by the will-to-good. Goodwill nourishes the spirit of understanding and fosters the manifestation of the principle of cooperation. This cooperative spirit is the secret of all right human relations and the enemy of competition.

3. That there is a blood relationship between people which, when recognised, dissolves all barriers and ends the spirit of separativeness and hate. The peace and happiness of each is the concern, therefore, of all. This develops the principle of responsibility and lays the foundation of right corporate action.  These are the basic beliefs of the men and women of goodwill and provide the incentive to all service and action. These three practical and scientific truths embody the three basic facts and the initial acceptance of all world servers. They are contrary to no world position, subversive of no government or religious attitude and are innate in the consciousness of all people, evoking immediate response. Their acceptance will “heal” international sores.  I call on all the men and women of goodwill in the world to study the principles of the new world order. I call upon them, as they fight for justice and the rights of the little nations and the future of the children of all nations, to begin to educate those whom they can reach, in right attitudes and in that foresighted vision which will make the mistakes of the past impossible in the future.
Alice Bailey (adapted)

The price of greatness is responsibility.
Winston Churchill

In times like the present, men should utter nothing for which they would not willingly be responsible through time and eternity.
Abraham Lincoln

Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.
George Bernard Shaw

The sense of responsibility shines forth in flickering flames from every soul which has sought and found alignment. Fan those flames into a steady fire in every soul you meet.
Alice Bailey

Where globalization means, as it so often does, that the rich and powerful now have new means to further enrich and empower themselves at the cost of the poorer and weaker, we have a responsibility to protest in the name of universal freedom.
Nelson Mandela  

The salvation of this human world lies nowhere else than in the human heart, in the human power to reflect, in human meekness and human responsibility.
Vaclav Havel