Responsibility comes with maturity. That means we need experience, knowledge and comprehension. We can only take responsibility when we understand what is going on. Then we can act in a way that supports an intended outcome. That is what taking responsibility is all about. To the extend of our comprehension we can take responsibility and serve us and our surroundings in accordance with our own values and goals. If we do not understand, then we take orientation from others who understand more or appear to do so. We give away responsibility and serve others, thereby possibly supporting values and goals that are not our own. Responsibility, comprehension and freedom go hand in hand.
If we want to understand, we must think ourselves. Thinking for yourself is not a betrayal of the collective, not a fraud against solidarity, not a threat to the general public – such statements are clear commitments to authoritarian structures. The goal of a dictatorship is always to centralize responsibility, away from the individuals towards the authority. To promote acceptance of this, fear is created and safety is promised. This topic is just as relevant today as it was in the past centuries. We have many examples in the far and near past, more and more on a global scale.
Believing in truth does not require an ideology, no blind trust, but the courage to question what is not allowed to be questioned. To recognize reality, I have to observe without prejudice. That is not possible unless I can question the beliefs that I previously adopted. While watching TV or the program I trust on the internet, there is no direct connection to the real world. Instead I get content that is presented to me, that others created or selected. I give responsibility away and adopt a prepared perspective, often without knowing or questioning the motives behind the presented selection. This way illusions can be created that have little or nothing to do with reality. They can become more real and impact the world like a self-fulfilling prophecy. Who simply consumes information without thinking through it and without questioning it, gives up responsibility and becomes a piece in the game of politics and media.
We do not need to fully comprehend the entire world to take responsibility. However, a good understanding of my own worldview is very helpful. It is also helpful to know the limits of my knowledge, so I stay motivated to observe and learn. It is very helpful to know the basic laws of both nature and thinking. And it is helpful to know the structure of the system that we live in and that impacts us all the time. We must actively seek that knowledge, because at school we only learn about the facade of the system, not the structure behind it. About economy and finance, and mostly about ourselves, our thinking and feeling, very little is taught in the primary and secondary schools. Even at many universities, little is known about the nature of life or a human being. When we start to learn about who we are it becomes noticeable how little we served ourselves and how much we served other interests. Todays education system was designed to enable people to be productive in the industry and was over time adopted to the needs of a service society. With this in mind it is easy to fall into the role of the victim, blaming society and the system. Then self-pity is cultivated and everything, including my own helplessness, is bewailed. Many stay on that level, and that is entirely in the spirit of the system. It is our task to recognize that and move on. The first intermediate goal is that we actually want responsibility.
Freedom today is often misunderstood for the possibility or duty to choose out of a number of given alternatives. The number and absurdity of given choices is therefore currently escalating in a failed effort to expand our freedom. Real freedom comes with taking responsibility. To become free, we must think ourselves. But we do have the freedom to not think and remain unfree.
We have responsibility for us, but also for the people around us. It is important that we offer help to others in areas where we are ahead. It is equally important that we can accept help from others in areas where they are ahead of us. Both parties share responsibility for help to bear fruit and contribute to the development of everyone involved. The person with more experience usually can take more responsibility here. Being able to help requires much practice and good observation and evaluation of the counterpart. Usually we want to help and it easily happens that we remove too many stepping stones out of someone else’s path and thereby take away their opportunities to learn. Or we overwhelm someone with too much new input. Especially parents have a huge responsibility for their children. We grow with our tasks. Good preparation is valuable, but we must also forgive mistakes that we and others make. We are here to learn and to grow and that will always include making mistakes. With mistakes, new experiences and possibilities arise.