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Once again the world is in crisis, facing the prospect
of war, the fear of terrorism, massive and deepening
poverty and continued and increasing environmental
destruction. All of the teleological theories and
worldviews of the late nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries that prophesized an end to war and freedom
to all the peoples of the world have proven to be
at best premature or at worst completely wrong.
As we come out of the bloodiest century in recorded
human history and begin the new century with anticipation
and dread, we find that the old certainties no longer
hold. The worldviews that have served us so well
over the past few decades and centuries are no longer
enough for helping us to interpret and act in the
world. The categories of "left" and "right",
capitalist and socialist, and the easy answers and
accusations that accompany them just don't do it.
This world crisis is nothing new; it is been ongoing
now for decades, with recent events bringing it
into sharper focus. The need for a new way of interpreting
the world has both haunted and inspired us for decades.
For quite a while there has been a disenchantment
with the secular world of government and politics,
a strong belief that it is somehow separate from
us while at the same time affecting our lives in
real and very frightening ways. This has led many
people to return to traditional ways of thinking
and interacting in the world that no longer seem
to work.
An answer to this ongoing crisis, proposed by many
writers and thinkers from all sides of the political
spectrum, is that we need to make a connection between
politics and spirituality. It is assumed that the
spiritual practices that enrich so many people need
to be brought into play in our interactions on a
local, national and global scale. In my personal
experience I have found that a political awareness
informed by a spiritual perspective helps to broaden
our understanding and helps to contribute to personal
growth. A spiritual practice combined with an engagement
in the world becomes fuller and more rewarding.
Yet, the forging of a connection between the political
and spiritual is still not enough when it is guided
by the same preconceptions and outdated world views
that have and continue to inform our awareness of
the world. What is called for is a new way to look
at both spirituality and politics that not only
redefines each of them, but that gives us the tools
to look at them both in new and forgotten ways.
One way to start is to begin to understand that
at their very core, politics and spirituality are
essentially about the same thing - the way in which
we live our lives as part of a wide and diverse
community. This is an understanding that comes down
to us from some of our most sacred texts. In many
of the great spiritual works, as well as in the
work of some of the earliest political philosophers,
the line between the life of the individual and
the life of the community vanishes. For example,
in the Tao Te Ching, lessons on how to live one's
life share space with lessons on how to rule a country
wisely. In the works of the ancient political philosophers,
the qualities of a virtuous life are the same as
the qualities of a virtuous community.
The basic definition of politics is a process through
which individuals with different ideas and different
visions of the good life must eventually come together
to reach a collective outcome. These decisions do
not often come about easily. They often involve
a great deal of struggle and the constant need to
reexamine our assumptions and points of view so
that we can come to a point of reconciliation, that
in time will need to be examined and redefined all
over again. This is the same with a spiritual practice.
It too is an ongoing struggle to redefine and continually
understand who and what we are.
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