LET’S DO THIS – NEW THOUGHT AND AMERICAN POLITICS, Part 5

WHAT DO WE REALLY WANT FOR OUR NATION?

As long as fear is the dominant energy those who know how to operate from love will be called to higher and higher levels of being.

It occurred to me that in writing the first four posts in this series that I had not yet asked a very basic question – what are we seeking? So that will be our topic of the final post.

For those in the U.S., that is a very important question as we make decisions about voting in the upcoming elections. For those who live elsewhere, what happens in the U.S. will impact them as well – we all have a stake in what happens in what is still the most influential nation on our planet. And everyone wants their country to aspire to be the best possible version of itself. And we must transcend the lure of reacting from fear – of demonizing the other candidates and those who support them.

“Fear brings failure; faith brings success. It’s that simple.”

~ Ernest Holmes

I will get to what I am seeking in a bit. First, we should probably explore the reality that there is no one ideal desire shared by everyone. We all probably have a rather strong opinion as to what everyone SHOULD want for the U.S. Where we are currently residing on the spiral, our racial and ethnic background, our region of residence, our gender, our sexual identity, and our personal and unique mindsets all play a role in how we arrive at what we desire. We all have personal proclivities, tendencies, and interpretations that impact how we see the world and how we think the world should be. We also have our own levels of intelligence – cognitive, emotional, and spiritual. Otherwise, there would really only ever be one candidate, chosen by universal acclimation and supported by all.

There is no such candidate, nor will there ever be such a candidate. We are multivariate in our thinking and feeling, in our impressions and our influences, in our interpretations and our understandings. For example, we may believe that everyone wants peace. While there may be some truth to that, such a desire is not universal. At any given moment there are people who desire nothing so much as war; and even some who desire peace believe that such a state can only be achieved after a war or two with some nation or group or religion. So we are not agreed, universally, on anything really; even something as basic as peace.

Partly as a result of that sense of basic disagreement, or if you will – our individual perspectives and worldviews, we have developed this thing that we call politics.

1520s, “science of government,” from politic (adj.), modeled on Aristotle’s ta politika “affairs of state,” the name of his book on governing and governments, which was in English mid-15c. as “Polettiques.” Also see -ics.

Politicks is the science of good sense, applied to public affairs, and, as those are forever changing, what is wisdom to-day would be folly and perhaps, ruin to-morrow. Politicks is not a science so properly as a business. It cannot have fixed principles, from which a wise man would never swerve, unless the inconstancy of men’s view of interest and the capriciousness of the tempers could be fixed. [Fisher Ames (1758-1808)] (LINK)

Politics is, essentially, the business of conducting public affairs – of choosing leaders (in a democracy), of setting and carrying out public policy, and the like. We do it the way we do it because we really have no better option, given that we all disagree at various levels about nearly everything. There is a fast-evolving field of study in human behavior and decision-making that includes psychology, economics, brain science, evolutionary theory, complexity theory, and more (LINK to one article on this). Suffice to say for now that it is more complex than you might think.

The Centers for Spiritual Living operate from a vision of A World that Works for Everyone – a beautiful thought, an aspirational goal, and an impossible quest. It is each of these and all of these. I, for one, would include the ideals contained in the vision of A World that Works for Everyone in my answer to the question, what do I really want for the United States. I also accept that what I want for the U.S. almost certainly exceeds what our political system with its collective inputs can currently provide. This requires me to internally balance my aspirations and my expectations. But being a good Religious Scientist, I will consciously choose to focus on the aspirations because I know that the universe has a way of exceeding my limited expectations.

“Here is an unspeakable secret: paradise is all around us and we do not understand. It is wide open. The sword is taken away, but we do not know it: we are off ‘one to his farm and another to his merchandise.’ Lights on. Clocks ticking. Thermostats working. Stoves cooking. Electric shavers filling radios with static. ‘Wisdom,’ cries the dawn…, but we do not attend.”

~ Thomas Merton

The key is not to get so fearfully attached to my aspirations that I become an absolutist about them and refuse to listen to any other ideas or possibilities. This is a dynamic that we see occurring in our politics today – a “my way or the highway” approach that assumes only one approach or solution to a given problem or aspiration. Our fears and attachments can drive us to refuse to compromise with others who happen to have different aspirations or different approaches to those aspirations than we do. There is indeed a litany of grievances that one may have, regardless of where you sit on the political spectrum. These things need to be spoken about, addressed, and resolved where possible. Of course they do. But that is a different process than setting a vision and moving toward it. In fact, I would suggest that cleaning up the problems becomes easier with a clear vision in mind.

