Amy at Texas Faith: After the election, how do we become one?
This week’s question: “What is the message that different faith traditions can send about the [post election] importance of being one?”
AMY MARTIN, Executive Director, Earth Rhythms; Writer/editor, Moonlady Media
The most important thing to remember is that there is only one God or divine. Instead too many act like there is a God that supports Christians and another that supports Muslims and so on, becoming in essence polytheists.
Instead, let go of the duality that creates the mindframe: “If I am right then you must be wrong.” Humans are far more complex than that. Life is not a polarity; it is prismatic.
To see the spectrum of all humanity means to engender empathy, to open the heart and see through the lives of others. Empathy is difficult; it can allow the heart to bleed. Yet without it, humanity is lost and we become only educated animals.
“Compassion is not religious business, it is human business, it is not luxury, it is essential for our own peace and mental stability, it is essential for human survival.” ~ Dalai Lama
NOTES
By the time this answer gets posted, Election Day will have arrived. The presidential campaigns will have made their closing arguments. Supporters will have advocated for their candidate. And, if polls are any guide, Americans will be pretty evenly divided.
So, barring another Florida, America will wake up Wednesday with one side joyously happy and another bitterly disappointed. Or, that’s how core supporters of Barack Obama and Mitt Romney will feel. The losing side will be tempted to demonize those who voted for the winner. And the winner’s supporters will be tempted to gloat about the victory.
Neither response will help the country move forward as one. Neither response will help us move beyond the politics of division. And neither will help us realize that we really function best as a country when we balance individuality with community.
With that in mind, here’s the question for this week:
“What is the message that different faith traditions can send about the importance of being one?”
