. JULY 2000 Newsletter |
. JULY 2000 Newsletter |
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The Impact of Spirit on Politics
SPIRITUAL POLITICS:
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...(A) new politics is emerging in many places around the country today that embodies values common to the world’s spiritual traditions. This new politics is distinguished by some key ideas: |
Religion is concerned with beliefs and practices, whereas spirituality is more concerned with inner experiences and how we actually live our beliefs. |
1. Using a "higher common ground" process for resolving conflicts and making policy. As Einstein said, two sides disagree because they’re both wrong. He said we can’t solve a problem on the same level of consciousness that created the problem. We have to find higher common ground...
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The Institute for Multi-Track Diplomacy in Washington, D.C. helps build a culture of peace and resolve ethnic conflicts through involving the whole system of stakeholders in dialogues--government, business and non-profit groups. |
2. Promoting "best practices"--positive solutions to social problems that are spiritually based. Many of these new solutions have been pioneered by "civil society" groups (non-profit organizations)... Their spiritually based solutions are effective because they address the whole person--body, mind and spirit--and change lives, rather than just provide food or shelter...
Sojourners, a group in Washington, D.C., has helped juvenile gang members give up violence and drugs and find a new http://www.sojourners.com/ The Human Service Alliance in
Winston-Salem, NC provides a nursing home and free medical care to hundreds of seniors, using a totally volunteer staff.
http://www.hsa.orgWorld Vision has been very effective in promoting development in poor communities because of its religious values.
3. Working to change consciousness. Our negative patterns of thinking are the deeper cause of problems in our world... If we want to create truly lasting peace, we must focus on a more positive future that we want to live in, and each release our inner hostility towards adversaries.
| The Foundation for Global Community, (formerly Beyond War) based in Palo Alto, CA, successfully enlisted hundreds of teams around the country to help Americans reframe their thinking about nuclear war. They learned to see it as obsolete, because no one could actually win a nuclear war. This was an innovative and effective strategy for peace building. |
4. Using prayer, meditation and reflection to invoke spiritual help for our leaders, for public policies, and for crisis situations. A spiritually based politics recognizes that we humans do not have to struggle with our problems alone, as help is always available from higher dimensions when it is asked for...
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Pathways to Peace in Larkspur, CA and ReCreation Foundation in Ashland, OR organize prayer vigils to ask for spiritual help in crises situations...Pathways to Peace organizes a prayer for the United Nations every September on its opening day. |
The Faith and Politics Institute in Washington D.C. provides reflection groups to support Congressmen and their staff in being true to their deepest values when confronting difficult issues such as campaign fundraising.
"Let us empower ourselves to be effective change agents by reuniting our politics and our spiritual values."
Other spiritually based groups help citizens invoke the soul of our nation--that which embodies the highest ideals and vision and which serves the good of all, regardless of personal cost. These groups help citizens renew their faith in our spiritual foundations...
| The Global Renaissance Alliance is a citizen-based, international network of spiritual activists. Their mission is to make a stand in our local and national communities for the role of spiritual principle in solving the problems of the world. |
The power of Spirit within each of us is a source of great strength and wisdom. Within each of us is a special gift that we can uniquely contribute to making a better world. Let us empower ourselves to be effective change agents by reuniting our politics and our spiritual values.
To read the full article by Corinne McLaughlin go to http://www.visionarylead.org/spolitic.htm
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"Each time a person stands up for an idea, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, [s]he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy..., those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance." Robert F. Kennedy in Capetown South Africa
1966 |
The Meaning of Politics in a Spiritual Perspective
by Henryk Skolimowski
The art of good government is possible when people become aware of the spiritual principles underlying all life.
Political institutions are a shadow of our souls. Put otherwise, political institutions express and embody the wisdom of the people of the time. If there is no such wisdom among the people, these institutions express their unwisdom. The state of our wisdom and the state of our soul are closely related.
In ancient times in China there lived a sage Kung-Fu-Tse, whose name has been simplified in the West as Confucius (551-479 B.C.). He was renowned for his sagacity, wisdom, impartiality, justice, and the capacity to see through the distant consequences of human actions. In due time he was invited by the king of Lu province to govern the kingdom. And he ruled for twelve years with the blessing of the king and the growing happiness of the people, showing what wisdom can do when consistently applied in social-political affairs. Confucius' rule was so successful, while the prosperity and peace of the people in the kingdom was growing, that the neighbouring kingdoms were astounded and became envious. This was a clear demonstration that politics could be a noble and beautiful art benefiting all...
The art of government for the people and with the people is possible when people become aware of deeper spiritual principles underlying all life and the forms of sustaining government.
Professor Henryk Skolimowski is the author of 9 books and more than 200 articles. He is presently teaching at Lodz Polytechnic Institute in Poland, where he holds the Chair of Ecological Philosophy. This article is an extract from his forthcoming book.
"Politics devoid of ethics contribute nothing to human welfare, and life without morality reduces humans to the level of beasts."
The Dalai Lama from the forward to Spiritual Politics: Changing the world from the Inside Out by Corinne McLaughlin and Gordon Davidson 1994 Ballentine Books NY
In Next Month's Issue we will explore: Developments in World Religions
Please join us......
On our ACTION page you will find ideas for things you can do the make a change.....
ARCHIVES of past newsletters
Home ll Introduction ll Newsletter ll Groups ll Archives |
World Finance and its
relationship to our ethics and spiritual beliefs. This month we
will explore Politics in the same manner. We CAN make a difference
in how governments operate. We CAN put our spiritual beliefs
into practice here as well. Join us in an exploration of
"walking the talk" in Politics.
