“Not everything is lost. Responsibility cannot be lost, it can only be abdicated. If one refuses abdication, one begins again.”  – James Baldwin, Just Above My Head

It’s been suggested that the spiritual practice of accountability is being answerable to someone who helps you stay on target for your spiritual goals and your other life endeavors. In this frame, accountability is something that happens between two people (or a small group of people) who are open, honest, and transparent with each other about what is really happening in their lives, the struggles they are facing, and how they are responding. Together, they check in on each other, encourage each other, and remind each other of the promises and commitments they’ve made. Who are you accountable to in your life? 

In the political framework, we speak about holding our elected officials accountable to the will of the people, particularly those most impacted by various injustices, as opposed to elected officials being accountable to corporate interests or a select group of citizens.

 Closer to our (religious and spiritual) home, the proposed 8th Principle of Unitarian Universalism says, “We, the member congregations of the Unitarian Universalist Association, covenant to affirm and promote: journeying toward spiritual wholeness by working to build a diverse multicultural Beloved Community by our actions that accountability dismantles racism and other oppressions in ourselves and our institutions.”

In all of these framings, accountability is a kind of responsibility – to be responsible to one’s own heart and goals, to be responsible to those one represents, and to be responsible for creating the Beloved Community. 

Accountability and responsibility can be abdicated. But if we refuse abdication and choose accountability, then we begin again. We choose to change our behaviors and institutions. We tell the truth about how we have fallen short and listen to the truth of those we have impacted. We care for those around us and center those who have been most impacted by our actions. This is how we begin again in accountable relationships.