Civil War - How's that working for ya?

Thursday, July 19, 2012

I just got back from walking the dogs - and erased everything I had written previously.  Pre-dog adventure, I was caught up in my passionate distaste for many-a-political-issue.  I have recognized as of late that my writing serves to play an enormous part in my own evolution in consciousness.  As I observe and experience my own polarizing belief system, I recognize the ease at which we as a nation can fall into such a dangerous pattern.  I can feel the incredible chasm between Republicans and Democrats and the horrendously caustic nature of the relationship.  I also believe that this powerfully potent polarization is the foundation for transformation - via "civil war" or "revolution."

There is no "positive" in civil war.  The focus is on wrong or right and there is a definite winner and loser - at least superficially.  Civil war - as with war in general - never really ends since the "loser" is always looking for some sort of revenge or opportunity to regain what it lost, and is never really is able to forgive, forget or move to a level of co-creation.  The winners prove to be "wary" as they look to maintain power by squashing any ideas of its opposition - no matter how worthy - refusing to allow co-creative attempts and solutions.  I feel like we experience "civil war" every election and in-between.  How's that working for ya?

Revolution on the other hand can be accompanied by an evolution in consciousness.  The focus is on creating something new or rising to a new level.  The Declaration of Independence is a good example of stating the case for -and duty to engage in - revolution.  For me, the idea of revolution means finding something of a more truthful nature that the vast majority can support.  As a citizen of the United States of America, I don't think we have to look that far.  After all, we have the greatest document ever written in the Declaration of independence....... 

The first sentence of the second paragraph gives us a common focus as well as something to reach for....

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

The second sentence shares our obligation to transform that which needs updating, recalibrating or changing...

"--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness." 

In my opinion, it isn't necessarily the form of the Government (see the Constitution) that's the problem.  (If we look at the evolution of consciousness, the education through legislation and the rulings to uphold the Constitution over the past 236 years, we might be pleasantly surprised.)  For me, the problem lies in the fact that we've lost sight of being on the same team with the same basic ideals - as outlined in the first sentence of the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence.  We seem to do much better when we are at war with an outside enemy - like Hitler or Japan in WWII or terrorists like Osama bin Laden.  Why do we have to have a "war" or an enormous tragedy of some sort to bring us together?  Why can't we have a common focus that does the same thing?

It seems like the revolution that needs to happen in order to save a nation paralyzed in polarization is to simply shift our focus back to that which we hold dear - as well as thinking with the heart rather than the head.  This nation was founded upon independence - therefore, we teach independence.  The founding principles are those of unalienable rights - which are the rights of each and every individual.  Each of these has to be felt in the heart to be understood.  Both parties can evolve their "stances" accordingly or take responsibility for tearing this nation apart.

Since the "majority" normally lies in the 66.7% around the middle - 33.3% on each side of center (consider a bell-shaped curve) -polarization isn't "normal."  However, it is "normal" as a precursor to enormous transformation.   

Still pondering...
Karrie