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Positive Politics for
Spiritual Progressives
Transpersonality Times | by Karen Engelsen
The price of apathy towards public affairs is to be ruled by evil men. -- Plato
To reach for power... one has a flaw in one's character. There has never been an
altruistic politician or corporate head, and there never will be one, because the
men who could become such have no desire for power. Their lives are fulfilled without
it. And those who seek it are already corrupt. -- Charles De Lint
Which path do we take? On the one hand, Plato implies that personal engagement in
political action is the price of true freedom, and on the other, Charles De Lint
expresses a viewpoint common in spiritual arenas, that political action is innately
corrupt. Which is correct? Can we reconcile these two plarized viewpoints? Is it
possible to take political action and do so in a way that still contributes to our
spiritual growth?
The key to taking action without losing sight of one's spiritual values lies in awareness
of stage development of consciousness, understanding and empathizing with the inner
values-set that we apply as outward political action, regardless of political "party."
If we truly listen to the needs of others, we gain the ability to open healing dialogue
with those who do not view the world politically the same way we do. Politics expressed
as "me vs. thee" will only create oppositional stalemates like we see in
the public forum today, with each "side" seeing the other as the embodiment
of "evil." That is the corrosive face of politics. Yet, a politics of empathy
can bring us together.
There are three main phases of political activity in the U.S. today, blindly declaring
each other to be wrongheaded and short-sighted. Each of these phases are outward
expressions of inner values systems, and developmental needs. Let's see if we can
understand, and gain empathy for the real needs of each mindset expressed through
political forms.
Conservative Authoritarians are loudest in their exhortations for public and private
morality. This drive for political reform via "Strict Father" government/church
authority is an expression of the anxiety Conservative Authoritarians feel in our
increasingly pluralistic, seemingly unbounded, unrestrained world. They experience
a genuine need to order our multilateral, multi-faith, situational-ethics kind of
society through formal religious and secular laws.
However genuine the need for order, this mindset is inherently polarizing -- dividing
the world into right vs. wrong, good vs. evil, us vs. them. The "Strict Father"
paradigm is also very heirarchical. Legitimacy, and hence political power, flows
from the "Father" down. I believe this political form to be most vulnerable
to the old saw: "Absolute power corrupts absolutely." This political stage
also tends to operate without empathy, judging in absolutes, and it can be more interested
in dispensing swift and sure punishment than in offering justice. Unrestrained by
empathy, and inclined toward black-and-white thinking, the "Strict Father"
politician is easily deluded into actions akin to "killing a village to save
it." However harsh my depiction, please remember the real fear of chaos and
genuine anxiety these folks face, especially post 9/11. Look within and remember
your own periods of disorder...and desires for stability.
Rather than being concerned with collective forms like church or government, political
expression of the next paradigm -- the Achievist phase of consciousness -- centers
in the means and abilities of an individual to achieve. It is an enterpreneurial,
profit-oriented, scientific and rational mindset. Achievists value beating the competition,
making the world safe for personal profit, and the use of "reason" rather
than "belief" in determining actions. This highly individualistic phase
of development is not centered in concern with morals and ethics, which are fundamentally
derived from correct relationship between self and other. Its politics are centered
around allowing the individual the greatest ability to achieve and succeed.
Positive Achievist arms of the government include NASA and various scientific/medical
establishments like the Center for Epidemiology, or the land-grant universities,
such as our own University of Minnesota. Each leverage the scientific/rational mindset
with the urge for individual achievement to create collective structures that serve
the common good. Less positively, Achievists are visible in political action as corporate
lobbyists, corporate sponsorship of political figures, politicians awarding THEIR
corporate connections fat pork-barrel contracts. Our current merger of corporations
and government has a time-honored term to describe it -- Fascism.
Progressives are often driven to take action AGAINST these previous political mindsets.
Rather than expressions of stern Father morality, or lassieze-faire self-orientation,
Progressive politics are often actions undertaken in the public forum to defend "nurturant
parent" values of care and concern for individuals, minority groups and the
environment.
In his book: Don't think of an elephant! Know Your Values and Frame the Debate, George
Lakhoff describes six basic types of progressives:
"Socioeconomic Progressives think that everything is a matter of money and class
and that all solutions are ultimately economic and social class solutions; Identity
Politics Progressives say it is time for their oppressed group to get its share now;
Environmentalists think in terms of sustainability of the earth, the sacredness of
the earth and the protection of native peoples; Civil Liberties progressives want
to maintain freedoms agains threats to freedom; Spiritual Progressives have a nurturant
form of religion or spirituality, their spiritual experience has to do with their
connection to other people and the world, and their spiritual practice has to do
with service to other people and to their community. ...Anti-authoritiarians say
there are all sorts of illegitimate forms of authority out there and we have to fight
them, whether they are big corporations or anyone else. All six types are forms of
nurturant parent morality."
I would suggest that our egalitarian values would find best expression in working
toward these grand visions of equality, social justice and ecological sustainability,
rather than fighting against other political mindsets. Of all the political forms,
Progressives have the values-set that allows for bridging between disparate peoples
-- and empathizing with the deep needs finding expression in Achievist or Conservative
politics. We are the ones who can heal our corrosive political landscape. It is up
to us to do so.
Ultimately, the tendency to view those who disagree with us as "evil" lies
at the heart of political corruption. We Progressives are now called on to perform
a tremendous spiritual exercise: to let go of divisiveness and fear of the political-other,
in order to speak clearly and powerfully to the great and healing vision that we
hold for our world.
For further reading on specific progressive issues, please view articles at the following
sites: www.progressive.org
« www.commondreams.org « www.counterpunch.org « www.thenation.com « www.prospect.org
« www.tikkun.org/magazine
Karen Engelsen
is a writer, editor and writing consultant who assists writers to publish works on
spiritual development. She also teaches Spiral Dynamics in Community Education classes.
She can be reached at siribear@earthlink.net
Copyright © 2005 Karen Engelsen. All rights reserved. |
| January 2005 |
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