Have you ever been a part of a group where you felt like you had to give up a level of personal freedom or expression to stay apart of that group? Maybe it was a group of friends in highschool or college that you felt like you had to act a certain way that wasn’t truly you to fit in and stay a part of the group. Maybe you have been in a group where one of the leaders tried to control you or have you operate in a way that felt unhealthy or was only serving their needs.
The vibration or consciousness of a group originates from its leaders, the policies and procedures these leaders create and then how these are actually held up in reality. When there is someone who brings a more free way of being into a group where control is the predominant paradigm that individual will either adjust to the less free way of being, be cast out or they will raise the group’s consciousness so that it operates at a higher functioning level.
In prison I was kicked out of the “whites” because I choose to be nice and kind to other races. The whites didn’t like that I treated other races just like everyone else. This was threatening to them and saw that I weakened the group because of how I treated others.
When this happened the leader of the whites made up all kinds of stories to justify kicking me out. He shunned me and told the other whites not to associate with me. He told me I could no longer sit with the whites at meals and if we had been friends on facebook I am sure he would have unfriended me. (there was no facebook access in prison)
After all of this happened a few of the whites came to me and told me that they respected how I handled the situation and they wished they could have made the same stand but that they were afraid and would stay associated as a white.
In prison I choose not to play the game of prison politics because I felt this limited my full expression of being.
Are you willing to sacrifice freedom for safety, opportunity, or acceptance? I for one am not willing to sacrifice freedom for these things. I am here as a stand for freedom as an expression of freedom. Freedom is one of my most important values.
Group dynamics, patterns and levels of group consciousness are extremely hard to shift. The only way it is possible is if the leaders of the group shift or if enough people in the group shift to cause the leaders to face what they haven’t been willing to face. It may only take one person to cause a shift or it may take hundreds or thousands. In the end it is what you are willing to stand for and what you are willing to give up to be free.
