Once again, thank you for reading the dictionary definition of the word responsible.

Now, at the risk of embarrassing you, pretend that a student asks you, "What does responsible mean?" You now must explain exactly what you just read to a student. Keep in mind that it may be the clearest explanation he/she will get for his/her entire life. It will serve as the point of view from which to communicate about the results they produce, for life, especially during a divorce. Please do that now—in your mind. Well, I think you get my point.

Here's another definition of the word responsibility:

First, an introduction to prepare you for reading this other definition.

In communication jargon the following is called creating a context, a basket, into which content is communicated.

For example:

"I have something to tell you and I'm afraid you will get upset."

When you preface a message with this sentence the other person's mind, to be right, will do its best to not get upset. This works even when the other knows they are being controlled.

Here then is the context for this other definition:

It's possible that the following definition will cause you to shut down, to pooh pooh it. That's OK. If there's any truth in it, it will surface again, quite often within hours or days of reading this definition.

When the mind is confronted with something that threatens its survival it usually shuts down automatically. It's tricky getting past the mind, to the naturally knowing self, using the mind. This is why experiential (hands on, in person) communication workshops are preferable to reading this kind of stuff. Once you have agreed to be in a workshop your integrity supports you in keeping the workshop agreement—to stay and experience the upsets, to stay past the stage where you would normally shut down while reading or in a conversation and not let something in that might conflict with your belief system, your way of thinking, your paradigm.

I got the following definition from Werner Erhard, while doing the est Training. Werner is the founder of est, (est Seminars Training), The Hunger Project, and Landmark Education's The Forum.

The story goes that Werner looked up the definition of responsibility in several dictionaries and found inconsistencies. More importantly, none communicated to him in a way that he could get. So he composed the following definition. The following is not a direct quote nor is it The definition, merely one of several. What I like about it is that it communicates to me. More so, I like it because most everyone who reads it can easily verbally relate its essence to others.

Here's the other definition:

Responsibility begins with the willingness to communicate from the point of view of cause, that you are cause for what happens to you and that you are cause for what another does and says to you, whether you are aware in the moment of just how you are cause and, that ultimately you are cause for what another does to another. Responsibility has nothing to do with blame, fault, guilt, or shame.