The Politics of Abundance

The Politics of Abundance: Should We Care Who is Elected?

First, this is not a “political” statement, this is about the Practice of Abundance, but if Abundance is to be real, it must manifest across the board, and that includes in the political arena.

On one hand, it does not matter who is elected, be it through big tobacco, oil, pharmaceutical money, or the like. The politician is the product of the cultural vibration and not its source. And it is a bit foolish to expect elected officials to “change things,” the middle moves slowly, human evolution moves extremely slowly, and public work takes patience and humility.

From the point of view of “the work,” we are the ones who must change. But why do we get hooked, as a people, into the drama of it? Why is politics such big news? After all, if the other guy had been elected president, would gas prices be any different? I don’t know if one can answer this, but in any case, could it be that what we call politics is–to a large degree–a staged bread and circus act that keeps us focused “out there” blaming someone else and not looking at what we are habitually doing? [In ancient Rome, the government kept the people entertained through bread and circuses and thus kept their minds off of the demise of their culture.  We are encouraged to gorge ourselves on huge amounts of food that have little or no nutritional value and on huge amounts of infotainment that have less than no value]

The fragility of our freedom is evident, especially since the 911 incident. It often seems that we have to choose between security and freedom, and that is a challenging choice. It is all too easy to say “Bush took our freedoms away,” or “Kennedy will hopelessly weaken our country,” and it is these types of reactions that fuel the theater of acrimony and lessen the opportunities for meaningful dialog. Democracy has been a long climb, and it probably wouldn’t be difficult to slip back down.

We often fail to realize that nearly all the “great spiritual teachings” of the world were created in spite of authoritarian institutions: monarchies, dictatorships, and the like. And often “getting religion” or even “going spiritual” has meant returning to some “absolutist” teacher or teaching who is “right.” America, on the other hand, no matter how far it has strayed from its ideals, was founded on an ideal of religious freedom, with freedom of conscience being the lynchpin of the new world: beyond the life, liberty, and pursuit of property of British philosopher John Locke, toward the “pursuit of happiness” as the social and cultural support of the right to pursue one’s own relationship with God.

Politics is literally about living and working with power, and this is unavoidable in our lives. To what degree are we willing to be conscious of the power dynamics in our life? This is not about who is “elected” in the media circus, rather it has to do with the restaurants we eat in that use Mexican dishwashers at below minimum wage, and the way we treat our kids (or anyone else) when they disagree with us. It is about censorship through the financial pressure of publishing companies, and the genetically engineered material in the popcorn that we innocently eat at the movies.

My own sense of possibility holds that while we may not be able to successfully challenge or reverse the monolith of a runaway economy (a manifestation of our collective scarcity, fear, and greed), we can work to build spaces of grass roots sanity and awareness and confront our own scarcity, fear, and greed. One such space is a conscious “gifting community” that overrides monetary concerns. This could be your family, your household, or your group of like minded souls, people who you can exchange your best with, who can receive you. Juno—the goddess of the home, to my knowledge—does not discriminate as to how people set themselves up. We all know that love makes a family anyway.

Gifting throws a wrench into the dehumanizing monetary system, which is why the IRS cannot deal with bartering or tipping. Heartfelt generous tipping is a great practice of abundance. When you are getting juiced from the energetic exchange of your daily interactions, you are less likely to become caught in the light vs. dark dramas, whether they are about “Hillary versus Obama,” or “Bush versus the rest of the world.” As Allen Ginsberg put it decades ago (I must paraphrase here from his poem, “America”), “America, are you going to let your emotional life be run by Time Magazine?”

Then, with clear heads and hearts we may be able to hire honest, accountable representatives and administrators (if you want leaders please look to artists, visionaries, and those who have earned our trust by living among us ), and save our existential dramas for things that are really important. (Like the Yankees versus Red Sox! — just kidding, but that would do less damage than getting caught in staged political drama as a substitute for genuine debate, inquiry, and exchange.)

I guess what I am trying to say is that the treasure of our conscience is too valuable to throw away on staged events that eschew both dialog and thoughtful participation. How we work with power and energy is crucial, and our freedom of conscience is most worth nurturing and protecting.

RJ