When I try to apply the A World that Works for Everyone vision to the current presidential race, it is confusing and even a bit depressing. Are ANY of the candidates expressing the possibility of transformational leadership that will galvanize the many resources within and outside of the U.S. to truly move toward a better world?

My response would be no, not really.

“You’re on planet earth. There is no cure for that.”

~ Samuel Beckett

There is no cure for being on this planet; we can, however, transform how we choose to be on this planet.

Are there one or more candidates who are expressing the possibility of even incremental but significant transformational leadership? Maybe, but only maybe. I cannot control who the candidates are, only influence that to the degree that my vote affects the process. However, I can be very clear with myself and through myself with the universe on what I seek for the United States. I also realize that the pool of candidates will tend to reflect the electorate at any given time and place. Blaming the candidates for being inadequate is the same as looking into a mirror and complaining about the reflection.

WHAT I WANT FOR THE UNITED STATES (AND THE WORLD):

1. LOVE: I want us all to be more skillful in expressing the love that we are. I know that this is in some ways a big ask. So many have been wounded, oppressed, ignored, belittled, abandoned, or betrayed. We have grievances. We are in fear, consciously and subconsciously. Many have lost the ability to trust. Expressing love is not an easy thing when your sense of who you are is confused or lost; when you have been mistreated by others, even by the government of your nation. I want us to do a much better job in this regard – I want our leaders to lead from love; to promote compassion and understanding, tolerance and acceptance – even in a dangerous world. I want our leaders to speak to the truth that the dangers we face are from people who are wounded and who feel violated. I want our leaders to seek to bring resolution to those wounds and violations, as many of them are due to political policies or willful blindness to the humanity of all people. I want the United States to be much closer to that “more perfect union” described in our founding documents, I want us to be working diligently to fulfill that aspiration. I want us to care about one another in our public policies and practices and I want that care to also have a globally perspective. I want us to recognize that we are all creative and filled with possibility, and to generate public practices that help to bring that creativity and possibility to the surface. I want teachers to teach love and I want our prisons to be redesigned and filled with programs to help those incarcerated remember who they really are.
2. JOY: I want us to take that “pursuit of happiness” thing as a true calling for our nation. This happiness is not frivolous, it is the possibility of human fulfillment, where each person is given the opportunity to find their great inner gifts and encouraged to express them fully for the benefit of all. Where not only is “no child left behind,” but where each child is cherished and provided with a loving, supportive, encouraging and creative atmosphere in which to thrive and find that happiness by living a fulfilled life. Let us ensure that every potential Beethoven, Mother Theresa, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Jr., Mary Oliver, Elon Musk, Magic Johnson, Ernest Holmes, Steve Jobs, Roberto Clemente, and Buckminster Fuller is discovered and given the opportunity to flourish in our nation.
3. WISDOM: I want to see 2^nd Tier level wisdom prevail in our national and local leadership, the kind of wisdom that does not take sides, but seeks the highest and best from all worldviews. We need an intelligently progressive approach to moving humanity onto a path of sustainable practices and the wisdom to conserve what is best from our past.
4. PROSPERITY: If we accomplish the expression of Love and Joy, Prosperity will follow just as sure as daytime follows the dawn.

So these are my big picture, aspirational desires for my country. I look at every candidate at every level for any hints that they just might be one to promote such a future and to help to actualize it as a reality. This is what I have in mind whenever I look at a proposed ballot initiative or bill before a legislature or case before an appellate court. This is what I strive to create in my own life and to encourage in others.

“We cannot only embrace ourselves; somehow our arms must find themselves around the shoulders of all humanity.” 

~ Ernest Holmes, Creative Living

But I do understand why such things are not our collective current reality. And with my understanding, I continue to see a greater possibility unfolding, refusing to accept the limited version of our potential that is currently manifest. Let us move toward A World that Works for Everyone as lovingly and as wisely as we can. And, of course, it must begin within me.

What do you think?

Copyright 2016 – Jim Lockard