Responsibility

Grant Montgomery: Accepting responsibility

An aspect of personhood that lies within our responsibilities is our behavior, or the way we act or conduct ourselves. If we disown the responsibility for our behavior, we are powerless. We cannot go where we want to in life if we do not own both what we do and what we don’t do.

People out of touch with this truth feel powerless because they have no faith in the basic law of cause and effect. This law is also called the law of reaping and sowing, which governs the entire universe. There is an ordered universe: If we behave in a certain way, certain things happen as a result. It is the basis for our security, for it gives us control of ourselves and our life. Irresponsible people essentially hate this law, and suffer greatly. Responsible people thrive on it.

Life is generally a dependable system. As in the laws of physics, for every action, there is an equal reaction. If we want to stay healthy, then we must eat good food. If we want to have money to pay the mortgage, then we must work.

So on the one hand, we can cause good things to happen. On the other hand, we can cause bad things to happen. This is the law of natural consequences of behavior.

People who obey this universal law feel in control of their lives. People who don’t focus on this law of cause and effect, who don’t own their behavior and the consequences for it, feel enormously powerless. They become dependent on others who encourage their irresponsibility to maintain their dependence.

Anyone raised without the law of cause and effect is destined to battle continually with reality, and live a life of chaos. To own our behavior, to admit it, to recognize it, to acknowledge it, in short, to take responsibility for it, is an important aspect of knowing our boundaries. Another important aspect is knowing that others are likewise responsible for their behavior. These two principles can clear up many identity problems. If we have the attitude that “someone else made me do it!”, we will stumble again and again in our own lives.

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