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Spiritual Politics, A Race to the Finish To change our country’s leadership, we must change our own state of mind. Perhaps the most significant election in modern history is just over the horizon, with heavy questions looming in the atmosphere. If, as some say, weather patterns are the etheric embodiment of our “Collective Conscious” aura, that may account for this year’s summer-that-never-came amidst dark clouds and storm fronts that have punctuated our brightest of seasons. Some worry, are these climactic conditions a sign of major earth upheavals to come? That tremulous query may best be answered in the language of quantum physics: yes and/or no. In other words, that depends on us. Just as the outcome of this Presidential election does. As November moves closer, our minds can start racing through some obvious concerns. Last time around, we watched with bated breath as ballots and chads were carefully hand counted. Determining that more sophisticated systems were needed, a fortune was spent on electronic voting machines. Now, we’re informed that 28% of the country’s voting equipment is easily hackable and has no paper back up at all. We wonder, will my vote even be counted? It’s hard to forget that four years ago, the Supreme Court decided it didn’t. A disenfranchised feeling, as contagious as a virus and just as vague in origin, has spread across the land. CSPAN recently aired a Kerry campaign meeting where aides encouraged volunteers in the strategy of listening for swing voter’s personal concerns rather than presenting a blanket platform. With nearly every conceivable “minority issue” being triggered, unified action by our combined minorities should ensure a new majority vote for change. From women’s rights, civil rights, immigration rights, trade rights and gay rights as well as educational needs, environmental needs and employment needs all appearing to be at stake, one wonders, who is left to vote for Bush? Yet, polls indicate November’s race is too close to call. Don’t you have to ask why? After much soul searching myself, I came up with an answer. What the world needs now is Spiritual Politics. This phrase may seem to be an oxymoron. Sure, right wing religiosity has become very public and vocal. But genuine soul searching has been considered a purely personal endeavor. Idealists have often looked on politics as a tawdry topic beneath their lofty aims, best left to those preoccupied with material wealth and power. Even Webster’s Dictionary includes a definition of political as “activities characterized by artful and often dishonest practices.” Doesn’t sound very spiritually worthwhile, does it? This attitude has engendered a great gulf between armchair metaphysics and community activism. By revising this view, we may find, in the broader scheme of things (otherwise known as the Divine Plan), we now have a critical window of opportunity for a timely merger of these two seeming polar opposites. This merger, within the microcosm of our personhood and the macrocosm of our society, could be just what is required to ensure our collective survival, via a monumental vote for change. Could be the oft-touted swing voter represents the part of our psyche who created this cliff-hanging cultural drama to finally motivate our spiritual principles into political action. A Course in Miracles says there really isn’t any external reality. All that we see is a projection of the mind. The world’s diverse conflicts are different versions of one script being written by our own ego. There is actually only one underlying problem in all these plots, the erroneous notion that we are separated from the Source of our being. This collective spiritual alienation explains why images of a punitive Armaggedon are so intensely vivid while practical peace strategies are yet unclear. John Lennon’s brilliant blueprint for this vital cause, conveyed in the lyrics to Imagine, is still carried on our radio waves daily. Yet here it is, more than thirty years since that inspired composition and we’re still waiting to get spiritual about our politics. Isn’t it up to you and I to flesh out how this mission is accomplished? We can apply Spiritual Politics by owning up to the truth that the world drama is reflecting how we direct our own consciousness. It is the state of our own internal self government that is in crisis. We need to acknowledge the ego’s dirty politics at work in our own psyche, by seeing where we have been letting fear rule our lives. Through candid self observation, we can bring to light the terrorist within, enraged and intermittently exploding the emotions we build on our distrust and judgments. These outbursts vent our stormy emotional dramas, from disease to relationship rifts and financial uncertainties. Looking within may also uncover how the ego’s political despotism blocks expression of our higher impulses. We need to release our own divisive judgments and pre-emptive attacks. When, and with whom, in the conduct of our personal affairs, do we play the role of