Some years ago when Bush II was President a spiritual friend and healer told me to stop hating Bush and put a picture of him on my altar. This was a tough assignment. I understood what he meant bu.t didn't like doing it. Jesus said to love our enemies and here I was put to the test. Over time I this idea has matured and sprouted as a spiritual practice a kind of spiritual puzzle like a Zen Koan. I found it very hard to develop positive feelings towards Bush. I thought not only was he doing highly toxic things but he was a phony--he was a rich a-hole who pretended to be a redneck and a born-again Christian when he was neither. He might have wanted to be but he just wasn't.
Eventually I came to understand that there is something magical about the Presidency of the United States. In person the President is both the Head of State (like a King or Queen) and the Prime Minister. Thus not only does he have an executive function but he is the National Symbol of our country. He or she is us--and no matter how ugly our real face in the mirror is the only way to make that face beautiful (makeup won't work in the mirror of truth) is to love that face. Thus when it comes to someone like the President no matter how ugly he or she may appear loving that person is the answer--any real Christian would tell you this (those that follow Jesus' teachings). George Bush represented everything I despised so hating him would only add to the negative energy of fear, lying, killing, and destroying countries. Bush was my enemy but hating him means he wins or the force of evil within me wins--loving Bush, wanting the best for him was the surest way of actually opposing his policies as a citizen. I could still tell the truth, I could still witness and demonstrate for peace and compassion but hate has no place in that.
Trump is hated even more vehemently by people on the cultural left (most of them are not leftists in the political sense) because they seem him as crude, rude, and a person unable to tell the truth. I think it's funny that people continue to post on Facebook Trump's inaccurate statements--haven't we learned that Trump has a very different understanding of "truth" that most of us have? Don't we understand that we live in a post-rational society? Just look at our cultural artifacts! Look at the consistent dumbing down of our people over several decades. Only by loving our Great White Father in Washington can we surely understand him and oppose his policies effectively. Love and compassion allows us to expand our consciousness about him and why he is in the position he is in. Only by looking into the mirror and seeing our own simple-minded attitudes, our own narcissism which may not be as graphic as Trump's but I can assure you it's there because we live inside what Christopher Lasch dubbed many decades ago "the culture of narcissism." Compassion also allows us to see deeper--maybe Trump isn't all bad--maybe he has some interest in our well-being but doesn't see it or sees it dimly just as we often see the paths to our own well-being dimly.
The essential element of real spirituality is to understand that we are all connected and that we are all responsible for all the ills of the world as well as the beauty. We can't, as spiritual aspirants, point the finger at others for their faults particularly because we cannot alleviate those faults unless and until we face and work on those very same faults in ourselves--I don't mean we have to do one or the other--we do them at the same time. When I see the selfishness of the President I have to, at the same, see my own selfishness, and not see myself as better than the President or anyone else. Jesus said that we should love our enemies--but implicit in that is the fact we will have enemies, i.e., those we oppose and must oppose. I must oppose Trump's environmental policies, for example, and I can be more effective if I don't hate him and others who seem unable to develop enough compassion for their progeny who will have to live in a planet seriously degraded environmentally and perhaps a planet that may be very hard to live in (there are very specific disaster scenarios that could occur).
The same goes for hating the oligarchy who actually controls most government policies. Yes, they are greedy, yes they are nasty and cruel by nature, yes they see us mainly as food--but when you look deeper into the human beings that make up this informal network they aren't all bad--it's the system that has evolved over time or you might say the culture that made them collectively act as they do and that system and culture has our face on it. We are selfish, we act selfishly, we are alienated, we do see the world made up of good guys (us) and bad guys (them). We live lives of emotional and physical isolation. We spend our time in cars and houses in front of screens--the rich just spend time in better cars and houses and with more toys and amusements--but their interests are the same as ours. This is why Americans unconsciously defer to the rich and powerful. They know that if they had the means they would act in the same way. Buy a big house and a 200k car, and have the most desirable sexual partners, a boat, an airplane, the best clothes and waste energy, dump plastic in the ocean and "live large" to show the world how much more worthy they are. As long as we admire that kind of lifestyle, as long as we yearn for money to burn, we will continue to ignore and hate the poor, defile the environment, so that our company can make a few percentage points more of money. Let's face it "we have met the enemy and he is us" as Walt Kelly through his character "Pogo" quipped.
