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Tuesday, 26 September 2006 14:51 |
| | Bill Walz |
Politics emerges from consciousness. It has always been so. Humanity overthrowing monarchies, embracing democracy and egalitarianism, abolishing slavery, confronting racism and sexism ÇƒÓ these were all fundamental steps in the evolution of human consciousness.
In the 21st century, however, the merging of politics and consciousness will take on an urgency as never before. The politics of the 21st century will require human consciousness to evolve, for if it does not, vast harm will result for our species, other life forms and to our planet. We might even perish.
Great challenges confront America and humanity in the 21st century. The existing paradigm of consciousness for human civilization no longer serves us.
The
first of these challenges ÇƒÓ and the challenge which is truly
threatening species and the planet ÇƒÓ is the coming environmental and
resource crisis caused by unsustainable pressures to our planetës
biosphere.
The second great
challenge calls on us to initiate the required planetary, political,
economic and cultural cooperation that is needed to resolve the
environmental crisis. Humanity must embrace being one people with a
huge common problem. How America faces up to its role and
responsibilities in these challenges will greatly determine our place
in a rapidly changing world, as well as the likely outcome for all
humanity.
Unfortunately,
the present American administration, from its un-evolved consciousness,
has us moving backward, not forward, seeking to accentuate and exploit
our differences domestically and internationally for its own immediate
political advantages.
By fanning the
flames of the growing conflict between Islamic and Judeo-Christian
cultures, by fostering ill relations throughout the world while pushing
predatory economic and divisive cultural policies at home and abroad,
America is being pushed towards its twilight. If the current
Bush/Republican practices and policies continue, America faces having
our military, economic and moral vitality drained in the oily sands of
the Middle East, Africa and Eurasia while aggravating the threat of
terrorist attacks against us.
We will witness
the worldës economic fulcrum shift to Asia. We will see Europe and
Latin America distance their historic ties to us. At home, the growing
division between economic classes will condemn many to increasing
hardship and turmoil. Worst of all, without American leadership in
reshaping world economics and politics, the growing environmental
challenge will surely hasten into crisis.
America and
humanity face a challenge that requires of us a quantum leap of
consciousness. We must evolve beyond misguided notions of materialistic
and political self-interest and aggrandizement. We must embrace a
collective responsibility while strengthening our commitments to
cultural diversity and the inherent worth of every individual. We must
leave behind allegiances to dogmas that separate us while increasing
consciousness of our connectedness to each other and to the ecology of
the planet. We must emancipate ourselves from all the false ways that
create separation. No more "my affiliations and interests are more
important than yours." Either we are all in this together, or we all go
down together.
I am not,
however, without hope. In Western Europe there is an emerging politics
based in the trans-national cooperation, social/economic fairness,
cultural preservation and ecological consciousness that is needed to
transform human society. Sadly, however, America presently prefers to
berate and economically undermine this evolving consciousness and
politics. We are left with the crucial question: Can America be brought
to realize that its unique power will either lead humanity into a new
age of sustainable cooperation or doom us to ever-deteriorating world
conditions and possibly even a cataclysmic nightmare? The answer to
this question is everything.
It is this
simple: Our consciousness as individuals and as a species must evolve
beyond ego-gratifying personal and collective competitiveness. We must
reclaim our harmony with nature and with our own inherent natures. As
harmony and diversity within a larger unity is the nature of nature,
so, too, we must rediscover that it is at the core of human nature.
We have been
exploiting, destroying and warring since the beginnings of human
civilization, but the planet was so vast that it could contain
humanityës insanity. This is not so anymore.
This insanity
based in competition for power, wealth and dominance must be overcome.
The consequences are too terrible not to contemplate ÇƒÏ so terrible, it
is my hope, that once contemplated, we will be compelled to evolve our
consciousness, and with it, our politics.
We must become
one people on one planet creating one future as magnificently
harmonious and diverse as nature itself, or America and humanity face a
very dismal future, possibly, no future at all.
ï
Bill Walz is a
UNCA adjunct faculty member and a private practice teacher of
mindfulness, personal growth and consciousness. Contact at
bill.walz-at-worldnet.att.net or (828)258-3241.
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