Triggered? Time for Self-Examination.

The 2020 US elections have not been a repudiation of the current administration. While many hoped the last four years were an aberration, it turns out that this divisiveness is our new normal. Perhaps this is the purpose of a real Democracy, helping us become conscious of what we truly are. Last week I wrote about Democracy and a return to the Self. Our compulsion for ‘something’ to satisfy our inner Self is, in reality, the search for the true Self. This identity, which each one of us is barely conscious of and feels, and wants to know. It’s our search for meaning.  

Without a national mandate, we find ourselves facing a reality which many of us didn’t think possible; that every other person we encounter identifies themselves to an opposing perspective. That not all are created equal. That truth and trust do not matter. Those of us believe liberty doesn’t include consequences for our thoughts, deeds, and actions. That separateness is the law of the land. While I refuse to accept these realities, I also understand that more of the same way of operating will inevitably bring things to boil. Regardless of who is President and who controls the Senate, we live in a house divided. How do we gird ourselves against the possibility that things may indeed become worse before they get better?

Just like we are more than Republicans or Democrats, we are more than just our bodies. We are more than the sum of our parts. The opportunity exists for each of us to choose and to seek our happiness by being what we make ourselves to be. When our Constitution was written and ratified, it was considered to be a “Great Experiment” in governing. For almost 250 years, our way of governing has not been an abject failure. Be grateful for the Democracy we have and even more thankful when we make it a better Democracy than what it is. As soon as we tire of our “enslaved” mindset and child-like state of being and realize that life simply isn’t working the way we want, we open ourselves via self-examination to true freedom and responsibility.  

In October, I had an opportunity to spend time with a group of friends in Southern California. One evening, after two days of workshops and spiritual discourse, I sat down on the end of a small dock, overlooking a pond. When I closed my eyes to meditate, the wires behind my eyes got crossed. What was open was closed. The right eye shut, the left eye was open. Right eye open, left eye shut. What was in was out. What was here was there. What was there was here. When I closed both of my eyes, it was as if I could truly see.

My heartbeat set the rhythm. It felt like all of my internal organs were beating in concert. My entire physical being was an orchestration. I observed my lungs, seeing the capillaries expand as they pushed blood in concert with the heart. I tasted the air as it inspired and exhaled, newly regenerated. There was nothing else to do but breathe and pump blood: heartbeat and breath. I was sitting there with my Self, in awe of consciousness, which had somehow attached itself to this physical body.

I felt so vital and truly alive. It struck me that being human was the divine experience, not something that sits outside of me. What a privilege it is to afford ourselves such a vantage point and search inside one’s Self. A peak experience by way of sitting with myself led me to sense and my true nature. I felt wholly integrated and in awe of everything that I have been able to accomplish while embodied. While I smelled decay, I could also smell photosynthesis. I heard laughing, crying, all of it simultaneously. The stories that we’ve identified with are also fables we can deconstruct if we choose.

This morning while the sun was coming up over the hills, I sat on our porch and recalled this reference point. Just like we are more than Republicans or Democrats, we are more than just our bodies and minds. We are more than the sum of our parts. The opportunity exists for each of us to choose and to seek our happiness by being what we make ourselves to be. For us to practice self-examination, the discernment and reflection create an environment for establishing self-government in our own body and mind. Much like self-sabotage, history shows that no government can continue if it is only for one or a few or a minority. It can continue if it is for the majority of its people. A government by the will and for the highest good of all people is still possible, yet this way of operating will not be a miracle and fall from the sky. We have common ground with each other; it’s up to us to find it.