Political Evolution

A political evolution is stirring. People are beginning to break free. But in order to understand this progression, we must look at what we were just yesterday, before we decided to think for ourselves. We must look at it because no matter what we do or what we think, the evolution is taking place; it is unstoppable, and everything is about to change. The reason that it is unstoppable is because the human mind itself is evolving, and part of this evolution is breaking free from our past fear, hatred, and division.

Thinking for ourselves requires courage, which is different from what we were when we not courageous, when we indicated our underlying fear through hatred and division, when the color of a man's skin, or a woman's gender meant more than what they were inside. This is when we used arguments such as "Straw Man Arguments," where a person's actual position is ignored and a distorted, exaggerated or misrepresented version of that position is substituted. For example; "She is for gun control. Before you know it, no one will be able to own a gun in this country!"

Or "Character assassination," where a person is rejected because of some unrelated fact about the person. Typically, character assassination involves two steps. First, a person's general character, or his or her circumstances, or past actions are made to look threatening. Then, this attack is taken as evidence against the present claim or argument that the person is therefore wrong all the time. For example:

"Hah. One candidate is black, and the other a woman! They have about the same chance as a snowball in hell."

In this example, no issues were ever discussed seriously, and in place of issues was a smokescreen of character assassination. This is how we have conducted ourselves for a long time now, avoiding real issues by disregarding those not in our particular comfort zone. Therefore, it might be a good idea to see where we were before this evolution began. Let's look at our comfort zones; God, country and family, cherished values that are so key to our security.

We have created these comfort zones in our collective minds, and we are willing to fight to the death for them. Anyone questioning these values would be considered an enemy, an enemy that would certainly be shunned . . . or worse. These values have been with us since we first walked the earth. We have always fought over territory and beliefs, with one clan believing in this God, the other in that God. Admittedly, God is a little fuzzier now in modern times, no longer just a sun God, or a moo
God, but our egos still remain compelled to immediately categorize and control any occasional enlightening episode that we can't understand. We can't say, "I don't know." We must link our epiphanies to whatever beliefs are in vogue at the time.

This compulsion; always to know better than the next person, keeps us from seeing the reality of our situations. It keeps our minds closed, and holds us back from understanding a situation without prejudicial belief. And this compulsion to know more than the other man or woman is based simply on fear, because when we are fearful, we rely on others to do our thinking for us, especially about things such as religion and culture. That is when we invent fallacious arguments such as straw men, or character assassinations.

While we proclaim our independence in things easily understood, we succumb to higher authorities regarding religion, our country, and even our families. We call it conservatism; tradition, but actually it is fear of change. To think for ourselves would be risky, requiring vigor, astuteness, and especially guts, so we go along with everyone else. In addition, thinking for ourselves has historically been discouraged by the power brokers who proclaim, "Trust me! Believe what I say!"

To argue against our values seems pessimistic, unsociable, and dissident. So why even think about our values? Why make waves; after all, things are good with many people, so why change anything? Freedom is available in our country, corruption and inequities are limited, and that is good enough.

But we still feel fear and dissatisfaction; apparently, from the way we treat and act toward each other. Therefore, being told what to do and think can be comforting; it shifts responsibility to an authority. All we have to do is voice the party position, and we are safe. We don't even have to think about the complicated issues.

We fall for political parties, gurus, plans of action, saviors, priests, anything to keep from taking responsibility for ourselves and looking into these matters from our own perspective. A problem arises, however, when we surrender like this; we subject ourselves to an underlying fear that won't go away. Many times, we even subject ourselves to abuse. However, being taken advantage of always requires our passive acceptance, where we willfully submit to an authority for sake of our own security or convenience.

Some, however, don't accept being ill-treated or taken advantage of regardless of convenience or security, and these people cause problems. But because of their convictions, they more often than not become leaders who influence events. This happens because everything in the universe changes, and those that attempt to hold on to the past are soon left in the dust; simply a fact that can't be refuted.

Truth becomes secondary when we surrender to others and allow them to tell us what to do or believe. Surrendering like this does allow our situations to become comfortable, however, so comfortable that fall asleep and find ourselves blindly following without questioning. This is trouble, because what we follow are typically the ambitions of people or organizations that want us to structure ourselves within their particular vision of the world.