And what is it with "us" that is the enemy? Well, here's a clue--unless you face that enemy and love it you cannot master him/her.
Eventually I came to understand that there is something magical about the Presidency of the United States. In person the President is both the Head of State (like a King or Queen) and the Prime Minister. Thus not only does he have an executive function but he is the National Symbol of our country. He or she is us--and no matter how ugly our real face in the mirror is the only way to make that face beautiful (makeup won't work in the mirror of truth) is to love that face. Thus when it comes to someone like the President no matter how ugly he or she may appear loving that person is the answer--any real Christian would tell you this (those that follow Jesus' teachings). George Bush represented everything I despised so hating him would only add to the negative energy of fear, lying, killing, and destroying countries. Bush was my enemy but hating him means he wins or the force of evil within me wins--loving Bush, wanting the best for him was the surest way of actually opposing his policies as a citizen. I could still tell the truth, I could still witness and demonstrate for peace and compassion but hate has no place in that.
Trump is hated even more vehemently by people on the cultural left (most of them are not leftists in the political sense) because they seem him as crude, rude, and a person unable to tell the truth. I think it's funny that people continue to post on Facebook Trump's inaccurate statements--haven't we learned that Trump has a very different understanding of "truth" that most of us have? Don't we understand that we live in a post-rational society? Just look at our cultural artifacts! Look at the consistent dumbing down of our people over several decades. Only by loving our Great White Father in Washington can we surely understand him and oppose his policies effectively. Love and compassion allows us to expand our consciousness about him and why he is in the position he is in. Only by looking into the mirror and seeing our own simple-minded attitudes, our own narcissism which may not be as graphic as Trump's but I can assure you it's there because we live inside what Christopher Lasch dubbed many decades ago "the culture of narcissism." Compassion also allows us to see deeper--maybe Trump isn't all bad--maybe he has some interest in our well-being but doesn't see it or sees it dimly just as we often see the paths to our own well-being dimly.
The essential element of real spirituality is to understand that we are all connected and that we are all responsible for all the ills of the world as well as the beauty. We can't, as spiritual aspirants, point the finger at others for their faults particularly because we cannot alleviate those faults unless and until we face and work on those very same faults in ourselves--I don't mean we have to do one or the other--we do them at the same time. When I see the selfishness of the President I have to, at the same, see my own selfishness, and not see myself as better than the President or anyone else. Jesus said that we should love our enemies--but implicit in that is the fact we will have enemies, i.e., those we oppose and must oppose. I must oppose Trump's environmental policies, for example, and I can be more effective if I don't hate him and others who seem unable to develop enough compassion for their progeny who will have to live in a planet seriously degraded environmentally and perhaps a planet that may be very hard to live in (there are very specific disaster scenarios that could occur).
The same goes for hating the oligarchy who actually controls most government policies. Yes, they are greedy, yes they are nasty and cruel by nature, yes they see us mainly as food--but when you look deeper into the human beings that make up this informal network they aren't all bad--it's the system that has evolved over time or you might say the culture that made them collectively act as they do and that system and culture has our face on it. We are selfish, we act selfishly, we are alienated, we do see the world made up of good guys (us) and bad guys (them). We live lives of emotional and physical isolation. We spend our time in cars and houses in front of screens--the rich just spend time in better cars and houses and with more toys and amusements--but their interests are the same as ours. This is why Americans unconsciously defer to the rich and powerful. They know that if they had the means they would act in the same way. Buy a big house and a 200k car, and have the most desirable sexual partners, a boat, an airplane, the best clothes and waste energy, dump plastic in the ocean and "live large" to show the world how much more worthy they are. As long as we admire that kind of lifestyle, as long as we yearn for money to burn, we will continue to ignore and hate the poor, defile the environment, so that our company can make a few percentage points more of money. Let's face it "we have met the enemy and he is us" as Walt Kelly through his character "Pogo" quipped.
And what is it with "us" that is the enemy? Well, here's a clue--unless you face that enemy and love it you cannot master him/her.
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