Spiritual Politics

I wasn't going to post here any longer, but I wanted to make this one public. So here it is:

"I was once asked why I don't participate in anti-war demonstrations. I said that I will never do that, but as soon as you have a pro-peace rally, I'll be there."
--Mother Teresa

The purpose of this blog is not to convert anyone, to sway anyone politically one way or the other, to support a person or party, or to condemn a person or party. It's just that I have become clear on something, and I want to open it up for discussion at large. I am discussing politics from the spiritual/mystical perspective.

First off, what is the spiritual/mystical perspective? Well, it's not dogmatic, but it is very similarly aligned with Buddhism. The ancients have practiced it as Kabbalah and the Celts, Druids, Pagans and Native North and South American Indians had their earth religions. The more adventurous mystics have practiced Hermeticism. The psychologist Carl Jung developed Jungian Alchemy working toward Individuation (or Maslow's "Self Actualization"). My particular modernized brand of it is A Course In Miracles. Some of you have read or seen "The Secret," which is pretty much the same thing again. A lot of this is very much in line with the Judeo-Christian faiths too. The core of all these practices is this: We are all one. We are all equal in the eyes of God, whomever or whatever we deem God to be (which can include us calling ourselves God, as we are children of God and can therefore claim a piece of that spirit).

So how do politics fit into the mix? Let's look at how our country works, in the simplest terms...

We have a two-party system, with "fringe" independent parties, both right and left, that don't get much attention and are written off as "crazies" by the masses. Whether we're talking the Tea Party or the Green Party or the Green Tea Party, it's a given that the Independent vote is never going to win, and is used more as a weapon to hurt one of the two majors.

Now, let's look at the majors. For a long time, people have been complaining that the split between the Republicans and Democrats is getting narrower and narrower. No candidate is perfect, no one person or party can truly represent all things to all people. I have conservative friends who believe in the woman's right to choose. I have liberal friends who are taxed to death, think the economy has gotten out of hand and are for less spending.

We all know that it costs a LOT of money to run a political campaign. We all know that a lot of favors must be done. It is no secret that major corporations put money into BOTH parties to get their goals accomplished. I am not telling you anything new here.

When I ran my magazine, Night Times, it was often very hard to pay the bills. My very survival (and I mean that literally, as I was a struggling single mother) meant that I had to please my advertisers. When a business told me I had to shut a writer up because they didn't like what I was printing (and this happened a number of times. Ask Rob Dunnett. Or Tom Henkey. Or Brian Dowell. Or Me.), I had to weigh how important that voice was against us potentially going under. I wanted to survive, of course. Two out of three of the above-mentioned writers left because they wanted to speak freely. It killed me, because I wanted them to do so, as well. But I had to survive.

You think our big media doesn't work the same way? Of course it does! Everyone just wants to survive. Our messages are carefully controlled by the ones who pay for them.

So, what is a threat to the two-party system, which is already in the pocket of the large corporations? Independents! People who have not been bought.

How does one destroy them? Easily--by discrediting them.

Today was an interesting day. Some friends of mine from the old Night Times days were playing a free concert under the Arch. My friend Mike hails from the hardcore band Nerve, and he is now a teacher with me at the community college. The other guy, Kevin, was in a major label band, Stir, that used to be all over the Point. I knew that this was some kind of rally, and I know Mike's leanings. I agree with a lot of them, although I am not signed on with any political party, and I have close friends on both sides. My friends on both sides are bright, intelligent, thinking people. They have hearts. They would not be my friends if they were otherwise.

I ran into David, from my grad school program, who was filming with his video camera. Along with him was Vladimir, who many know as "The Mad Russian." He was interviewing people. I have known David and Vladimir both since the 90s, as they were active in music too. What a nice surprise to see them! I hugged them both.

"What are you doing here?" was Vladimir's first question, with the microphone in my face.

I told him I was there out of interest, more than anything. I had made it a point to dress in brown, to not be one of these over-zealous patriots (which really creep me out. Nationalism, in general, really creeps me out). I told him I was pleasantly surprised to see so many people of color. The press has been presenting the Tea Party as racist, and I can see plain and simple, with my own eyes, that's not the case. Walking along the stage area was a man, blacker than black, in a Tea Party volunteer shirt. A mixed family stood beside us. A black woman leaned against the barricade watching the speech given by an African-American woman. Yay! I thought. This is not a hateful party. Everything was peaceful and friendly, and seemed pretty well mixed, from where I stood. I might not agree with everything, but I can find some common ground.

Why would I want to find some common ground? Because we are one, of course.

So, I told Vladimir these things, and he just wouldn't, couldn't, go there. "What do you mean? It's 90% white!" he motioned to the stands.

"Well, isn't our country? That's why people of color are called minorities. Look at the family there..." I pointed to the black woman, her white husband, and their beautiful daughter, wearing a T-shirt that said, "My share of the national debt is $45,511."

"Look at that woman in the red dress over there..." I said, motioning to another black woman.

"She's cleaning the streets!" Vladimir mocked. Which was actually a really insulting and racist thing to say, I think. She was clearly not. She had on a beautiful dress, matching red shoes and great earrings. I noticed. They were not filming any blacks there. Intentionally.

"Look up at the stands!" Vladimir said, "It's a Klan rally!"

Well, now he was just going too far. To call a large group of white people a 'Klan Rally' is akin to calling Muslims 'terrorists.'

"I don't agree with you," I said. I turned around and left him. Or maybe he left me. I don't know.

There were things I didn't like about the Tea Party, sure. I was not big on the prayer and God references. I believe in separation of church and state, and they don't seem to get that. I don't like the anger--the anti-anything message is ugly and a real turnoff. I don't want to find union with some by dividing myself from the whole. There were a couple anti-Muslim crazies there, with their signs. Those are the guys the media zooms in on. And why not? It gets people irate. It supports the larger system--the "real," established parties.

I know that David and Vladimir are good people. I KNOW this. But, from where I sit, with my spiritual point of view, they are buying into hate. They are guilty of the very actions they are fighting. They are putting their energy into what they don't want (anger, separation, hatred) instead of what they want (peace, love, tolerance). When they chose not to film the people of color, they did this, I'm guessing, because they believed that would strengthen their side. Maybe they believed that this literal and metaphorical tunnel vision would give them power, and that they had a higher purpose in mind. But it was denying reality. And like Mother Teresa said, it is just putting out more negative energy. It is going for what you don't want, instead of going for what you want.

I saw David's Facebook bashing the musical choices of "The Sounding Fathers," (Mike and Kevin's band), and I have to agree. While KISS's "Rock and Roll All Night (and Party Every Day)" might have been played at a lot of pep rallies, it's not the ideal thinking-person's tune. David always did have taste. I did like hearing the Cult's "She Sells Sanctuary" again after so many years though.

In my experience over this almost 47 years of life, almost everyone wants to live in peace. Sure, there are some crazies in every party. There are those who make us wince because they're wearing the same tags we're affiliated with. There are some damaged people. But they are not the majority! Almost everyone wants to have some comforts, and give to their children, and to live unmolested. We might have different ideas on how to achieve these goals, sure. But can't we come together as wanting the same end?

I think the two-party system is really destructive. It's how the Machine has its hold on us. That's just my opinion. Right now, there is no single party that speaks entirely for me. Isn't that true for you too? Why can't we just elect people?

There is an old saying: "Divide and conquer." My friends, as long as we believe that our side is better than another; that our opinions make us superior to people that we call "stupid", we are divided, and we are just playing into the hands of the controllers.

What if we stopped seeing ourselves as separate, but instead worked toward the common goal of peace, both within and outside of our borders? What if we dropped our defensiveness, dropped our paranoia, and put our energy toward peace rallies instead of anti-war rallies?

"Naturally the common people don't want war: Neither in Russia, nor in England, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, IT IS THE LEADERS of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is TELL THEM THEY ARE BEING ATTACKED, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. IT WORKS THE SAME IN ANY COUNTRY."

--Goering at the Nuremberg Trials

So what else? I agree with my friend Brian, who said the rally was mainly a bore. We left after about an hour. Had a great time at the Hispanic Festival afterward, in Soldier Memorial Park.