Consecrating the Warrior

One of the most vexing questions for those who want America to evolve to the next level is how to handle the warrior qualities that we’ve developed in our country. We are a country steeped in violence, from our high murder rates to our lust for bloodsports to our excitement at crushing an “enemy” in battle. Like the Romans who encouraged and cultivated martial culture through coliseum “sport” and battlefield glory, Americans have been trained to love violence in film, games, and sport, which has fed our growth into becoming Earth’s dominant military power.

Many peace activists and pacifists believe that we will simply outgrow our martial tendencies and that we will no longer harbor aggression once we evolve to the next level. Peace, in that view, becomes a transcendence of the more primitive qualities that now often dictate human behavior. We just evolve into an idyllic and sanitized human nature in which we all just get along peacefully.

I believe that our evolutionary path forward requires something different. Once a capacity is built, it is human nature not to want to lose it. Right-wing fears of giving more power to the United Nations reflect this desire to retain the power, strength, and dominance we’ve achieved rather than cede it to a larger political structure. America’s resistance to the Kyoto Accords also relates to fear of loss of power. Even if rational analysis reveals that larger global structures hold greater promise to solve problems such as war and global warming, emotionally it is quite hard for Americans to relinquish the power that we’ve amassed. “We’re number one” has become a national attachment.

The left tends to dislike the mentality that fuels martial dominance. The right tends to be identified with it. Neither side is really providing a true path forward for how the virtues that are foundational to martial dominance can be harnessed in the service of the evolution of all humanity. I say virtues because the disciplines required to become martially strong are not easy to master. To become physically, emotionally, and mentally outstanding is no easy task. America is a young nation and to rise to military dominance so quickly has required remarkable excellence, from the economic engine that provides the money to the science that provides a technological edge. Almost every country in the world has vied for military dominance at some point and the fact that we’ve achieved it is a mark of excellence.

That said, now that we’ve become “number one,” what do we do with that warrior power? Empires can and do rot. They become stagnant and self-indulgent, like a professional athlete who retires and becomes a coach potato. Is that America’s fate? Or will we find better uses for our accumulated prowess?

I see two main things that need to happen for America’s warrior qualities to be consecrated in the service of the next level of evolution. The left needs to embrace the virtues and disciplines that undergird warrior strength. They need to see the competitive fire of sports, the driven intensity of business, and even a strong and effective military as engines for the good. The full embrace of warrior disciplines will allow more left-wing and higher consciousness folks to demonstrate the physical, emotional, and mental strength that those on the right require of their leaders, and thus be embraced as political leaders. I see it as a good sign when left-wingers can comfortably embrace weight-lifting, boxing, or hard-core capitalism.

The right, on its side, needs to outgrow narrowly-defined self-interest. When the warrior is harnessed only in the service of narrow interests, it becomes increasingly narcissistic and even demonic, to use a loaded religious word. That’s part of why a fair number of right-wing folks start off by developing strong, self-reliant, and noble virtues but then evolve into, for lack of a better word, jerks. Their warrior virtues become increasingly self-focused and their sense of care and compassion for others diminishes. They become good at amassing power, money and strength and increasingly selfish about what they do with it.

Liberals, on the other hand, tend to dissociate from the warrior side, or diminish its value. So they may become less adept at being strong, productive, and self-reliant. They resent the amassment of power and money by conservatives and want it to flow more “equitably” rather than simply compete for the resources in the capitalist game. Their warrior side tends to come out in their right-wing critiques, which often are strong on intellectual logic and weak on personal accountability. To use the words of right-wing pundits such as Ann Coulter, they become “whiny wimps.”

The way I see it, neither is in balanced, right relationship with the warrior side of their being. One identifies with it for mostly selfish gain while the other splits from it in a way that abdicates power. The path forward for America, I believe, requires a different relationship with our well-honed warrior qualities, one that consecrates them in the service of something higher.

A truly sacred warrior consecrates his or her “sword” for the liberation or betterment of all beings. Not just Christians or Americans or Muslims or Crips or Jews. Everyone. Even our animal brethren. Gandhi was a kind of spiritual warrior, expressing his warrior qualities in the form of intense personal disciplines and social action. He and his satyagrahas acted for the liberation of India AND the transformation of the British empire. America’s founding revolutionaries were not just trying to get out of paying taxes, they were fighting for the right to create a new kind of political structure that would advance human freedom for the entire world. In World War II, Americans stepped up militarily to stop Hitler’s march, a great and noble service for the whole world.