So what keeps us from becoming independently alive? Why blindly follow other's decrees? Do we do it because it is easy, and makes us secure? Our realities are God, country, and family, and to question these would be questioning our very lives.

And all of this is where we were before the evolution.

The new political evolution is about people becoming free of all of this imagery. The new political evolution instead offers a fulfillment beyond an illusory warm and fuzzy security that surreptitiously strikes fear in our hearts - fear that we will somehow lose this security to an unknown enemy lurking just out of sight. This is a fear based upon a web of illusions in which we find ourselves caught, never once noticing the spider that waits to pounce.

The spider that waits to pounce is reality, and this "reality" is anything but deceptive. Reality means seeing what exactly we are, and seeing that to which we give up and submit. It means seeing the chaos of our lives, where within our personal illusions, we believe that our lives will be complete upon our making a small, fine-tune adjustment. Because of this illusion, that our lives will be complete as soon as this or that happens, we subsequently become knotted in imagery and imaginations. We put on a good face, but unde
eath there is only worry and fear. Since we are afraid when we feel that we are not in control, we argue with anyone who doesn't share our perceived values, because we are fearful all the time; 24/7. We have never been without fear our entire lifetime.

But how could we be in command when we give up our very intelligence, and allow others to control our minds? Better yet, what is it that wants to be in control?

The only thing that can awaken us from this nightmare is passion; the passion which suddenly arises when we come face-to-face with our tremendous discontent, and without being able to run away from it. An illness, an accident, a misfortune of some kind suddenly awakens us to our self-made prison. This wake-up call is a call to action, to break out of our self-induced dream state, but how do we break out? How do we see what we have done to ourselves? One way to begin is to examine our cherished values.

This time, rather than rely on some authority or another, we will discover for ourselves that which will set us free. Having spent all of our time and energy on things that society and religion insist will make us happy, things outside of us, this time we will do it differently, because our happiness has never remained; it dissipated as quickly as it arose.

So where is it that we have we gone wrong? Why does our hatred and fear increase instead of decrease? What if everyone in the world increased their fear and hatred of each other; after all, they are no different from us regarding the hatred that they could translate into harmful actions against those that disagree with them. What a way to live in the world, yet many prefer this. This is stupidity. Soon we would all be ashes. So how have we been deceived? This is what we must find out for ourselves.

Only when we finally understand that we haven't truly figured anything out does our intelligence uncover happiness. This is not a happiness promised by others, but a happiness realized ourselves, a happiness that has nothing to do with images - of God, country, or family. It is much closer and deeper than that.

When we love God, country and family, that is not wrong; it is normal. Few, however, actually love, and instead use God, country, and family for their own security. This causes problems, because then loving is not loving at all, but becomes a selfish thing. Using God, country, and our families for security dismisses real love, and promotes dependency, and dependency can never promote love. Dependency promotes only fear as we attach to and attempt to control the things upon which we depend.

Love, real unconditional love, comes from a freer place. It does not come from egoism. Security comes from egoism. Where love is courageous, security is cowardly, creating divisions among us; the color of one's skin or their religion is enough to warrant their destruction. And this continues to happen, unbelievably, after thousands of years of culture.

This new political evolution is about seeing where we are, why we have arrived here, and what we can do about it. "Seeing" lessens our fear, a fear that permeates the world, and we can begin seeing by looking at our lives to see if we hide behind God, country, and families for our own security, afraid to see what is really happening, and afraid to face the future. And where we confuse ourselves by thinking that this is love.nnlove is not what we feel when we are attracted to someone or something. Studies show that the section of the brain that becomes stimulated when one is in love is not the emotional section, but the primal section that controls physical lust. Perhaps love is just animal lust, which in turn becomes possessiveness, control - a business relationship all wrapped up in anger, guilt, suspicion, and apprehension.

Or is love a movement toward a truth that presupposes the false? Is love responsibility? Responsibility is something we must do, so responsibility can't be love. Love cannot be something we must do. Love is something that happens without duty in mind; it is not controllable.

