Define Yourself!

By Christine Agro



For the past eight months I have been working on a special project, a book, to help women step into full empowerment.  One of the great things that happens when I write is that as I put down a thought, the energy of that thought spirals out showing me universal information and gives me a deeper understanding and greater context for that initial concept.

In the process of writing this book, many things have become deeply clear about our lives as women especially what keeps us separate from ourselves and from each other.  One area I've been gaining that deeper, more clear insight is in how we define ourselves.

Today I want to talk about religion and law.


No matter what country, culture or religion we claim, it is either man-made-law or man's interpretation of religion that attempts to define us as women.  But neither of these sources are divine truth, both are constructs based in a need to protect, control and parent a group, a society or even a nation.

Just as parents impose limits, beliefs and constructs on their children, religion and law do the same for their children.  Religion strives to explain who we are, why we are and how we should live.  No matter what religion, it offers dogma that initially was meant to guide and support us on our journey.  As religions evolved, guidance turned to protection, protection to control and ultimately control to power.  For many women, religion defines who they are, what they can do, who they can be, how they can act and it doesn't matter what religion, each has its list of rules and expectations for women that keeps them separate from their divine self.

Law, which is in itself man-made, strives to create order, civility and again protection for its children, but law has become a means by which we have or do not have.  It is a select group, in any country, who determine what is expectable and what is not, what is permissible and what is not.  For women there is at least one rule within that law or that religion, and in some cases both, that defines who we are as women.

I am not denouncing religion and law, but I am asking women to wake-up and be conscious to the information, 'guidelines' and absolutes that define who we are.  For example right now the women in Saudi Arabia are fighting for the right to drive. Whether it is religion or law or both that claims they cannot have this right, it is man-made.

All around the world women are defined by both of these constructs which then seeps out into culture and acceptable norms.

I am writing this today to let you know that neither law nor religion defines us. We may have to live within its definitions, but they only define us if we allow them to.

Hold true to the Divine within you. Hold true to knowing that our power comes from within and external definition and limitation can only take that power away if we allow it.

We may choose to fight the definitions, or simply work within them, but whatever your choice, know that who you are cannot be defined by law or religion.