Contrast those acts with the current-day occupation of Iraq, in which recent polls show some 91% of Iraqis opposed to the occupation of U.S. troops. We can no longer sincerely claim that we are in service of the Iraqi people. We have to admit that what was originally presented as an effort to liberate Iraqis from Saddam and advance freedom is really about US greed for oil and a military presence in the Middle East. The occupation is not a case of us using our martial dominance for sacred purposes, although that kind of rhetoric was required to win popular support in the beginning for the war.

Because we are the most powerful nation on Earth militarily, it is essential for us to evolve that martial dominance into something that truly serves the planet. Human nature being what it is, it is unlikely that we will simply relinquish the dominance we’ve achieved. However, the dominance can be consecrated sincerely for the whole. Such a political consecration, though, can only happen when a critical mass of American citizens begins to evolve a different relationship with their own warrior side, taking the middle path forward of embracing warrior qualities and virtues while using them for the good of all beings.

This is ultimately a path of love, which integrates all aspects of our full nature and offers them up in a spirit of generosity. Such a path reduces violence rather than reveling in it. When America’s martial dominance and warrior virtues can be equally offered up in service to Israelis AND Lebanese, Americans AND Iranians, then we will begin to create a world that is truly at peace.

Originally published at OpEdNews.com

Sacred America Series #26
If you’d like to read these weekly articles exploring a sacred vision for America, you can visit www.stephendinan.com or sign up on the distribution list by sending an email to stephendinan-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

Preparing for Leadership

America is heading for a crisis in the coming years, a crisis precipitated by the growing recognition that we as a nation have become a significant cause of the planet’s major problems. Crisis is a term that engenders fear in many, but crisis also holds the seeds of positive transformation. Those who see crisis only through the lens of danger tend to become afraid and move away from dealing with the truth of the situation. If we can also hold crisis as a gateway to new possibilities, then we become more hopeful and more curious to examine every facet of a crisis, thereby discovering gems of insight and pathways to transformation.

Let’s look at just three critical challenges for humanity where America has become a primary source of the problem. First is global warming, one of the most insidious threats to humanity, with hundreds of millions of people and many of the major coastal cities of the world in jeopardy if any of the major ice shelves melt, as is now happening in an accelerated fashion. America is by far the leading source of the CO2 that is driving global warming. We are also the largest nation to refuse to sign the Kyoto Accords, designed to curb global output. Global warming is a scientific fact now, and we know what accelerates it. The real questions are how disastrous the damage will be and how quickly it will happen. If we’re trying to come up with a viable strategy to prevent global warming, we need to address America as the single biggest source of the problem.

Second, in the realm of global peace, we in America have often seen ourselves as fighters for democracy and freedom. During moments of greatness, such as World War II, our warrior class has indeed held back the forces of oppression and sacrificed nobly for the good of the whole. Now, though, our increasingly botched war in Iraq tells a different story: America is not seen by Iraqis (nor most of the world) as a liberator but as an occupier that is heavily invested in Iraq’s oil assets and less interested in her people’s freedom. Similarly, our enormous financial and military support of Israel, even when it acts destructively, also undermines the sense that America is truly looking out for the good of the whole. In both situations, America is now amplifying the violence in the Middle East rather than expanding the peace.

Third, in the realm of democracy and a free press, America has also become a significant source of the problem. Our democracy is in peril, not only from the obvious causes of corporate corruption and special interest groups but also from the truths that still lay half-veiled, such as the apparent theft of our last Presidential election. Our government is increasingly swallowed by debt while politicians grant sweetheart deals to corporate backers. Our money and tax system have been distorted by the privately-held Federal Reserve Bank. Our electoral integrity fails international standards and our media have become consolidated and fearful of doing their job of countering public abuses with rigorous truthtelling. The contrast between Mexico’s reaction to an apparently-stolen election and ours was dramatic, which reflects our docile press combined with a too-cautious Democratic party and a stunned-into-silence electorate.

The truth is that an unaccountable, moneyed, and powerful elite now pulls the strings of the United States government and press with remarkable ease and devastating effects. We are no longer a leading example of a healthy, functioning democracy with a fully free press but of a proto-fascist state merging political and corporate power, smoothed over with a thin veneer of democracy. Worse yet, we tend to support and advance governments that are favorable to our economic interests, even when they are oppressively anti-democratic. In this way, we are often a barrier to other countries becoming more democratic because we reinforce oppressive regimes that are profitable for us.