Admitting that we don't love God, country or family in the way that we thought we did requires intelligence and honesty, because admitting that we don't know how to love is the first step in really loving, and really becoming free. Then the possibility of authentic love exists, a universal love that is not narrow in scope, and where those other than our God, our country, or our family; those with a different skin color, or gender, or religion, or political party, are not hated.

Look at the world and imagine it more dangerous than it is now. This is where our children are heading, children who are raised to believe as we do and become as we are. Why not allow our children to develop their hearts without preconceived beliefs. Instead of pumping their minds full of our ideas, saddling them with crushing pressures to do well, why not just love our children? Our world, the one that we have made, is a world where soon nobody can be trusted.

Almost every interaction these days is deceptive in some way, with a hidden agenda unde
eath the table. Whom can you really trust? Why teach our children the same methods? It is only ourselves that's causing our own problems, our own fear, ambition, and aggressiveness, which are coming back to bite us. But all of this is difficult to admit, because that would take insight, an evolutionary term, which is opposed to hatred and fear.

Why not allow a tree to grow according to its heart, just protecting, watering, and allowing it to grow naturally? We fear our children will not do well, but how do we define doing well. Do we define it by economics, or do we define it as happiness and fulfillment? Has an ambitious, competitive world taken us to the brink of happiness, or the brink of nuclear war?

If our ignorance and anger, that increases daily all over the world, ever triggers the bombs, all our technology will be destroyed instantly, along with us. No one will be left to look back and see that the evolution that was just beginning was our only hope; where we were starting to understand our personal and collective anger and egoism, as well as the dangers of egoistic ambition in every aspect of our lives, especially our misuse of God, country and religion.

This political evolution is a threat to the status quo. Therefore, those that are evolving faster must become fearless. Because those that are fearful of change the most; those refusing to wake up, will judge this evolution as blasphemy, and consider those who are evolving dangerous; therefore, only true warriors can tread this path. But once a warrior's eyes open, there is no going back. When a warrior determines how he or she has been dishonestly controlled and influenced, and more importantly how they have manipulated themselves; how could he or she possibly return to that kind of ignorance?

We create illusions and images about our values, rather than see them for what they are, because when we question our entrenched values, we clash with our traditions. Warriors, however, question everything, and aren't afraid of colliding with embedded values. With enough courage to see exactly what is going on, they refuse to create illusions about anything.

Those not evolving will attempt to escape from any self-inquiry because self-inquiry, which is a divergence from long held beliefs, involves suffering. This pain is similar to an addict's pain while withdrawing from addiction. But this is the kind of suffering that eventually frees, unlike addictions that entrap.

Only a warrior can understand and put up with this intelligent suffering that eventually ends all suffering, and therefore only a warrior can become completely free. Those not evolving will try to escape from their suffering through everyday diversions rather than looking directly at their angst. But everyday escapes are always temporary, because being born into a human, organic body insures conflict. If one doesn't believe that this is true, then he or she haven't looked carefully at life, or haven't lived long enough.

18,000 children in the world die from starvation every day, and fifty percent go to bed hungry every night. This is not because of lack of food; it is because of lack of enlightened leadership. Only a warrior questions God, country, and family. Only a warrior can become awakened to real love, and as such, warriors do not begin movements, or new religions based upon their discoveries.

Warriors, who understand the dependency and fog of following blindly with no discretion, also understand how non-warriors try to find security in ideals. And when a warrior sees how this has happened to him or herself, then there is no further justification for following anything blindly. Security now resides not in a religion, or a movement, but in the warrior's heart.
The warrior doesn't worry about perpetual life after death, or the continuance of ego; that's not for warriors. Warriors don't attempt to organize the truth; they seek truth within themselves, and upon finding it, do not hold it. They allow truth to arise each moment, because they know that everything changes, and that truth only stands for a moment.

It is the momentary reaction to that truth that the new political evolution is all about - knowing that truth cannot be captured; it is much too fast for that, and therefore reacting to the exact truth that is happening in each and every moment.

Evolving warriors are the only hope for a world spinning out of control. Unfortunately, warriors can expect to find themselves entangled in conflict at every turn from those resisting the evolution, but this is the path of true combatants, and true combatants would never avoid the difficulties their path entails. A warrior does what is right in his or her heart and lets the chips fall where they may, because they have escaped their prisons, and offer hope to those who wish to escape as well. n