What does spirituality have to do with politics? When we embrace a spiritual practice does not that bring us deeper into contemplating a more compassionate and caring attitude towards all of our relations and lead us away from self-promoting agendas?
Please allow me to say that I am not any more qualified than anyone else to write this essay. I do not have much of a formal education; nor am I a practiced writer. I have, however, dedicated myself to a nearly lifelong quest into the essence of the Human Spirit.
For me the more open I am to allowing every voice to be heard within my own counsel, the more informed I become and the greater potential I have to discern and encourage the gifts from every viewpoint that can contribute to making the circle of life whole and unified.
For example, most of us are aware that there have been ongoing water issues in southern California since the human population of the area began to expand into a megalopolis. The more the population grew, the more water was needed. The solution that our political representatives of the time came up with was to borrow water from places that appeared to have more water than their populations required. Today, however, these areas are now experiencing their own water crises and are in danger of depleting the aquifers that are sustaining their own populations. Legislation that would enforce farmers to upgrade from more primitive and wasteful overhead watering to more efficient drip systems has been slow in coming because of lobbying by industrial agriculture to save themselves the cost of the upgrades.
Although it is easy to point fingers and cast blame, from my viewpoint, however, it is we, and not they, who are responsible for this. Because if we had adopted a more spiritual outlook, we would elect leaders who would unite us all into caring for the greater good of the whole, including future generations. If our elected representatives are not doing this, then we are the cause because we have allowed it.
For me, this is the spiritual content we need to transform our political systems: electing officials who are concerned with wholesome living for all and willing to put aside partisanship squabbling. It is up to us to change the criteria for our elected officials and to hold them accountable when they do not live up to our standards. When we demand that they dedicate themselves to serving the greater good of the whole, rather then seeking to gain personal power, or to benefit one group over another, then we will experience our capacity to care for all.
It is a spiritual truth that a person frees themselves when they lose themselves in service to the world because they no longer need to gratify an insatiable ego. A leaders who offers us a continual display of releasing the self in service to the whole is what we should look for in a candidate. Politicians who run for office with an attitude any less than that are not servants to the greater good.
I am aware that with the state of the world being what it is today, it is easy to be fearful. Nuclear war could destroy life on Earth many times over; we spend obscene amounts on our military while watching people around the world die of starvation, malnutrition, and lack of medical care; elected officials are easily bought by mega-billion dollar companies—in part because of the cost of getting elected, but also in part by greed. All of this makes it seem impossible to hold our elected officials accountable. However, I am also aware that fear feeds fear, and that there are many beautiful things coming to pass that can give us hope that the highest human potential can be realized.
For me there is another aspect of spirituality that can be fundamental in transforming all boundaries that separate us as a human family. It is our relationship with the elements. Scientists might refer to elements as the foundational building blocks to life. I am a bit more esoteric in my approach. I consider them angelic energies that support each other in allowing life to flourish here. This is not a new understanding; in fact, it is an ancient understanding.
Indigenous peoples have for countless centuries realized in their observation of life that the physical elements are born out of the energies of the etheric realm, which are visible to those with developed spiritual sight. None of them can exist without the support of the others. Indeed, we are made up of the elements.
In my study of the history and teachings of the New Testament, which includes many books that were deleted at the Nicene Counsel in the fourth century, we learn that Jesus was born into the Essenes, an order of Jewish society that practiced the essential nature of life. The Essenes saw and communed with the essential elements of life—Fire, Water, Earth and Air—as conscious, living angelic beings. When we understand this and gain a sense of the spiritual context in which Jesus was reared, we can also perceive that when he was reported to have walked on water and changed water into wine that he was in communion with the spirit or divine essence of water and not demonstrating a superiority over water.
I believe that we humans as a whole began disconnecting from a relationship with the spirit of water when we began pluming water into our homes. Today, many of us turn on our faucets without considering the great blessing it is to have water. Before pluming, when we had to walk to a creek or lake to gather water, or bathe, or dig a well with our own hands, we did not take water for granted and we surely would never pollute our water source. We were most likely extremely grateful for the blessing to have water available to us.
If we understand that the essential nature of water is that it flows and creates its own passageways, and that water shapes the element of Earth in its movement, and that Earth holds water, then would it make sense to obstruct water by damming it and manipulating how much water is held where on the Earth? Or would it make more sense to study how much human habitation can be supported by the amount of water that the Earth naturally holds in an area without depleting that source? In the past have been prone to believing that we can force nature to bend to our will. We have also believed that we have outsmarted nature, only for time to prove us wrong.
Maybe in the past we have chosen to concentrate large numbers of people in cities that could not be sustained by local resources. Surely, city living has been escalating over the last few centuries to the point of contributing in large part to climate change and other natural disorders that now confront us.
For me the answer is YES! YES! YES! Our domestic leaders must be spiritually adept to envision the health of the whole and guide us to that wholeness, which includes considering the effects that our choices will have on the coming generations. It does not matter if our leaders are practicing Jews, Muslims, Buddhist, Christians, Hindus, Indigenous Earth-based religions or any other, because each religion has the same spiritual truths at its core: Treat all humans with love, respect and compassion. With that I believe we will transform our world.
I am so pleased with all the women who have become elected to Congress. For me, they illustrate very well that love will prevail and that politics plays an important role. I am one man who is ready to have women take the helm and navigate us to safety.
In the past when I have heard people bashing Trump, I have said, “We will see.” Then I saw an article entitled “The Trump effect: Thousands of women run for office.” For me that illustrates how there is a perfection to life and that trust simply requires enough time for the perfection to be revealed.
I close with a prayer:
To the East, where the sun rises and the light comes from,
Sacred keepers of the East, behold this human and bestow
Your sacred gifts of illumination and enlightenment upon me.
Kima (Cheema), Daughter of Beauty, Angel of the Fire,
As long as I am allowed to be here in sacred communion
With your Holy Divinity
May your dancing flames of light inspire this awareness to realize
The ever-present, internal, eternal flame that burns within.
Thank you for coming, you are welcome here.
To the West, where the Grandmothers sit,
Sacred keepers of the West behold this human and bestow
Your sacred gifts of introspection and intuition upon me
Ehamah, Daughter of Beauty, Angel of the Land, the Soil,
As long as I am allowed to be here in sacred communion
With your Holy Divinity
May I walk softly, present with you.
Thank you for coming, you are welcome here
To the South, where the plants live
Sacred Keepers of the South behold this Human and bestow
Your sacred gifts of trust and innocence upon me
Maraela, Daughter of Beauty, Angel of the Water,
As long as I am allowed to be here in sacred communion
With your Holy Divinity
May I flow with your stream of life.
Thank you for coming, you are welcome here
To the North where the animals live
Sacred Keepers of the North behold this human and bestow
Your sacred gifts of knowledge and wisdom upon me
Wyhoma, Daughter of Beauty, Angel of the Air, the Wind,
As long as I am allowed to be here in sacred communion
With your Holy Divinity
Will you please breathe me home, free.
Thank you for coming, you are welcome here.
Holy Sacred Keepers of the Four Directions
I am grateful to you for receiving my prayers.
HO
—
Moon Savage apprentices with a Native American healer and ceremonial leader from 1982-1995. Since then, he has added hot stone therapy, craniosacral and other forms of massage and body work, as well as sound therapy, to his healing practice. He now resides in the foothills of the western slope of the Sierras in an area called Badger, near Three Rivers.
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