Those are only three dimensions of the crisis humanity is facing , and yet they are essential. Sustainability, peace, and democracy are foundational to a healthy global civilization. America needs to step back into positive, forward-moving leadership in all three realms or it will bear a heavy responsibility for the suffering that ensues. For example, how will we feel as the world’s leading producer of CO2, if one of the large Antarctica ice sheets melts, destroying the homes and lives of hundreds of millions of people with increased global sea levels?

So the question then becomes, “What can we do on a personal level to help America step into healthy global leadership on these issues?” My answer is to become leaders ourselves, each of us becoming a catalyst for positive transformation – an example of the changes we want to see in our systems.

As the cracks in America’s image become more evident and the repercussions of our failures become more damaging, we are going to need a whole new generation of leaders, ones who can embody new paradigms of living, foster innovative solutions, restore healthy democratic processes, and serve the planet rather than just self-interest.

Each of us can become one of these leaders. Indeed, it might require ALL of us to become one. Here’s my advice for how to prepare to help America choose an evolutionary path in the coming crises:

1. Personal growth – become adept at working with the many tools for personal healing, conscious empowerment, and spiritual growth. Coaches, bodyworkers, therapists, meditation teachers, acupuncturists, priests, martial arts senseis, seminar leaders, and intuitive readers can all be valuable allies on your path at different times. Get over judgments and figure out which people, practices, and resources can be most helpful to you on your path of growth. Learning to utilize these resources is part of becoming a clear and effective leader, and it will also allow you to ably guide others as well. The clearer you are, the better you will lead. Shadow work is particularly important since leaders operate in an amplified field of energy. At higher levels, the pressures, attention, and responsibilities increase along with the power. Most people who ascend to leadership have not spent enough time working with their shadow issues around power, sex, and money and thus begin to distort around those issues as the voltage amps up.
   
2. Continual Education – Leaders need to understand the full breadth and depth of current problems. Today, this means keeping a finger on the pulse of new developments in everything from technology to politics. Read synposes and books from the far left to the far right, as well as those that look at shadow politics, without dwelling too long. Get some of your information from the mainstream media while spending equal time investigating independent or overseas media sources, especially on the Net. Sign up for niche email newsletters that can provide you with a rapid way to track developments in various fields. Watch milestone movies such as “An Inconvenient Truth” and strongly encourage others to do so as well to ensure the largest possible audience. If you do all this, you’ll have a pretty good sense for the whole truth of our current situation.
   
3. Practice – Look at every situation in which you find yourself as an opportunity to practice leadership. This could be anything from volunteering to run a church discussion group to managing a team at work to making wise household decisions. The kinks, challenges, and problems of our leadership will manifest in whatever realm we choose to exercise it. That’s why it’s good to have lots of practice in more forgiving environments before taking on more substantial worldly roles. If you don’t work out the kinks in the small environments, you’ll do so on a bigger, more public stage with larger consequences. While you grow in your leadership, practice empowering others in their leadership since great leaders are masterful at developing other leaders.
   
4. Spend time in both mainstream and alternative cultures - Mainstream culture tends to have more grounded systems of preparation and more effective skills trainings to develop expertise in leading organizations, companies, and systems. Alternative culture tends to have a lot of important visionary ideas and innovative solutions, many of which can’t get traction until people embrace mainstream disciplines. Spending significant time in both cultures is helpful preparation for leadership.
   
5. Mentors – a key component of developing leadership is finding people you respect that exemplify greater excellence in your chosen domain and then establishing a mentor/mentee relationship. That may entail an apprenticeship, regular coaching, or simple friendship. Effective leaders template off other effective leaders and seek out people who can help them develop to the next level.
   
6. Walk Your Talk – If you are committed to sustainability and the environment, minimize your ecological footprint and offset your carbon every year to become carbon neutral. If you believe in compassion for all beings, become a vegetarian. If you believe in the importance of integrity, be disciplined about always telling the truth. Even the simple, quiet acts that no one will ever see have an effect on your leadership capacity. Those who do not walk their talk create barriers to effective leadership because their words are not as authentic, real, or powerful. Integrity is a true leader’s greatest source of power.

Our ability to grow slowly into our clearest, highest, and most effective leadership—a process that takes time—will determine how helpful we can be in the years ahead. Even if our acts now seem small, they are helping to accelerate humanity’s journey to a better way of being together on this beautiful planet.

As this occurs, some of the fearsome problems we face will create some of the most extraordinary advances. I believe that America can become the world’s leader in transitioning to a sustainable, renewable, and healthy economy that takes us away from oil dependency and the perils of global warming. Our military can become an effective force for peace, harmony, and sincere assistance. And we can fulfill American’s founding vision of being a beacon for democracy and freedom of expression, helping other countries to do the same. Each of these transformations will become quite natural when we reach a critical mass of people who are prepared to lead the way.

