Why Self-Governance is at the Core of the Best Way Forward
“The big lie is the idea that we are less than divine - that is to say, of less than infinite intrinsic worth……We embrace illusions only because we are presented with the illusion that they are embraced by the majority.” - Martin Geddes
It seems to me that the biggest problem we face today is that ‘we the people’ have largely strayed from the core knowledge of our own inner moral compass and integrity, and we don’t recognize how much power we have given away. When we deeply tune INWARD, spend time surrounded by nature, and connect with our inseparableness from the Love that is the oneness of the universe, we each intrinsically know how to recognize what is right, what is wrong, what is just, what is equitable, what is healthy and what is toxic.
“Knowing that you carry the Spirit inside you makes you at peace.” - Black Elk
Without a strong faith in this basic reality - that we are inseparable from the real truth and wisdom - we mistake intellectual intelligence for intuitive intelligence. They are not the same thing! And knowing this is critically important. For when we forget, we easily relinquish our natural power and wisdom to external ‘authorities,’ often to people unnaturally elevated in society, whom we don’t even know and who are not held personally accountable!
I believe America was uniquely founded upon the idea that true liberty and peace is possible only when the emphasis in governing rests upon respecting the innate capacity of each individual to possess the grounded wisdom and morality that emerges naturally from connecting with a strong faith (in the higher wisdom, Great Spirit, natural law, God, however we label it), which is known only by turning within. Parents would be responsible (not the state) to hand down this blueprint for self-knowledge to their children, and relatively very few laws from the government would then be needed to keep the peace. Many Native Americans honored this wisdom, it seems, and the true pilgrims who fled from tyranny overseas were determined to do so also. It’s what naturally feels right and true, to people who have not become complacent, and dependent on external authority for their guidance. The more deeply I look into it, the more I realize the extent of the lies and distortions we’ve been fed about the history of America.
The important thing now, since we have strayed so far off course, is to reclaim our individual sovereignty, so that we each embark on a journey to express ourselves in authentic alignment with the natural truths of life and love. When we listen deeply, and in nature, over a period of time, we know what is the real food for us, and the real medicine, gifted to us by mother nature. We know what is most needed for the healing and restoration of our own vitality. We know that we are somehow all one, and one with nature and the great consciousness, and we realize that what we do unto other people, animals, or the earth, we do unto ourselves. We know that we are all sprung from the same Source. This true knowledge insures that what is best for the individual is also for the highest good of the collective.
“The universe fundamentally is interconnected and seeks unity. It is like a physics of morality: it takes non-linear energy to compartmentalize us and resist the unifying power of love.”
- Martin Geddes
I think it is high time to recover our INNERstanding of who we are, and of our proper divine place within the bigger picture. This is a deeply personal journey, and unique to each one of us because we are each a unique expression of the one truth. Sadly, we are being continuously thwarted in this most important journey, by the fact that the American government has long ago sneakily swapped its original founding principles for a corporate-driven, elitist, unnatural rule over (rather than for) the people, and we the people have unwittingly allowed this to happen and to continue. The government (in America) was originally founded to serve a free and sovereign people, by overseeing only the most basic law and order, while preserving and protecting our right to autonomous self-expression, self-governance, and the right to self-organize.
“This constant lying is not aimed at making the people believe a lie, but at ensuring that no one believes anything anymore.
A people that can no longer distinguish between truth and lies cannot distinguish between right and wrong. And such a people, deprived of the power to think and judge, is, without knowing and willing it, completely subjected to the rule of lies.
With such a people, you can do whatever you want.” - Hannah Arendt
The dramas of our world can be thought of like a grand theatre, in which we each appear to play main, support, or background roles. Here’s an experiment to try: turn off ALL the commentary, and simply listen deeply to the main characters; simply observe the main events as they play out. With ALL the commentary turned off, and simply witnessing objectively, you have to rely on yourself to discern the clearest truth of what is unfolding, and what matters most. You have to really tune into your faith, your own cultivated innerstanding of things, the wisdom you have accumulated through your own personal living experience, and your own inner moral compass, unadulterated by what anyone else thinks, says, desires or chooses. When you are presented with conflicting “facts,” opinions, and dictates, how else can you discern truth from falsehood?
I wonder what would unfold, if we threw out the 2-party system of government, and the only 1 category left for all of us together was “Independent.” Perhaps the divisive tribalism would fade away. Perhaps we could return to a space where opposing ideas could be discussed and explored from a more neutral place of genuine curiosity and respect for each other, and a real desire to heal with and for each other. Perhaps we might begin to remember our unity. Perhaps important basic requisites of life such as pure food, clean air and water, access to nature and loving community, could all be liberated from partisan and corporate-funded politics that seek control and domination, always a win-lose formula. I realize that I am oversimplifying things….but wouldn’t it be such a grand and welcome RELIEF to just drop the story that we have to choose sides and rally against each other??
Of course, we can’t escape the affects on us of other people’s choices (we all exist in one unified field), yet we can find our most solid sense of grounding, presence, equanimity and peace by turning inward rather than outward, to discover what is true and real, and how we genuinely feel. It takes real courage to live according to our own deep-down discoveries, because the truths we arrive at by tuning inward rarely fit in smoothly with the false frictions that dominate our chaotic collective outer world. But the rewards of trusting our own innermost compass are much more spectacular, and sustainable, and a natural resilience is earned.
Even while the government is still like a ravenous giant octopus, there is a power we each have to make a meaningful difference on the path to collective healing. When each of us commits to taking 100% responsibility for our own sovereignty as a whole individual human, we make a beautiful contribution to the positive progress of the whole collective. Our example will inspire others to desire the same, and the ripples expand.
“Peace only comes when you declare yourself one again with all. It’s all one thing, and you are it.” - Gay Hendricks
And as Peace Pilgrim said, outer peace in the world begins with the inner peace of each individual.
Yes, without the inner work of cultivating our inner guidance system, we worship outer authorities..... but still, the deeper dilemma remains - as long as we tyrannize millions of animals, we sow the seeds of being tyrannized ourselves, and crave it...