Turn on the news today and you’re likely to see two talking heads (or more) fighting with one another over whose views are right, which political leaders are “stupid” and “immoral.” I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of it. I’m tired of the Facebook posts where people rail against the opposite side, and where they say incredibly disrespectful things about people with opposing views to their own. This is not the world I want to live in, so I’m using the platform of this podcast to talk about some new ways we can approach this political season, and life in general.
I first talk about the role of compassion and how it is the fabric that holds our universe together. I introduce a “loving kindness” practice where I ask you to bring people to mind and repeat the following: may you be well and happy; may you be free from suffering; may you live your life calmly and peacefully. I encourage you to see the people you bring to mind living that life now, understanding that each of us is, in some way, suffering.
I then talk about the role of “temporal consciousness” and quantum physics. What we observe is what becomes our reality, so when we observe our political foes as evil and disloyal, we collectively tell the universe to keep reinforcing these ways of being. What happens if we all find compassion for those we disagree with politically? What happens when we stop viewing a world of problems and start viewing the world we want…as though it is happening now? The best minds in physics tell us that we have the power to collectively change reality with our consciousness.
I then move into Systems Thinking and how the paradigms of struggle, competition, and separation are perpetuating a system where people fight against each other, compete to be right, and do almost whatever is necessary to win. What happens if we shift the paradigms to ease, collaboration, and connection? The system will start to produce different results, the kinds of results we need in a world that is so filled with problems and struggle.
I finish off the episode talking about the evolution of consciousness and the way Integral Theory talks about the predictable pattern of individual and collective awareness. We are at a critical juncture in the story of our planet and our species. It is up to each of us to contribute in a positive way to this story. Struggling to prove we are right and the other side is wrong only perpetuates the story of decline.