Skyearth Letters

Many times despair or cynicism or anger arise within me when I learn of yet another atrocious act of maliciousness or greed. At that moment, I want to express my opinion or reaction to the world through a letter to the editor of the newspaper or a phone call to the elected representative or senator or governor. It is the rare occasion, though, that I actually follow through with action. The moment passes; other things need action; and usually, I forget about it unless something else reminds me. It is just easier to let it slide.

Marianne Williamson believes that we need to act in the moment and not let "it" slide, whatever it is. In her latest book, The Healing of America (quite different than her previous ones), Williamson firmly advises us to reclaim, reaffirm, and live the democratic ideals upon which the United States of America was founded if we desire to have a country that moves upward on the spiritual path. (For those non-Americans who may read this, I'm pretty sure you would agree that it would be helpful if America did so.)

She notes that Thomas Paine (the author of "Common Sense") stated, in Revolutionary times, that "We have it in our power to begin the world over again." It is her premise that we live in similar times "when a fundamental paradigm that has ruled one chapter of history is ready to pass and give way to another" and when "committed individuals have more power than they sometimes do to determine the course of history."

We have seen the events that have occurred when committed individuals in various countries have set in course genocidal actions. We have seen time and again committed individuals express the power of greed. We have also seen, although seemingly fewer in number, committed individuals express the power of love.

Williamson states that "race relations, the decivilization of our cities, the violence among our youth and in our neighborhoods, the problem with our economy, even foreign policy...are the wounds of an internal disease." That internal disease is the loss of our soul, particularly the loss of soul in our political consciousness. She thinks that those who are seeking personal growth and transformation are the ones that will bring the political and the spiritual into balance, which "will foster the rebirth of American democracy and form the crux of a new revolutionary power."

She has an accurate description of the American mind as being deadened, deadened by being told what to think (or to not think at all) by the media, public education, and politicos, rather than learning to think for ourselves.

We've certainly experienced media onslaught during the past two months vis-à-vis Monica Lewinsky, but I'm encouraged a bit by the fact that many are withholding judgment. I just heard a National Public Radio report of research that tallied bad news items and good news items during a period of time. The bad news items totaled somewhere around 6500 and the good news around 350. With that much bad news spewing into people's homes, it's little wonder that we've become deadened. (That is one reason why I tend to eschew news-watching, and TV-watching in general, but it might be worthwhile to say a brief prayer during bad news items. Hmmm, if 500 people got into the habit of saying a simple prayer, such as "Creator, be with all these people and help them find their way," for all the people named during in a bad news item, I wonder what the effect might be.)

Williamson speaks about rededicating our selves to the ideals of democracy and living them through the power of love:

The fabric of American society must be rewoven one loving stitch at a time: one child read to, one sick person prayed for, one elder given respect and made to feel needed, one prisoner rehabilitated, one mourner given comfort.... We are all of us bound together. Just as our external movements have the power to affect others, so do our internal ones. As we become, so the country becomes.

I believe that we can readily see that as we have become, so the country has become. Many of us have allowed money to be the highest power in our lives, and so it has become the highest power in America. So much so that, try as they might, two U.S. Senators cannot get campaign finance reform passed. So much so that the biggest corporations have the biggest lobbyist presence in our halls of government, and consequently the greatest gains from legislation. So much so that people who live at the poverty level and below have no power...in any venue.

Williamson points out that our "Founders did not presume to provide answers to future generations; what they provided was a creative framework for arriving at answers." (And so should be our teaching of children, not fact memorization, but the ability to ask the question and figure out the answer.) She discusses the first principles on which America was founded: (1) equality of rights and opportunity, (2) the national unity that holds together our diversity; (3) a balance of individual liberty and protection of the common good; and (4) religious freedom.

She makes a critical point regarding the two sides of political thinking, the conservative and the liberal, stating that "the highest political truth emerges from a synergistic relationship between the two." She goes on to say that a political debate that posits one person's needs against another's with no consideration for the balance of individualism and the common good "brings down the political process." I think that we've certainly seen the demise of the political process, at least at the national level. And it would be wonderful if there could actually be a synergistic relationship between the distant poles of ultra-liberals and arch-conservatives.

I particularly liked her discussion about freedom of religion, because she emphasizes that "religion is a force that...separates us, while spirituality is a force that unites us by reminding us of our fundamental oneness." Further, she writes,

Many people in the world today use religion to divide us. They cite a particular book, whether the Bible, the Koran, or any other religious text, and claim that herein lies a universal prescription for all human behavior. Such fundamentalist mentality is more about God than of God, and the distinction between the two is one of the most important issues in world affairs today.

She has identified a critical point. People's ideas about the Universal Presence, frequently called God, seem to make them feel that others should believe as they do. We see this happening every day, less horrifically in the United States, perhaps, than in places like Algeria, Afghanistan, and Bosnia, but still there, nonetheless.