intimidating, interrogating or victimizing others? Alternatively, on whom do we project this corrupt, manipulative power when we weary of the responsibility for our own life condition? As we permit these dangerous politics in our personal lives, how can we disdain them in our nation’s government? As these recognitions unfold, a healthy dose of self forgiveness is indispensable. For, despite these illusory battles, A Course in Miracles assures us that our feelings of isolation are a self-induced illusion. As we awaken to the truth of our unlimited power and access it by maintaining awareness of our indivisible Divine connection, we will dream a happy dream and we will see a different world. To change our country’s leadership, we must change our own state of mind, by becoming a more clear, open channel of co-creative empowering world vision. Rudimentary metaphysics declares that a clear, aligned vision charged with emotional intent is the basis of all manifestation. What’s become of our passion for peace? As a hypnoanalyst, I am trained to identify unconscious patterns. Overviewing American politics in recent decades, a “Walking Zombie” syndrome has overtaken our culture. This unfortunate circumstance results from a mind (in this case, the group mind) that has been confused into believing it is already dead, and is, therefore, both paralyzed from taking action and emotionally numb to feeling what is actually happening. Many of us watched as JFK, Martin Luther King and then another Kennedy were assasinated. Cultural icons like John Lennon, Princess Diana and JFK Jr. have fallen since. As these prominent idealists perished, part of us seemed to die, too. Reactions exhausted, our mass mind formed a protective emotional anesthesia.. All the while, mass media propaganda has contended that any conspiratorial connotations are an unfortunate accident. Nonsense. Yet, is it mere coincidence that a large part of our population now lives day-to-day under the influence of prescription anti-depressants? The antidote to this collective self nullification isn’t complicated, though not as easy as popping a pill. We need to be reminded that we are not dead and powerless. Proof of our vitality will come through awakening ourselves into action by stimulating the mind’s most powerful of capacities, the ability to manifest through group vision. Growing numbers are stepping forward in this revival. As Bruce Springsteen, quoted in a New York Times article, urges: “It is time to move forward. The country we carry in our hearts is waiting.” As we respond to the call, we can anticipate that the outworn patriarchal matrix will warn us off this courageous course. His-story reports that the rebellious, outspoken and eccentric can be cruelly punished. Whether we define their personal terror around abuses by authority figures in childhood or sense reincarnational scars of the Atlantean destruction, Salem witch hunts, or the Spanish Inquisition, we’ve allowed unconscious triggers to hold back our ideals from full self expression. Isn’t it time to face the fear and do it anyway? So many everyday idealists are also political drop-outs; this may be at the core of our country’s current crisis. The way we’ll win this election is from the inside out, through the emergence of a whole new modality of multidimensional activism. We can transform our collision course of the unfavorable outcomes engendered by unspiritual politics and apolitical spirituality. We can calm the inner terrorist and transform the ego’s tyranny. By doing so, we’ll release a new level of creative power toward a positive unified vision of our personal and collective potential. Instead of waiting idly by for Divine Intervention to put our collective house in order, we’ll evoke inner guidance. Our part in this Grand Plan will show up when we are willing to act upon it. Each of us has a powerful part to play in this time of change, based on our own unique talents, abilities and connections. The action plan of Spiritual Politics includes: Employing our personal and group energy to this process will bring a resounding victory for healthier self government and more constructive national government, simultaneously. New Thought practicitioners know we are not just a few bodies with spirit. We are unlimited spirits who are embodied. Chronologically speaking, we may seem to have little time to accomplish this shift. From a higher perspective, all eternity is present in every moment. This means peace on earth is a real potential right Now. Jacquie Tschetter is a second generation hypnoanalyst and a teacher of “A Course in Miracles.” A pioneer in the practical application of altered states, she is the originator of the transformational “Wakeful Dreaming” process. Spiritual Politics workshops will be available in the Chicago area and Wisconsin throughout September and October to facilitate this process. For more information, see the Pulse Calendar and Local Lights listings in this issue, call 262-248-8799, or email jtschetter@wi.rr.com. |
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