McLaughlin: Compassion and concern for us. Earth was created for us to learn spiritual lessons—particularly the lesson of kindness. The Dalai Lama has a great quote about that: “My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.” And Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, another great Buddhist teacher, said, “If you want to be miserable, think about yourself. If you want to be happy, think of others.” The Ageless Wisdom tradition says that this is why the world was created—to learn, often through our mistakes, to be more loving, courageous, compassionate, wise, and to help others to be so.
Our purpose is to be happy and to help others to be happy. “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” as our Declaration of Independence reads. This is the trajectory of evolution for all humanity, and our spiritual guides want to help us achieve it—because the dangers of failing to do so could mean annihilation for ourselves and others with whom we share the planet.
The MOON: Yes, but why? Earth is a very small planet in a very big Universe. Why would spiritual forces care about us?
McLaughlin: [Laughing] Are you asking whether I’m privy to the Mind of God?
The MOON: [Laughing] I’m just assuming that you are.
McLaughlin: My own experience is that we live in a very benevolent Universe and there are many benevolent spiritual forces available to us, but we have to co-create with them; we have to work together. We have to ask for help and be open to it, and notice it when it comes. It’s like that popular story about the man who was stranded on his roof in a flood. Someone came by in a boat and offered to help him, but the man said, “No thanks, God will save me.” Awhile later someone else came by with a helicopter and dropped him a line, but the man refused to take it, saying, “No, no, God will save me.” Ultimately the man died and went to heaven, where he wanted to know why God didn’t save him. And God said, “Who do you think sent the boat and the helicopter?” So we have to be open to accepting help in a form that’s different from the form we imagined. We’re being helped far more often than we know.
We’re also given free will, so our progress is often just a matter of being willing to learn the lesson that results from poor choices we have made. If we’re willing to learn from our mistakes, then literally every experience we have here can be part of our spiritual growth—which is the whole point.
The MOON: In Spiritual Politics you talk about humanity’s purpose being one of evolution—our collective evolution—which often occurs through a synthesis of polarity. Will you talk about that?
McLaughlin: Yes. Another way to describe our purpose is to say that it’s about expanding our consciousness, which is how we get better results in the world—by being more loving, courageous, and wise. However, we often grow through confrontation: we learn about compassion by being confronted with hate, or intolerance; we appreciate light by comparing it to darkness. The great writers and artists know this—creating conflict among their characters so that they learn and grow; putting complementary colors next to each other so that each color is more vivid. What I’ve observed in politics is that it’s no accident that we have two political strains that are often opposed to each other, although from my perspective there is usually a grain of truth in each opposing side on any debate. If you look for the grain of truth from each side and find a third point that incorporates the best of what the opposing sides are saying, you arrive at a synthesis. This is how we make progress. That’s where we find real, long-lasting solutions.
Just as Einstein said, “You can’t solve a problem with the same kind of thinking that created it.” You have to take the thinking to a higher level. This is one of the changes taking place across the world right now: there’s a lot more awareness of synthesis and the need to go beyond historic right and left distinctions, which just seem to leave us stuck. You find the leading edge of academia synthesizing fields, such as environmental economics, or environmental psychology, or economic psychology. You get real insight into economics from a psychological perspective. There are more public policy institutes finding common ground today; more groups involved in conflict resolution, such as Search for Common Ground, or United Religions, which are dealing with really entrenched ethnic conflicts.
On the other hand, you find American politics getting more polarized and extreme. So there’s good news and bad news. I guess part of the good news in the U.S. might be that American politics has become so dysfunctional that more and more people are fed up with the status quo and may be motivated to find a third way—a synthesis. The conservative perspective honors the individual—individual liberty, creativity, and resourcefulness. This is a good thing. The liberal perspective honors taking care of the less fortune and working for the common good. That, too, is a good thing. Both perspectives are needed. When you can find a solution that draws upon both, you have much greater buy-in and a much more comprehensive solution.
Similarly, conservatives promote economic freedom; liberals personal freedom. Conservatives promote responsibility; liberals compassion. Conservatives promote development; liberals environmental protection. Conservatives promote right-to-life; liberals freedom of choice. There is really something of value on both sides. But rather than shout at each other, or simply try to amass the votes to win legislative victories over the other side, wouldn’t it be better to find a third way? In the abortion issue, for example, it could be “conscious conception.” Instead of arguing over when is the fetus Constitutionally protected “life,” we could focus attention on conception—and making every child a wanted child, and also making adoptions more easily available.
The MOON: You describe humanity as evolving towards ever-higher states of consciousness—an inexorable march of “progress,” so to speak—yet this seems to favor the Western “rational” view of history, when indigenous people—who lived sustainably and in relative harmony for millennia and who have been decimated in the name of progress—might see events differently.
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