{"id":5941,"date":"2019-07-03T19:20:54","date_gmt":"2019-07-03T19:20:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/flightofthesoul\/?p=5941"},"modified":"2020-02-07T07:54:41","modified_gmt":"2020-02-07T07:54:41","slug":"love-declaration-independence-pursuit-happiness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/flightofthesoul\/2019\/07\/love-declaration-independence-pursuit-happiness.html","title":{"rendered":"Love. The Declaration of Independence. In Pursuit of Happiness."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>What More Loving Act is There than to Declare before the world, our God and those folks in it, our connection, our purpose and our intentions? It is a choice to love.<\/p>\n<h1>A new world of freedom, ideas, light and power.<\/h1>\n<p>If you haven&#8217;t read the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.archives.gov\/founding-docs\/declaration-transcript\">Declaration of Independence<\/a> it is always a great place to start as we\u00a0celebrate its\u00a0signing, and honor\u00a0the roots of our democracy. It is an ever beautiful reminder of the return to the ground of our beginnings.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-5943\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/305\/2019\/07\/My-Post-2-300x300.png\" alt=\"Fly Eagle Fly America\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" \/><\/p>\n<p>It marks the first step in the process that would become\u00a0an American\u00a0Revolution\u00a0&#8211; the declaration of our intent to be free of tyranny. It was the first step in\u00a0a process of war with England that would birth a nation out from under the oppression of a King. No one knew if democracy would work, or if it was even possible. What they did know, to declare freedom in this way was considered treason and was punishable by being &#8216;drawn and quartered.&#8217; I won&#8217;t bore you with the gross details but suffice it to say it was a horrible way to die.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-4359\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/305\/2014\/03\/LoveLand101-300x187.jpg\" alt=\"#LoveLand101\" width=\"300\" height=\"187\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I imagine folks were afraid, but,\u00a0<em>&#8220;<\/em><em>When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth&#8230;&#8221;\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>This radical step required courage of\u00a0new thinking, it required working together in unanimous consent\u00a0and it required all of the horrible events and\u00a0sacrifices necessary<span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0to rise up and defeat a mighty King. Most importantly it required the\u00a0elegance\u00a0of imagination. Imagining a world pursuing happiness, representing values of and by the earth and it required persistent loving action after the initial declaration, a belief in a new order for the ages. The seeds planted on this day we continue to grow in our daily care and work to realize the imagination of a new way.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h1>A TESTAMENT TO LOVE<\/h1>\n<p>Make today a\u00a0testament to our ancestors, to the meaning of\u00a0July 4th and all it represents. May you be\u00a0well and feel ready and encouraged to lay down your own declaration of independence in celebration of your dreams for a new day.\u00a0May the blessings of summer abound as July stretches into the grace of possibility. May you stay connected to your loving heart as you act with kindness in\u00a0total support and\u00a0the inspiration of your deepest inner connected power. Have fun out there and today,<span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0may you remember the power of everyday love to connect to each other and a world of peace in pursuit of happiness and justice for all.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Love, Mel<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What More Loving Act is There than to Declare before the world, our God and those folks in it, our connection, our purpose and our intentions? It is a choice to love. A new world of freedom, ideas, light and power. If you haven&#8217;t read the Declaration of Independence it is always a great place&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":451,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66,212,6],"tags":[386,387,12,16,388],"class_list":["post-5941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-100-days-of-love-and-inspiration","category-all-systems-love","category-announcements","tag-declaration-of-independence","tag-july-4th","tag-love","tag-melanie-lutz","tag-patriotism"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Love. The Declaration of Independence. 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