J has probably noticed my lack of new topics lately, and so I think he is rescuing me and my blog as he has emailed me a wonderful new topic to introduce to the blog. Maybe this is what I should start doing - allowing my readers to come-up with topics for others to join in discussion. This way my blog won't die completely, but instead would allow it to be rejuvinated!
Here is a new topic that I'm anxious to get some ideas/opinions on. This topic was brought-up by J-
I challenge everyone to think up the next form of 'government' by which to have a social and equitable peace, with room for those who wish to 'seek god'. Prompting this challenge is the fact that all governments in existence today are pretty old and wearing out, not satisfying the needs of 'all' humanity. (this is not a criticism of our gov't). Perhaps some 'lay-thinking' on the subject can come up with some new approaches, and who better to try than 'spiritual seekers'?
14 comments:
"There is no political solution.
To our troubled evolution." ~ Sting.
I hate to be negative, but any form of a realistic government doesn't seem to mix well with the hope to evolve spiritually as a species.
Hi Anonymous,
I don't know if it's just my experience or not, but lately the world seems to be becoming more spiritual. This could be a biased view on my part, as after all my circle of friends are more "spiritually minded". Most of my web searches are spirituality based and this also goes with my reading, so it could just be that I'm bringing that world closer to myself, but then again maybe the world really is becoming more spiritual. It's possible that this is part of our evolution. I'm just speculating of course, but if our evolutionary goal was to become a spiritual species, then maybe the government would be more spiritually minded.
Stacey,
Anything but theocracy. No Dalai Lama. No Jesus on the throne. No Big Brother.
What's wrong with democracy?
Hi Stacey,
For the past few years, I've also dived head first into spiritual teachings and have been involved with a few groups locally. I tend to lean towards the non-dual teachings of advaita, zen and taoism.
It just takes a quick peek on any given day at a newspaper to see the pathetic state of affairs in regards to our elected government and those of other countries. It never fails to bring me down.
The possibility of a Utopian type society somewhere in the future seems so far fetched.
To paraphrase Maharaj - before there can be order in the world, there must be order within oneself.
Maybe everything that is going on is all part of the great dream and we are not the dreamers, but the dreamed.
I know I'm way off the topic of the orignal post, but thanks for letting me rant.
Thomas (previouly anonymous)
What a great question! And one I have pondered myself.
It seems to me that there's no universal solution for government. A group of like-minded people can self-govern in a way that breaks down at a larger scale. Take the ideas of socialism or communism. Humans being, well, human, it totally fails at a grand scale.
There's a lot to be said for a true Republic... but ours here in the States is too burdened by bureaucracy and its own sheer weight to be nimble and effective. But the idea is lovely - communities self-govern and band together loosely or tightly where advantage of the power of many is needed.
The other problem of government is that while its own citizens might like to live peacefully, sometimes the citizens of another culture do not want to live peacefully. In that way it really does have to start at an individual level. The world being not-ideal means that ultimately the government might have to do things that are not-ideal.
Assuming a great number of peace-loving folks who are oriented toward spiritual growth, the republic idea could work very well; each community could care for itself and work with those around it.
There is no good form of government. However the lack of government is even worse due to the uneven aspects of human nature.
In the end, all we can hope for is the minimum amount of government that still allows for a maximum of free expression on the part of the talented among us. It's unfortunate that too many governments find one of their primary goals to be the suppression of that free expression.
By the way, to the best of my knowledge that aren't any pure democracies in existance and I doubt that form of government would work in a large or pluralistic society.
My theory is that any form of government run by sleeping people will be a catastrophy. Since that is the case, the best government is the one that is able to do the least damage. Democrocy is good, or perhaps a technocrocy. Capitalism is also good since market forces govern rather than sleeping people.
But I also think that if only one person improves his spiritual position only a small amount that this has a relatively large impact on the world. Unfortunately I do not see anything like general awakening occuring. I see the opposite.
A third way of looking at it is that "the world" is for us at best a perception and very often not even that. Mostly we just have imagination about the world. We pretend that we have objective knowing about the world but we do not. It is much more real to think in terms of "my world" instead of "the world". Then it is not hard to see that "my world" is greatly affected by my state of being.
We "think" that "the world" does not change when we are in a good mood, even though it seems to change. Shall we trust our thoughts or our perceptions? What is more real? It is clear that perceptions are not objective. What is not clear is that thoughts are even more subjective than perceptions.
Thank you kind reader for your patience with my long post.
Smile and the world smiles with you. :)
I believe that a beginning precept should be that a government is best which governs least, Jefferson, I think. Additional precepts should be agreed upon as was done with the original constitution. Precept 2 could be: we'll pay you to handle things and leave us the hell alone!
Could be that we are spiritual beings living a human life rather than human beings living a spiritual one.
Hi IMeMine,
I don't think Theocracy would excatly be a good idea as that would be based more than likely on one particular religion and that's the last thing we need. I would be hopeful that the government would allow for freedom of religion.
Democracy is fine, but it has its flaws too. For instance, George Bush is currently our president. (This is the ONLY time I'll say something negative politically! I just wanted to add some humor.) :)
Hi Thomas [What Is?],
I've taken little glimpses into advaita, though not much into Zen or Taoism yet. There's always the possibility that someday I will. Advaita is a little difficult for me because it leaves me feeling empty. (I know, that's probably the point!) There is a blog I can recommend to you that you might like - it is all about Advaita. The link is: http://charliehayes.blogspot.com/
The news is very disheartening! I very rarely pick-up a newspaper. Most of my news reading is done when I happen to glance at the headlines on web portals. Then unfortunately I'm drawn in to reading the whole article. I watch the news some nights, and usually it's filled with sad segments. Overall I don't like news because of this.
It's true - the idea of a Utopian type society really is far fetched. It may take many many lifetimes. I hope, that if there such a thing as reincarnation, that I'll be there to witness it in a future life.
You were not off topic. You can rant anytime you want. :)
Hi Anonymous Julie,
I hope that someday this planet reaches that ideal - a "great number of peace-loving folks who are oriented towards spiritual growth".
It would be interesting to see not only what the government would become, but what the entire world would turn into.
Hi Utenzi,
Thanks for stopping by and joining us in this discussion.
It is true - too many governments are very supressing. I complain often about how our government is run right now with Bush in office but I should probably consider myself lucky when I look at the way other people have to live, for instance in countries like China.
I dream of one day not having nations with separate governments but one day a world-wide government where everyone has given up ideas of war and supremecy. Everyone would be of the worldy nationality. All cultures would intermingle with one another and each would be free to participate in their own practice of religion without fear of prejudice.
Hi Be Now,
You said that if only one person improves his spiritual position a small amount, it makes a relatively large impact on the world. I almost see this since I've improved my spiritual position. It could just be that I am more aware of the good things in this world, and that is what the "improvement" seems to be. But, even if it is only a change in perception, I'll certainly accept it with gratitude. :)
Hi Goatman,
Good to see you here. I stopped by your blog and saw that you were last seen feeding your ducks. I await more. :)
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