Politics and Spiritual Calling

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There are no simplistic answers in politics. So, there are no consistent "good" or "bad" guys! People are always changing affiliations and ideas.

No one-- least of all, a person who claims spirituality, who claims to care for people-- should ideally be stuck forever in concrete. For that is clearly anti-growth, and this cosmos is all about growth. So are our spiritual journeys. You can expect consistency from a spiritual person, but that is nowhere the same as static immobility. She who does not change cannot grow; and she who does not grow is left behind by the cosmos.

You seem to have an ideal of a "spiritual" being as a total neutral. But many highly spiritual persons-- including Gandhi-- were anything but political neutrals.

Please do not try to "pigeon-hole" people. Often, they are not any particular species or variety of democrat or republican. They are people trying to use wisdom and compassion to try to cultivate a personal political philosophy. Politics are people, and a truly caring person cannot afford not to care about politics, for that is another way of not caring for people!

I do not apologize for holding some political opinions. But neither do I claim to be omniscient, to have always the "right" answer. Without such absurd claims, however, I do recognize greed, immorality, lies, and related qualities when I see them. To be a spiritual person does not make one "unplugged" or uncaring; it does not transform one into an ignoramus with the head buried, ostrich-like, in the sand.

Truth is reality, and this idea that spiritual people should turn away from reality does not make sense to me. I am obligated to do the very best that I honestly can, to gather and assimilate as much data as possible, for a factual basis for my beliefs.

But no one is "perfect," and there comes a point-- or, at least, it came in this life-- when Love Itself called to the path of political activism. In the cult in which I was reared, all political action was said to be from satan. It is understandable why a person might come to this conclusion! But indifference, apathy, and complacency are the opposite of active caring. So, I do not say that anyone else is necessarily called to make political decisions, but I have been called by the Mind to do exactly that. And whether anyone approves or disapproves, I must follow that still, small voice of the calling.

I know that politics are corrupt, and that no one has all the answers. But it is my calling to stand up for what I regard as justice, and against what I regard as injustice. The bottom line for me is this: The administration killed over a hundred thousand (mostly innocent) people for its oil-money. This I regard as the very height of obscenity and immorality. Also, bush claims to represent Jesus Christ, so the Way of this great sage also needs to be defended, as a part of my public ministry.

But each adult must make decisions in his/her life, and make the best ones possible, based on the knowledge, understanding, and wisdom that can be gathered. I am honestly making the best decisions of which I am capable. Is every decision perfect? No, and I do not claim that it is. But at least, give me the same benefit of the doubt that I am willing to grant to you: I believe that you are doing the best that you can, being the person you are, and having the data that you have. I do not question your honest motives, and do not call into question your value as a human being.

Let us reason together, each sharing his best, and let us keep the peace in our friendship. Soon, all political questions will be nothing but history, but our friendship can continue to exist even after all this "stuff" is gone.:)

If there is anything that you do not understand, please ask me for more detail.

For me to be silent about all this is to demand that I silence a spiritual part of my spiritual being. It is no longer "merely political." Bush has acted as an anti-human president in the name of being a "good Christian."

I did not write anything in the uld to hurt you or anyone else. But if you truly do support this nightmarish president, I was trying to do you a favor by showing you his "other side," his "hidden underbelly."

I have had far more feedback, btw, when I presented a pro-bush article in a recent uld. Now, that really stirred up a hornet's nest! Guess you can't please all the people all the time. And know what? I've given up even trying.

Since you like bush, you are a member of a rapidly-shrinking minority. Every day, the criminal and immoral behavior of this man and his cronies are being publicly revealed. Soon, you are going to have nothing left to like about the man, who has few if any socially redeeming values. In
fact, by what I can see, his only "values" are personal greed for money and power.