One night, I happened to let the car radio wander from Public Radio and listened to a "Christian" station for a while, to see what was being espoused. The speakers seemed to be saying that they had the only way to live, the only way to know God, and everyone who didn't learn it and live it was going to hell. Not only that, but they were sending young people out to "rescue" other young people. And let us not forget the members of the Christian Coalition who desire to legislate their perceptions of "correct" living.

It's my humble opinion that the people in that stage of spiritual life have a long ways to go to reach a truly loving form of higher consciousness. It is also my belief that such a loving consciousness has no need to proselytize. The living of such a life of great love is enough to attract those who are ready to follow a like path. Mother Teresa comes to mind.

Back to the book. Williamson warns that it

is not a good time to fall asleep in America.... A wave of authoritarian forces has sought, and still seeks, to remove from our laws the most solid bulwarks of democracy. Big business has become our new aristocracy, while the average citizen is a new brand of serf.

I can definitely agree with that statement! Theoretically we can live where we wish, but there are many who don't have the income or job skills to move from wherever they are, or to leave lousy jobs. Definitely a kind of economic serfdom. One thing that Jane Healy pointed out in Endangered Minds (February Seeker column) is that classism is our greatest divider in the public school system, because poor families tend to be congregated in economic ghettos and, consequently, get the lowest quality schools.

Williamson continues by stating that the policies of the last thirty years have created such a privileged class that equality and democracy have become meaningless words:

If ours were a government for the people, wouldn't our children receive the best education in the world?... wouldn't we have universal health insurance?... wouldn't we have massively committed to "clean" energy sources by now?

As she so forthrightly states, it wasn't so much that a group of selfish people decided to take over America, but that we average citizens gave it away, forgetting about the first principles of this country, ignoring the process of politics, and distracting ourselves with the multitude of goods and pleasures that surround us.

Democracy won't exist if the greater multitude keeps sitting out the democratic process and refusing to participate. Our non-participation is truly an enabling behavior for those who occupy the seats of power and are drunk with it. Our non-participation enables the powerful to ignore those who have little or no voice, particularly the children of America, and to accept the largesse of monied interests and create benefits for them.

Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr., and their non-violent, peaceful manner of working toward their vision are strong guides for Williamson, to whom she refers throughout the book. And she includes a snippet of conversation with the Dalai Lama, of whom she asked, if enough people meditated, would it save the world. His reply: "I would answer you in reverse. If we want to save the world, we must have a plan. But no plan will work unless we meditate."

But she warns those of us actively seeking personal spiritual growth not to use it as escapism, "to shield our eyes from the suffering of the world. Our challenge is both to reenvision the world and then to act upon the vision." For, as she so eloquently states,

If love came first, we would use our financial resources to create jobs to help people live well, instead of building more prisons to punish them when they do not; if love came first, we would value human rights at least as much as economic rights; if love came first, we would seek to educate and help rather than to prosecute our children violently screaming out for attention.

If we truly care about social justice, if we allow our consciences free rein, then it is up to us, she says, to be "a thorn in the side of complacency," to hold "a mirror up to the world," ourselves included, to "risk repudiation," and awaken a world that would rather sleep.

She decries the increasing use of prisons to solve problems of social violence and wonders if we truly know what kind of harvest we will be reaping with an ever-growing prison population and ever-increasing budget outlays for new facilities. She points out a great truth that seems to be ignored by legislative bodies all over America:

There will be no dealing effectively with crime until we decide as a society to massively invest in the care of our very young children.... It's easy to blame our juvenile crime problem on absentee parents, and drugs, but outrageously inadequate schooling and child social services...exacerbate the problem, making all of us accomplices in the criminal neglect of our nation's children.... We invest our money in our military and we have a fine military. We invest our money in businesses, and they thrive. But our children-why should we not invest massively in them? Money for childcare, for children's health care, for quality of life, for education?

Indeed, such a radical idea! Where are the people to become lawmakers that would enact such a vision? I don't even want to call it a vision, because that implies something out of this world, and it isn't. It is possible to make it happen. We desperately need to make it happen. Our news reports constantly carry stories that point to the validity of her premise and to the need for a change in our national and state fiscal priorities. Can we do it?

Can the goodness (the piece of God) that is in each of us salute the goodness (the piece of God) in each person we meet? We can start with that. When it's difficult to love in actuality, we can act as if we love. We can listen to opposing viewpoints with respect. We can be civil, always. We can open our eyes and our ears and our hearts and begin with small things. We can remember that, as an American, we each have a right to be heard. We can also remember that we have a responsibility to listen and to learn, to be informed.

I believe in her conclusion that America's soul needs much help. We, you and I, are the ones to provide that help, even if your viewpoint is exactly opposite of mine. That is where democracy lives, where two people work out ethical compromises for the common good of all.

Cherie Staples, March 1998
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