James King

POLITICAL ATTATCHMENTS AND LOSING YOUR SOUL

Here we are at another election year and people are up in arms about who is the right candidate to become President for the next four years.  I have even heard folks say they will “leave the country” if the outcome does not go the way they want it.  It happens every four years that many folk seem to work themselves up into a frenzied state about the super hero’s status of their particular candidate who once were mere mortals but now are on a mission to save the world and right every wrong.  While it is important to participate in our democracy by voting and working for our candidate of choice we should be careful not to lose ourselves in the political rhetoric. 

Politics can often become mean spirited and cruel in order to vilify the opposition.  Jesus actually spoke about this and offered another way to approach our differences.  Jesus said, “Call no one a fool.”  A fool in this context is the idea of dehumanization and slander.  We can still have our strong beliefs and opinions without taking away from the sacred human essence of another person.  To me this is where politics has become overly violent and silly all at the same time.  We are all God’s children walking toward the light and no one has the complete answer by themselves.  I also realize that the way we are set up as a dual party system someone will win and someone will lose.  With this comes the idea of an adversary in which to do battle and conquer.  Therefore a constant political war ensues and in the meantime nothing of any significance ever gets accomplished for the American people as a whole. 

 From a spiritual perspective we are called upon to “love our enemies, and pray for them that persecute us.”  Even when there is marked division things can still get done if loving kindness and prayer are continuously applied to the process.  I totally understand that many will not hear this and will continue to do political battle but for you and me “we can make a difference by living the truth we know” (Unity’s 5^th principle).  Is there any better way that you know of to renew the American spirit than this?  Without the respect for human sacredness we enter into repetitious cycles of political war that descend more and more into cynicism and apathy.

 Does anyone really win if we lose our souls in the process? 

 I encourage you to pray this prayer of St Francis of Assisi each day - this is the answer….

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love.

Where there is injury, pardon.

Where there is doubt, faith.

Where there is despair, hope.

Where there is darkness, light.

Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,

grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;

to be understood, as to understand;

to be loved, as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive.

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

Amen.

 Be the answer,

James