Comments on: Fear of Failure vs Freedom

By: mainenowandthen

mainenowandthen — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:31:51 +0000

Exactly! Failure is a self-imposed limitation.

By: Freedom Thinker

Freedom Thinker — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:12:42 +0000

Good thoughts! I agree redefining of goals can be a acceptable choice. If for example your goal was X but then you change it to Y and achieve Y then X was always Y you just when you initially began to pursue it you didn’t realize X was actually Y. That is not failure but success. Also, sometimes the original goal of X losses it’s meaning when it becomes Y and there is no need to achieve it. This isn’t failure either. Sometimes things lose their meaning or value. Like just because I didn’t become a lawyer (even though at 16 that’s what I thought I wanted to be) doesn’t mean I’m a failure my priorities changed.

By: mainenowandthen

mainenowandthen — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 18:50:18 +0000

Perhaps another way to regard “failure” is not as an absolute, but as an instance in which desired results were no achieved and thereby can be utilized as a learning experience or “stepping stone” to improve the results of the next attempt.

I would agree that giving up is not a desired solution although sometimes a redefining of goals can be a temporarily acceptable choice. A colleague recently suggested to me that rather than looking at life as a circle (constantly returning to the same points) to instead view a lifeline from the perspective of a corkscrew on its side, recognizing a similar fact pattern from the past, but with the added benefit of experience being able to regard it from a different viewpoint and continue to progress on your individual journey.

By: Freedom Thinker

Freedom Thinker — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 04:21:14 +0000

I hope so! Even if this country throws away what it has freedom in Him and the freedom given by Him cannot be taken away if we hold onto it in our hearts and our actions. It might not be easy and we may suffer but freedom is freedom. It can’t be taken by those that hold it dear in their hearts. I think it was the movie Braveheart in which Mel Gibsons chacter William Wallace famously said, “They can take our lives but they can’t take our freedom.”

As for that spiritual, that is AWESOME. I’d love to hear it sung. Gives me goosebumps just reading the lyrics.

I looked up rest of them to post here for reference because that’s just good stuff…

“Oh Freedom” by Lucy Kinchen Chorale

Oh freedom, oh freedom, oh freedom over me And before I’d be a slave I’ll be buried in a my grave And go home to my Lord and be free

No more mourning, no more mourning, no more mourning over me And before I’d be a slave I’ll be buried in a my grave And go home to my Lord and be free

No more crying, no more crying, no more crying over me And before I’d be a slave I’ll be buried in a my grave And go home to my Lord and be free

Oh freedom, oh freedom, oh freedom over me And before I’d be a slave I’ll be buried in a my grave And go home to my Lord and be free

There’ll be singin’, there’ll be singin’, there’ll be singin’ over me And before I’d be a slave I’ll be buried in a my grave And go home to my Lord and be free

Oh freedom, oh freedom, oh freedom over me And before I’d be a slave I’ll be buried in a my grave And go home to my Lord and be free.

By: theblackcommenter

theblackcommenter — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 03:50:47 +0000

There is an old traditional “Negro” spiritual that says, “O’ freedom, O’ freedom, O’ freedom over me… and before I be a slave, I’ll be buried in my grave and go home to my Lord and be free”

That song is one of the deep anthems of my heart, taught to me by my mother and profound in its lessons. For those of us who have already died with HIM, there is freedom in life and no fear in death, so there is nothing really that man can do to me. That is the freedom HE gives. But there is a common free, HE gives to everyman, that freedom to which the Declaration of Independence refers – rights of life, liberty and the pursuit (though not the guarantee) of happiness. That’s some good stuff right there, and I hope, nay, I pray that we will not lose it, and that your children will grow up in a land where freedom and liberty are not mere words and the declaration not a mere dead letter.