From Politics to Spirituality in 3 Steps
Journeying into a new dawn, Krabi Province in Southern Thailand
HUMAN LIFE AND THE HUMAN CONDITION can be understood so much more easily by separating it conceptually into 3 dimensions...
POLITICS is one dimension of human life, and it plays out upon the foundation of the SPIRITUAL dimension. There is a third dimension, PHILOSOPHY, which is the bridge between politics and spirituality.
If the human world is in political chaos, run by cowards, incompetents, puppets, liars, dacoits, then this means that the human world is really struggling in the spiritual dimension. After all, politicians come from our communities!
(I’m not saying we’re all liars and dacoits, but if we were put into such power, would we be any different? Something to reflect upon, and this article will help.)
In fact, the mainstream portion of it (70-90% of humans?) is spiritually empty, hence the total nonsense and insanity going on in our human world in these current times of turbulence and turmoil, and in its main branches of media, science and medicine.
However, a wonderfully increasing proportion of human beings are opening up their hearts to life, and discovering the real beauty that is the human essence, the ‘soul’, and experiencing how it protects us from being unduly troubled, and harmed, by the insanity and tyranny of today’s untempered politics.
Back in the pre-internet world of the 1990s on my hammock, where I did 1000s of hours of reflection time (not exaggerating here!), I decided there were three main dimensions to human life, which we can conceptualise as separate dimensions in the following evolutionary sequence, in an effort to understand our world and our human mind, but which we should remember act in a holistic unison:
political >> philosophical >> spiritual
We evolve - as individuals and as a species alike - in this sequence. In essence these dimensions can be thought of in this way:
political = I know all the answers, I am right, I don't ask questions
philosophical = life no longer seems so certain to me, I might not be right, I now ask lots of questions, I have put myself on the path of discovery
spiritual = finally, after quite some time philosophising, the questions run out because one cannot get the definitive answers we would like in the political-style certainty, and at this very point in time, when we realise the questions are not bringing us the answers we seek, the questions are dropped, and one reaches the spiritual dimension.
And then a great revelation takes place in our consciousness: the answer to the meaning of life, to our existence, and to how things work, has arrived!!
In other words the process goes like this:
arrogance, ideology and the certainty of ‘knowing’ >> asking questions, seeking answers, discussing, debating >> drop the questions and finally get the answer.
And:
closed mind and knowing >> open mind and understanding >> open heart and wisdom.
Then in our continued evolution we dip, or temporarily get pulled, back into the political and philosophical dimensions as one develops and enhances their spiritual living in a conflicted and politically-dominated world.
Some important understandings arise from this way of looking at our world. I offer you a round dozen…
Politics creates problems, feeds on problems, and owes its existence to having problems, so looking for solutions within the political realm is a fruitless exercise (even though that’s what goes on in mainstream life). It’s why politics seeks to divide us, because then it continues on with its existence; happy and wise people don’t need leaders!
When I was younger, we always used to read about ‘UN Resolution #346’, and the like, being passed in order to ‘solve’ conflicts between peoples or nations. I used to wonder back then, why not ‘Solution’, why ‘Resolution’? I think it is the best humans can do within the political framework, and certainly no long-lasting, meaningful solutions can be found.
This has a tremendous understanding for us, and I think it was Einstein who said we cannot find a solution at the level in which the problem was created. So if you find recurring problems in your life, this is why.
It is humbling, in our politically-dominated world, to say ‘I don’t know’, but once we get over this psychological fear (of looking stupid or ignorant), and allow ourselves to be vulnerable, we remove the blockage and are able to move into the second stage of our own evolution, namely the philosophical dimension. We now inquire, investigate, explore, question, challenge, reflect, while being freed from the fear of looking uninformed. Most fears indeed disappear. We can now actually become informed, and we have now put ourselves into a lifelong learning mode. This means many good things start to happen, not least that we can start taking charge of our own health and life.
We can listen to the best academics and the best geopolitical analysts out there, who talk with amazing knowledge of history and our modern political world, and with full-on integrity about the problems facing nations and our almost constant backdrop of war and community violence, yet, if they are not exploring the psychology and spirituality of the human being (philosophising), they will never be able to give us the full picture.
It’s why so many problems keep on repeating themselves through history.
Because politics ‘knows’. If philosophy turns up and questions politics, politics gets upset because clearly everybody else is wrong, and how dare they question us! If spirituality turns up and actually gives them some real home truths, politics finds this an unbelievably bitter pill to take, and lashes out or silences spirituality.
We cannot live with wellness, we cannot take charge of our own health, and we cannot live holistically unless we have evolved at least into the second dimension of philosophy.
I cannot get you out of philosophy into spirituality, that can only be done by you; all I can say is to keep on going with the philosophical dimension of living, keep on asking the pertinent questions, to yourself as well as to others, because one day you suddenly ‘get it’!
In effect, therefore, philosophy burns itself out after the nth degree, and at this point in time, spirituality becomes understood and experienced. From my own experience, I can say it’s almost like ‘flicking the switch of awareness’, but you can’t flick this switch without having first done the hard yards in the philosophy dimension of life. So never give up, keep questioning, stay determined and resolved, and the rewards will come.
In other words, philosophy, like politics, has no answers, no solutions, but philosophy plays the crucial role as a bridge in delivering us out of the burden of untempered politics and mind-dominated living, and into the heart-based, joyful dimension of spiritual living. In this connection with life, we see what is, and we see what happens out there, instead of always trying to shape it the way we want it, or trying to change others so they do it the ‘good’ or ‘correct’ way. Spirituality is all about awareness of existence out there, and the existence of awareness within us, not trying to change anything.
Once you get there, do not be disappointed when you find yourself ‘regressing’ to the political ego-mind, because this is part of our personal evolution in terms of practising and honing the skill of living spiritually and joyfully. I have also experienced myself how the pain of political living (an out of control ego) will come to us through the backdoor, beating our defences, and I will just say that it happens because our world is still very much struggling in this lower dimension, and perhaps because it keeps us on our toes! Spirituality has to live side by side with politics, the ego and soul are two sides of one coin.
The purpose of my article here is to raise awareness of the human condition, and to provide a simple framework for your personal evolution. My website is called A Spiritual Revolution because I feel we have developed so fast with our technology, that our psychological and spiritual advancement has fallen terribly behind. We need to speed things up because we are now such a danger to ourselves while stuck in the political egoic mind. We need a catalyst for our evolution, and that is a spiritual revolution.
And learning the art of asking pertinent questions is just the ticket.
Bear in mind that spirituality can see and understand politics, but politics cannot see or understand spirituality.
Interestingly, those children who want to ask questions and understand things while at school usually end up labeled as ‘trouble-makers’. This confirms the education system is stuck in the mire of the political dimension.
Our schooling and education systems urgently need reform, but that can only happen when we adults apply spiritual thinking and ways, because it’s only from this dimension of life that we can find solutions. Otherwise we adults and ‘educators’ get in their way, blocking their development, just as our parents’ generation did to us.
And that’s why I’m setting up my Infinity Education Academy of Learning Skills, and promoting A Spiritual Revolution as the only possible answer to our problems and conflicts in life, both as individuals in our own lives, and at the collective level of nations and all of humankind.
Get on the journey fast my friend!! Sign up below to receive my blogs and videos straight to your inbox, and enjoy this exciting odyssey of self-development and evolutionary empowerment. So many rewards. Meanwhile, do add your thoughts or ask your questions in the Comments box below.
