An Opportunity To Be Stronger And More Aware


The just-concluded presidential election in the United States may be telling in what it revealed. Some exit polls indicated that the most important issue to many U.S. voters was "morality." It seems, however, that people's ideas of morality are selective. This nation has engaged in a preemptive war, the originally-stated justification for which has now been entirely discredited. Tens of thousands of Iraqis have been killed or maimed in this conflict, and the carnage seems far from over. We don't know the exact number of Iraqi deaths; that is a figure that appears to be unimportant to the U.S. media, and to many voters. While many voters touted the importance of "morality," the basic moral teaching "Thou shalt not kill" was mostly forgotten.

Our nation's leader has extolled the effort to bring democracy to the Middle East. Yet what is meant by "democracy"? I found the democratic process in this U.S. election to have involved more falsehood than truth. Hundreds of millions of dollars were spent on political ads which distorted the facts in an attempt to steer the outcome. Candidates and party leaders consistently tried to sway the voters by propagating slanted versions of reality (they call such communications "spin"). This endeavor seemed to be successful. For instance, a September, 2004 poll conducted by Newsweek magazine revealed that 42% of registered voters in the United States continued to believe that Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq was "directly involved" in the September 11, 2001 attacks on the world trade center in New York -- despite the fact that there is no evidence to support such a proposition.*

What virtue is there in exporting to other nations a "democratic" process in which the dominant sides are concerned primarily with getting their way, and the truth be damned? Do we really think the world will benefit, in the long run, from a system which mass-produces deception?

More than any U.S. election I had previously witnessed, this one seemed fraught with untruthfulness. A few weeks before election day, I came to the conclusion that what was actually happening in the nation and the world was irrelevant to the choice voters would make. Instead, for many, the only relevant consideration seemed to be which candidate could contrive the most convincing spin on what was happening, which candidate could say the words that would make the electorate feel most safe and secure, regardless of what was actually taking place in the world. To a great extent, fabrication trumped truth.

A revered teacher once said, "whoever wishes to save his life will lose it." In my experience, that is an energy teaching; it states a fundamental principle as to how the energy of Life works. The principle is this: Whatever we are attached to, will be lost; whatever we are obsessed with obtaining, will flee from us. The motivation of voters in this election seemed in large part to have been governed by just that kind of attachment: an obsession with our own survival, a preoccupation with keeping what we have.

To me, all of this is indicative of a structure that is falling apart. Life has a way of exposing hypocrisy and lies, of disappointing wants and expectations. A system that is based on such falsehood and attachment cannot survive.

In the face of this seeming difficulty, I find Ishvara's words to be inspiring, because what he says resonates with my experience. I have transcribed and edited his words from a talk he gave on November 4, 2004. - TG.

Ishvara:

Life is bringing things to a place where there can be an acceleration. There will be a powerful lesson, because there will be no safety, things will not go the way people want them to go. What is important now is for us not to fall into the consensus fear, dread or anxiety. Coming developments will be difficult, and we won't like what is going on, but we must see the bigger picture. It is important to see that Life, The Consciousness, is not under the control of a person or a system. It is an organic, Self-organizing existence that operates without an agenda, but functions through possibilities. If we can maintain a sense of higher possibility, finding greater connections, seeing that people can wake up, and that they can learn from this experience, we can help to bring about such realization.

If we remain present, looking for connections in Life, there will be an energy that supports us, there will be inspiration and encouragement, and we will be able to look beyond temporary circumstances and pull in a whole new possibility. This is not control, resistance or attachment. Instead, it is seeing that fear has had its way with a large part of humanity, and that as long as humans are controlled by fear, there will be things to fear.

We can position ourselves to hold for higher possibilities. We can't force those possibilities; we won't force them, but we can allow for them. We keep allowing for awakenings, for realizations, for connections. This is not the time to fall in despair, but to stand up and see what is happening, to say, "Wait a minute, be more inclusive, be more connected, be more compassionate, be more patient, be more allowing." Those are principles that we will live by; they are principles that will sustain us. Those are principles that every individual can implement in life. The life of each individual has an effect on people around that individual. Just by being a little bit more conscious than most of the rest of humanity, we are "at effect" in this world. We are influencing the environment, the people around us.

In the face of what seems to be happening, we can look at the situation and by clarity, by presence, begin to transform it. That is an awesome power, and the opportunity to put it into play is beginning to unfold. This involves holding a higher awareness of what may be possible, and not believing what "they say", not trusting systems or structures.

This is a real opportunity for us to live a transcendent life: to not try to escape the world, not be afraid of what is going on around us, but also to not buy into it, to not be controlled by it. In that awareness, we move to a higher frequency of existence where we won't be in a place where traumatic things are happening; we will be above them, beyond them. Our lives need not be touched by the insanity in the world, provided we can keep our frequency up and keep an awareness that higher possibilities are always moving into position. Life has given us an opportunity to become stronger and more aware, through all of these things.

Written and transcribed by Terry Grant

* The Newsweek poll is reported at http://www.pollingreport.com/iraq.htm

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