Originally published at OpEdNews.com

Sacred America Series #25
If you’d like to read these weekly articles exploring a sacred vision for America, you can visit www.stephendinan.com or sign up on the distribution list by sending an email to stephendinan-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

Loving the Enemy

Sacred America series #24

After more than a month away from my Sacred America writing series, a time filled with equal parts romantic adventure, spiritual exploration, and rest, I find myself wanting to return to this series with a different spirit - less intellectual interpretation of political patterns and more visceral honesty about navigating these times.

This is edgier territory for me. My heart wants to recoil from the evening news, with stories of accelerated global warming, terrorist threats, and the ever-tightening vise of fear. It is easier to be aloof, seeing it all as the perfect unfolding of the human race growing into a new stage of maturity. It is far harder to open fully to the people and animals of our planet as they face apocalyptic horrors. It’s simply devastating to immerse in the grief of a Lebanese widow, the outrage of an Iraqi youth stripped of dignity, or the desperate hunger of a Sudanese refugee. How much can I open to these situations and retain a positive outlook, one infused with trust and a spirit of possibility?

One of America’s gifts to the world is our visionary optimism, but that gift often carries a shadow of hubris and indifference to the plight of others. President Bush’s recent stance that an “enduring” cease-fire in Lebanon could only happen after Lebanon’s infrastructure was sufficiently devastated serves as a case in point. The belief seems to be that we and our allies need to be heartless and brutal, strong-arming the world into submission to make us “safe.” Noticeably absent has been a sense of true compassion for the Lebanese, which might have led to a more balanced embrace of the troubled psychology on both sides of the conflict. The end result is that the Lebanese people are devastated, Israelis are even more reviled in the Middle East, and America’s credibility has been dealt another crushing blow.

Perhaps the saddest part is that much of America’s aggressive posturing in the world is paired with a supposed dedication to Christ. Last month’s vacation with my wife connected me to a far different side of Christianity, the side that could build the splendor of the Chartres Cathedral, inspire the prophetic peace of St. Francis, and fuel the extraordinary service of St. Patrick, who returned to the land in which he had once been enslaved to dedicate himself to ending slavery and uplifting the Irish people.

Jesus’ most radical teaching was to “love thy enemy as thyself.” This teaching is at the sacred core of his work, challenging us to open our hearts so wide that we exclude no one, even those who attack or wrong us. Instead, we are asked to forgive those who wrong us not just seven times but “seventy times seven times.”

Who among us has lived this teaching fully? It is certainly not easy – millennia of biological survival programs drive us towards domination, violence, and revenge when threatened. But with humanity’s amplified capacity to destroy, if we let ourselves be driven by our biological codes, we accelerate the forces that are taking humanity over a deadly cliff. I believe that we have no other choice but to take seriously Jesus’ radical heart practice if we want to survive. If we cannot find love for those we now see as our enemies, the spiral of retribution and fear continues, thereby preventing us from rising to meet the great challenges of our day.

The golden possibility of a healthy, prosperous, and sustainable planet will remain out of reach so long as we squander so much of our money, talent, and time on defense and aggression, protection and control, dominance and fear. The 21st century is humanity’s time of reckoning. We will evolve or we will self-destruct. I believe it is as simple as that. The difference between the two paths is not technological or even political but psychological and spiritual. Ultimately, it comes down to the question of how wide we are willing to open our hearts. Only when we extend our love to all of humanity can we begin to collaborate effectively on the otherwise unsolvable catastrophes that loom before us.

So as we hear of terrorist plots and watch devastating wars, let us dare to practice what Jesus taught. Instead of feeding the cycle of fear and contraction, let us instead encourage a spiral of love, holding both sides in a vision of sacred healing. It is indeed a practice and may not come naturally. But when we speak, think, and act from this stance, we can begin to reverse the downward spiral of humanity’s heart. This includes extending our love even to the very politicians and leaders who sound the drumbeat for war and retribution. Can we include them in our compassion as well, sending them blessings of peace and love? Even if they take the role of the aggressor, they too are stuck, afraid, and wounded. “Forgive them, Lord, for they know not what they do.”

The ripples may seem small from opening our hearts wider at the very moment when our biology screams for protection, but the acts of healing and compassion that result are the only thing that can propel us beyond our wounded reactivity to discover our shared humanity.

Will we be part of the spiral that uplifts humanity? Or we will allow fear to seduce us towards our collective demise? We make our choice with every breath, every thought, and every deed.

Originally published at OpEdNews.com: