Preparing to Cast Your Vote in the US Presidential Election?

Regardless of which side of the aisle you stand, the upcoming US presidential election carries profound economic, geopolitical, and cultural implications into the future.?The contrast in candidates and their respective parties is stark because each advances not just policies but philosophical underpinnings. Sadly, presidential campaigns have degenerated into sophomoric personality and popularity contests in which juvenile staffs trade barbs repeated by unserious “journalists.” Rare is the reporting and debate of the respective contenders’ credos and strategies that comprise the person and how they will govern.

The Body, Mind, and Spirit Model of defining a human is widely accepted.?The Body represents our physical composition. The Mind represents our mental and intellectual faculty. The Spirit represents our state of peace. If left alone, the Mind and Body function as secular realities. The Spirit uniquely contributes reverence into the framework.

If only the Spirit had it that easy.?Star Wars?portrays an endless and epic battle between the dark and the light sides of “The Force.” Some might call the conflict one of evil versus good. In church terms, it is Satan rebelling against God. Regardless of your terminology, there is an underlying admission of some higher powers at work that defy our understanding or control.

The interplay of the three elements largely determines our wellbeing as a person and a society. All three are constantly subject to decline and decay. Maintaining a healthy state of being takes constant vigilance and daily effort.

In?TOUGH SHIFT, this clash is captured in Question 1 of 7, “Is life meaningful?” The answer is “Yes” or “No.” Each answer has practical implications:

• No: In an absolutely meaningless world there is no reason to exist or even a whiff of purpose. Without a reason for being there is no cause and effect and no consequences for one’s actions. Here is a hopeless existence.
• Yes: In an absolutely meaningful world there is reason, purpose, cause, hope, and actions have consequences.

The On-Purpose? Approach is based in the belief that life is meaningful.?Your 2-word purpose puts words on the otherwise intangible Spirit. The Mind and Body are better equipped with a heightened and more holistic moral awareness for making decisions and taking actions thanks to the Spirit.

Recently, my wife and I saw a new documentary, The 1916 Project .? Portrayed was the long arc of a Mind and Body secular philosophy from the 1700s alive today. As a result, our national and personal Spirit is compromised, clouded, and crowded out by situational ethics with a devastatingly polluting effect on our social, moral, and political perspectives. This normalization of the minimization of the Spirit has effectively led us into what the filmmakers call “a culture of death.”

Therefore, when it comes to casting your vote for president, look beyond the rhetorical barbs, attack ads, and commercial sound bites designed to appeal to our secular selves. Harris unabashedly leans into a culture of death. Trump awkwardly leans into a culture of life.

Cast your ballot as your Spirit convicts and has prepared you to vote.

Be On-Purpose!

Kevin