“We seem to understand the value of oil, timber, minerals, and housing, but not the value of unspoiled beauty, wildlife, solitude, and spiritual renewal” Bill Watterson (Calvin & Hobbes).
We live in a global societal system (or systems if you want to separate further) that seems to dwell on the worst aspects of ourselves. Blame and anger seem the norm, and grouping of people into categories that take away their uniqueness seem designed to create separation. Wherever you stand on a political spectrum is irrelevant because the way our political systems are run is based on fear and separation. In this post I am not trying to push any political system but to discuss broadly what I think a governing system ought to be doing as opposed to what I see is being done.
First, all political systems involve people. We have this tendency to dehumanize groups in order to justify various negative actions against them, or simply to ignore another groups depravations. This is typical in any warfare, but the sad part is that it continues too readily in so-called peacetime. People are people, not things or statistics. And until we realize that we are all saints and sinners with conditioned biases, separation will prevail. Think on what it takes for people (and you) to pay attention to situations of suffering and hardship. We all like to think we would never do harm to anyone else, but sadly, given the right circumstances we are all capable of being devils. When you think of the genocides of just the last 200 years, all were perpetrated by people against other people, not any single political system per se (since they all did it in some form), which was merely the mindset of systems that encouraged such behavior (e.g. Americans against native Indians, Turks against Armenians, Nazi’s against the socially undesirable, etc., etc.).
Our societal and especially our spiritual development has lagged behind our technological development. Our modern politics is dominated and driven by our highly flawed economic system in which people are of little consequence. Like medical doctors who take the Hippocratic oath of “Do no harm,” perhaps we need to have our political representatives do the same? A just political system would honor all our individual sovereignties and work to find consensus instead of propagating division and derision. After the American revolution, many of the founders expressed dislike and even contempt of many colleagues within the congress, yet they worked together to formulate the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights. They understood what was at stake in the earliest days of the republic as they rejected control by a monarchy and sought a new kind of government. (France was to go through a similar turmoil some 15 years later – people were only beginning to realize they didn’t need monarchies to control them anymore than we need the modern hierarchies to control us now.) The new American republic didn’t let anyone else tell them what to do, but followed their inner beliefs on what was fair at the time for the people. Where it went since then is the grist of numerous tomes about the successes and imperfections of such a system. My point is that they didn’t let their individual differences get too much in the way to create a new political system for themselves. And more importantly, they were willing to develop a new system of politics that seemed fairer than the one they just threw out.
It wasn’t an easy or straightforward process. The American revolutionary war ended in 1783 and it was four years before they settled on an initial constitution and 1791 before they finally had a constitution with 10 new constitutional amendments with a set of Bill of Rights. My point is not extolling the U.S. system but about the people who worked together, often cantankerously, to create a new system. It was their differences that made the difference not simple acquiescence to others beliefs just to get it done.
“Humanity will reach maturity and wisdom on the day that it begins not just to tolerate, but to take a special delight in differences in ideas and differences in life forms” Gene Roddenberry.
What strikes me about so many aspects of our current society (and this is even truer in this Covid world) is how easy it is for us to ignore what is happening elsewhere (even when we express sympathy for someone else’s plight), the lack of empathy, and also the unwillingness to discuss anything that seems to clash with our core beliefs. Our problem is that so many people are so entrenched in their worldview positions that they have stopped even considering other positions – one of the bad aspects of social media. I have so many friends and colleagues that are rigid and dogmatic and yet think they are open minded and tolerant. Stop thinking that everyone has to choose sides!! We need to honor everyone’s right to their beliefs and their right to choose. What we should be concentrating on is helping people to be open and willing to discuss alternatives to their own beliefs – in essence to be true critical thinkers. In demanding my own sovereignty means that I also allow all others their sovereignty. That is in my view the beginning of unity and operating from a place of unconditional Love.
The derision and politics I see today in most of the world seems to the end-game of wealthy controllers who have bamboozled people in to some strange acceptance that governments are actually working to help them. I know, this is cynical of me, but it is simple observation. Our governments claim to be protecting us and yet I see intense censorship and draconian rules being enforced with no acceptance of any broad discussions – a ‘my way or the highway’ approach. Not a commentary, but an example with smoking is that the government has us panic stricken about the possibilities of dying from a virus, but yet, in the U.S. alone, 480,000 Americans die annually from tobacco-related illnesses each year, and we still have tobacco products on the store shelves. Obviously in that situation, they support freedom of choice (and also freedom for politicians to get massive donations from tobacco industry). You will never convince me that the government cares about my health, which is fine by me. After all that is freedom. But it is an example of the power and control that they never want to relinquish. It will take every single one of our voices to overcome that and transform the world – peacefully.
“Every transformation begins and ends with one person’s courage to choose differently from before. The sum total of these choices can reach critical mass quickly when they are individually enlightening and mutually fulfilling.” Gates McKibbin. This is where the revolution we need is not a physical revolution with guns and tanks but a spiritual one. Separatism is the problem. How do we get to a place of unconditional Love instead of conditional anger and hatred? The title of this last series of my posts (Spirituality, Service, and Connectedness) has been focused on this very question. What a joy it would be to realize that each of us has the opportunity to change our own trajectory by completing a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. People who want war come from places of damaged psyches where fear of others and separation drives decision making. If I own my own shadow, and can forgive myself, then I can see you and your shadow and forgive you, allowing your sovereignty while keeping my own. We don’t have to always agree, but we do have to be willing to remain open to discussion to find the best path for everyone. Cooperation and collaboration – a new kind of politics – one in which wisdom is recognized along with the value of people as the primary definition of success.
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