Let's
face
it: what's rapidly becoming obvious, is the
ideas
which could make
the worldwork
for everyone, are not political
ideas.
They're beyond
opinions,
beyond the totality of rules, laws, and regulations we've set up over
the centuries which govern us, and which to a greater or lesser extent,
given they're precedents, determine
the way
we'll be governed in
the future.
They're beyond
religion
and our
spiritual
concepts (in this realm particularly, "beyond" includes "prior
to"). What we've embedded in
the way
we run
our world,
puts our differences and our separations paramount to all else. Laws
are based on our differences. Politics are based on our differences. In
the pure form,
religionsshouldn't be based on our differences, no? Yet it sure
looks
like they are (count
how
many versions of
"God
is on our side" are out there).
In my
quietmoments,
I
wonderhow
we
got
it all so confused, if perhaps it shouldn't all be a lot
easier
than this. The root problem seems to be that we've set it all up to
preserve our divisions without taking our one-ness-es into account. We
ignore our same-ness-es at our own peril. We invest heavily in
protecting our separatenesses and their survival - of our tribes, of
our countries, or
simply
of our
points of view.
Yet for the most part, we pay no
attention
to
the being we really are;
even worse, we pay no
attention
to
the being others
really are.
If you
wonder
about the state
the world's
in (and
why),
this is what's at
the heart
of it. It's really that
simple.
It takes an enormous
commitment
to run for a position as a global
leader
today. It takes an enormous investment of
time
and
money,
and an unwavering
stand
to be
heard,
known,
and
trusted.
Yet we, as society, seem hell-bent on making that task as difficult as
we
possibly
can. If you don't want your privacy instantly, permanently violated,
you won't consider running. In this
way,
we eliminate at the
get-go,
most of the
people
who are best qualified to
lead
us. It's become the critical job which, given the stakes,
no one wants. And even those who are elected successfully, bring with
them
questions:
will their
leadership
be more of the same, more of "We're different than them", more of
"God
is on our side"? Or will they bring with them that essence of
being transformed,
that
getableway of being,
whose spark
speaks
louder than
words?
Will their
way of being,
bring with it the assurance that
simply
given
who we (all) really are,
it's
possible
(and it's not even a far-fetched
possibility)
for
the world
to
work
for everyone, with no one and
nothing
left out?
Listen:
we all already
know
it's
possible.
The
question
is: who will
say
it? Who will
stand
for it?
By
now,
it's a well-worn cliché that the
transformation
of
our world,
begins
with the
transformation
of each individual. And the trouble with all well-worn clichés
is that regardless of any inherent, timeless yet urgent
wisdom
they may embody, we
stoplistening
them (we've
"heard
it all before"), moving on instead to whatever the current, new
flavor of the month is. The problem with doing that, is this particular
cliché is not going to go away. Ever. If
personaltransformation
is anything at all, it's
living
in
integrity
with
the being we really are
(it's
the being everyone is),
as distinct from our
survival machinery
whose sole purpose is hell-bent
on perpetuating our differences. If
the world's
going to
work
for everyone, it'll
work
on a
platform
that includes our same-ness-es, not on showcasing another ideology of
our differences.
It's only a milquetoast conclusion, to notice
how
different we all are.
Look:
it's patently obvious we all have differences. So noticing
we're different, is an accurate
observation
(for which there's a lot of agreement) yet not particularly profound.
On the other hand, it calls for something truly
big
to distinguish our same-ness-es which are prior to and foundational to,
any and all of our differences. Distinguishing our same-ness-es (which
is to
say,
the willingness to make that distinction) is really
the only game in
town
- which is to
say
it's arguably
the only game in townworth playing. To sit at its table, requires ante-ing up
something truly
big.
And that something truly
big?
It's
who we really are.
That's what's at stake here. Go for it: ante up
big
and play
big.
This is the one game on which
our future depends.
Really.