Not Left, Not Right, Just Conscious

Issue 13

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Conscious politics as practiced in these pages means so many things like the connection between who we are individually and who we are collectively — as a society, as a country. That means having the same standards for each by insisting, for example, on a federal balanced budget while taking care to balance our home budgets or by insisting, for another example, that federal office holders be held to a standard of personal integrity equal to — not greater than — our own. We are all connected.

Conscious politics means taking responsibility for any and all unwanted circumstances and never, ever blaming anyone or anything else. I’ll wait while you read that sentence again. Conscious politics says we did it; we created it; now let’s proceed. It says, we are not responsible for putting kids in cages ourselves, but we are responsible for the fact that kids in cages are part of our reality and we are responsible for what we choose to do about it.

Closely related to taking responsibility is being present to what is, accepting it all without judgment. That means no guilt, no shame, just acceptance and responsibility. The willingness to skillfully accept what is and to take responsibility for it is rewarded, you’ll be happy to know, with unlimited empowerment to take full control of our destinies.

Taking full control of our destinies is when life gets juicy. It means engaging the law of attraction on purpose all day every day. It means habituating ourselves to clearly articulating and focusing upon what we want. Intentions matter. It also means doing whatever is necessary to make sure we believe that what we want is possible because beliefs matter, too.

Is it just me or is this an extraordinarily easy thing to do starting today?

Let’s say we knew there was a majority desire among Americans for an entirely reformed immigration system that current citizens and new immigrants deemed to be compassionate and fair. A conscious approach to this political issue by a media company that produces “the news” would report on the good, bad, and ugly of immigration as it currently stands. Be present. It would then produce and broadcast countless win-for-all stories about immigration past and present and it would shine a spotlight on conversations and debates about the widest possible array of new proposals and tests being discussed at kitchen tables and in legislative committees and executed in the real world. All of this would serve to focus we the people on what we want, consciously engaging the law of attraction. It would also help us believe that what we want is possible. This is not rocket science.

Talking at the level of intentions and beliefs is a conscious way to commiserate with each other, especially when we don’t agree. Most political arguments are about how things should happen and, often, specifically, about doing things in a left/liberal way or doing things in a right/conservative way. But a conscious politics approach guides us to focus on the what and the why instead. I want to live in a truly equitable society that works for everyone (what) because it will create more harmony and make us far more productive (why). When we are clear about what we want and why we want it, decisions about how any of it might happen are much easier for us to make — at the ballot box as well as on local school boards, city councils, county boards, and/or in state and federal legislatures.

Conscious people also know, by the way, that nothing is personal which helps everything.

Conscious politics is about leading with compassion which means a whole lot of listening. As a white male, for example, I do not experience racism in America the way my Black, Native American, and most other non-white brothers and sisters do. I cannot know about racism until and unless I listen to those who experience it. Compassion is also what guides me to advocate for and/or act on behalf of another whose experience I do not share but only when it comports with what they believe would be of use and value.

Arguably, America has demonstrated its ability to create and serve up stellar education, exceptional health care, safe neighborhoods, and a fair system of justice based on the rule of law equally applied. We will be a conscious, compassionate society when we provide these things to all based on the knowing that none of us is superior to any others of us. Is it just me or is this an extraordinarily easy thing to do starting today?

Consciousness as we talk about it here is all and only about how we humans think. This piece — countless versions of which could have been created — and this newsletter is about offering different ways of thinking about what ails. That’s it. As we step up more and more into the new consciousness with compassion, integrity, truth, authenticity, and possibility we simultaneously let go of anger, lying, cheating, hating, and attacking. Old consciousness, new consciousness. Me consciousness, we consciousness. Old paradigm, new paradigm. Head, heart. Three-d, five-d.

Take your pick.

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