The Spirituality of Politics

Some of the great illusions humanity faces are the illusions of separation; the separation of matter from source, the separation our individual selves from our communities, the separation of our economies from our ecosystems, of our civilizations from the human race, and the separation of the different aspects of the human condition.

In reality, there is only Existence- and given this singular fact, all aspects of it are in truth related to all others. All planes of existence, from the material, to the psychological, from the individual to the collective adhere to the same universal laws, hence, why we find metaphors so useful in making meaning out of concepts. As the wise and ancient aphorism goes- ‘As above, so below.’

Consider spirituality and politics, which at first glance seem to be completely different subjects. Spirituality is the pursuit of connection of one’s inner being with a greater sense of meaning- a metaphysical pursuit of purpose and enlightenment, which is practiced inwardly by contemplation or meditation, and outwardly through spiritual communities and teachers. Politics, on the other hand, is the art of organizing people in the real world, the art of law and managing resources. It is practical and has tangible effects on our everyday lives.

The venn diagram between spirituality and politics seems to barely intersect. Indeed, some self-proclaimed spiritual people are non-political- they hardly follow politics, or even vote, but their consciousnesses are highly attuned to the ethereal, to the sense of the divine. On the other hand, many highly politically active people are ambivalent to a sense of metaphysical purpose. Typically, if one does have a sense of both of these, they aren’t seen as related, but as two separate subjects.

The only unfortunate exception to this is in the oppressive theocracies of the outdated patriarchal and irrational schools of thought that the forgers of our modern political system sought to protect us from in their creation of the secular state.

But, oppressive theocracies aside, there is a sacredness to politics that we can recapture, nothing less than a metaphysical aspect to politics that serves a purpose in the grand scheme of the universe and to human consciousness. By bringing politics back from the dead, inert thralls of cynicism and purposelessness, into the light of the sacred, we may evolve the way we do politics- to specifically design it to serve the great purpose of spirituality- the purpose of raising human consciousness.

————————–
Let’s not lose sight of the big picture. We are living beings that evolved from single-celled organisms, on a planet floating in outer-space, billions of years old. The laws of the universe allowed not just for the creation of life, but for the evolution of life, the evolution of complexity, of thought, of consciousness. As our consciousness expanded, so did our ability to organize ourselves. Politics, then, is in simple terms, the art of conscious beings organizing themselves in complex systems. But the way evolution works is that the optimal system is not just handed to us. We must grope our way through history, re-adjusting based on the mistakes we learn from. These organizational readjustments that strive towards betterment are nothing less than political revolutions. As the contradictions and injustices accumulate, inevitable counter-force is mustered, freedom-fighters are emboldened and the system evolves.

Evolution isn’t a neat forward line though. Just as species go extinct in the evolutionary fight in the biological realm, so do cultures go extinct in human history. But,the net result following this messy and brutal struggle in both realms is forward evolution- hence, why after thousands of years of human history, the countless struggles of freedom fighters who are the immune cells of history- have brought us higher and higher standards of human freedom. With this process, humanity strives ultimately, for ultimate freedom.

But consider this. The order of events, evolutionarily, is simplicity to complexity, ignorance to knowledge, weakness to power, unconsciousness to consciousness, slavery to freedom. Each human being is not in the universe, they are a part of the universe. But each of us is made of countless autonomous cells working together for us, and so in this way, we each collectively and synergistically make up our own communities. Entire societies, states, civilizations and cultures are none other than manifestations of the collective mind. So too, is this collective mind not “in” the universe, but is a part of of the universe, evolving towards higher consciousness.

And, starting from the humble beginnings of this process, what is it, ultimately that we are striving towards? In other words, what is it, ultimately, that the universe is striving towards through us? What is the logical conclusion of ever-increasing knowledge, power and freedom? It is ultimate knowledge, power, and freedom. And when our politics and our culture tune in to this ultimate mission, it may bring about a self-fulfilling prophecy of manifesting this ultimate state, and the history of the evolution of life on this planet will have served its purpose of incubating a node of divinity in the universe.

But evolution until recently could be counted on to happen unconsciously. The Darwinian struggle brutally groped its way upwards and built the scaffolding upon which consciousness could stand. But now, a magic threshold has been crossed. With consciousness comes responsibility. And this responsibility is the universe’s test to our species to determine if its experiment on this planet is worthy of advancing into the next phase. No one is coming to save us, can we save ourselves? We are the ones we’ve been looking for.
————

And for this reason, politics is spiritual, for it is our organizing mechanism that determines the values, living conditions, lifestyles and cultures of peoples, and by extension, our ability to advance, and to what degree we are able to increase in consciousness.

Some politics is more adapted towards spiritual ends than others.

Some politics enslave, oppress, distract, dumb down or are purposeless . Some politics are liberating, enlightening and full of purpose. We, as conscious beings, must choose enlightened politics, and in so doing, lay the foundation for our descendants to ascend in consciousness.

One of the great tragedies of modern capitalist liberalism is its purposelessness. It commodifies people and fetishizes status and accumulation as the ultimate good. With no sense of the genuinely sacred, the religion of consumerism has pervaded our culture, so ingrained we hardly notice it just a fish doesn’t notice water.

In this modern consumerist religion, shopping malls are temples, celebrities are gods, and getting rich is enlightenment. So uninspired and disconnected is this cultural matrix that our politics has become relegated to a reactive, bureaucratic stewards of it. The middle managers we call politicians do nothing glorious for the advancement of the human race. Even the left wing of our current paradigm simply wants to make this cultural capitalism a little more bearable for the lower classes, but does nothing to transcend it all together. We are trapped in a politics of materialism.

It’s time for a new type of political revolution- a metaphysical one.

This means our politics must look at citizens not as consumers, but as conscious beings with massive potential. The goal of a truly enlightened system is simple. It’s none other than to optimize the consciousness of its citizens.

Here’s a thought experiment worth considering. If you were about to be born, but could become any newborn, how would you feel about your chances? Today, there is a chance you could get spectacularly lucky, but there is a much greater chance you will not be afforded ample opportunities to maximize your happiness and consciousness.

The only way you could be totally comfortable in this situation is if you had the certainty that no matter which child you became, the system would ensure maximum opportunities for happiness and consciousness. This is the ultimate freedom humanity has been striving towards since its inception- the end game that the freedom fighters of every generation have played a part in bringing forth and intuitively tapped in to.

When politics is optimized, the people may then become optimized, and this synergy will bring about the conditions that all humans will have maximized opportunities to develop spiritually. In this world, we will have unlocked the secret of spiritual politics which will lead to unlocking the secrets of raising collective consciousness. At this point, the final revolution will have happened, and it will be our turn to turn towards the stars…