COLLEGE PARK, MD –
Progress is a word we hear a lot in our day and age. It has become a benchmark for whether we are acceptable to society.
Are we progressing? Are our attitudes progressing? Is our dress code progressing? Are our relationships progressing? Are our careers progressing? And like so the interrogation by the inquisition of progression goes on and on.
That inquisition has nothing to do with real progress, of course. Like any inquisition, its foundation is oppression and wanton disregard for the rights of others.
The term progress has been co-opted in recent memory to become a euphemism for how much we’ve left off the practices of the past. And like the baby with the bathwater, all the wisdom of those practices is thrown out, to much detriment, in order to leave behind some less-desirable aspects of them.
And like the baby with the bathwater, what is being done is not beneficial – it is life-killing.
Stopping
Progress is not defined by how much we’ve stopped practicing wisdom from the past, but it is defined by stopping something.
It is defined by stopping our oppressive acts – towards ourselves and others. Put simply: progress is stopping the cycle of oppression.
Think about it. If we are stuck in a cycle we cannot be progressing. No matter what that cycle is. There is no need for anyone to artificially define for us, specifically, what progression is and ostracize those that do not agree with that definition.
Instead, we can generally define how to progress and let people authentically sort it out from there. We are all stuck in cycles that are holding us down and keeping us from living our best lives. Progression will look different for all of us since we are all stuck in our own cycles of oppression.
In the end the method is the same, though. Stop oppressing.
Starting
We have to leave our desires and opinions behind and step out on the limb of right action. The outcome will be the outcome no matter what, it is not in our control. What is in our control is whether we use decisions in our lives as opportunities to progress.
If we step out on the limb, stop performing a wrong action we typically fall into, and do the right thing we usually do not do in a given situation, we will have progressed – guaranteed.
The fun part is witnessing how real progress manifests itself in our best lives.
Wishing for your best,
Tarif