Throughout life responsibility is a catch phrase people use to establish accountability, blame, trust, and maturity. For most, it is a burden placed upon them. This, however, is not the case for a Shadow adept. To the Shadow, personal responsibility is a gift of power and control over our selves, our environment, and in some cases over others. When the Shadow adept decides to take personal responsibility it does not mean they will get a job done on time or be where they say they will be. It’s so much more then that, they are saying that they take responsibility for every action or inaction they make, how they are affected by others actions, emotions and attitudes, and also how they affect others with their actions/inactions, emotions and attitudes.
To take responsibility for our actions/inactions seems easy enough, but when looking deeper many people push the responsibility off on others people or situations. Being a Shadow means that we want as much control over ourselves as is humanly possible and by wanting this we take on a great deal of responsibility. Whose fault/responsibility is it if you twist your ankle, by stepping in a pothole, in a parking lot? Some would say it’s the parking lot owners responsibility, for not keeping it pothole free. But the Shadow takes responsibility for this knowing that they should have been more aware of their surroundings. If you were to step in a rabbit hole in a field you would not blame the rabbit. Well…. You might curse the rabbit but deep down you know where the blame lies.
A Shadow adept is always striving to be more aware. This helps us find harmony and balance, teaches us adaptability, and in turn increases our sphere of responsibility. As our awareness grows we see the ripples in the force and only through personal responsibility, can we draw strength in the fact that we have control of the ripples we create and also control of how we react to the ripples coming to us. This is why we must be conscious of how our environment and others affect us. We don’t want to be weak-minded by letting ripples that come our way control what we do or who we are. That is why we take responsibility for how others affect us. Through internal awareness we understand our initial reactions to stimulus and learn to adapt and grow and learn to control these instinctual actions. It is our choice how we act! We are not puppets controlled by a god, fate, situations, or people.
A Shadow takes responsibility for their every action, or lack there of. We don’t feel the need to justify what we have done because we are confident in the choices we make and we are willing to accept the consequences, good or bad. This does not mean that the Shadow is cocky or arrogant. Quite the contrary, humility is the key to taking advantage of power we have given ourselves. Through awareness, balance and adaptability the Shadow learns how to examine their world and understand the affects of their actions emotions and attitudes. When the Shadow makes the decision to act they have thought it through and have an idea of the outcome. They are secure in their actions and if asked can explain or clarify why they acted as they did.
Lets digress a bit into some words I’ve thrown out as they relate to personal responsibility. First, justification; this is what a person does when they aren’t sure of the actions they have taken. They explain what they have done and why, to anyone that will listen, hoping to get a positive reaction or an affirmation of their actions. If an affirmation isn’t given the person will then become defensive. Someone who is confident and taking true responsibility in what they have done doesn’t feel they need to justify or defend. Now, if a bystander asks why an action was taken a Shadow who is confident and who has taken responsibility will give an explanation or give clarification. This person isn’t looking for an affirmation they are just stating what brought them to their decision. If their actions were wrong they accept that and learn from it, dwelling won’t help and neither does justifying. Growth comes from mistakes.
With that said lets go back to the beginning of this lecture where I stated that the Shadow also takes responsibility for how they affect others through their actions/inactions, emotions and attitudes. Why if we must take responsibility for how we are affected, must we also take responsibility for how we affect others? It follows that if we must do it for ourselves then others must do it for themselves. But as I stated earlier to be weak-minded it to let ripples affect actions and thoughts. Those that don’t want to take responsibility let themselves be directed, believing that God, or fate control their path, when in reality it is the people around them sending them in different directions. Unlike the Star Wars universe, it’s not a matter of taking control of another’s mind and making them say what you wish them to. It’s more subtle. The power over the weak-minded is done by observation and sending the proper emotions and attitudes to get a desired response. This is all about being aware of yourself, people, and situations.
Personal responsibility takes on a greater dimension when viewed though the eyes of a Shadow. Although we strive for balance with the force and the ability to flow this doesn’t mean we are at the mercy of our environment. Finding balance and being able to flow means, understanding our world, adapting to it and taking responsibility for ourselves. The force is there for us but we can’t take advantage of it unless we are aware and are willing to take responsibility. Only then can we understand the true benefit and power of what we have and who we are. Be mindful.