Over the past seven years, the American people have existed in a politically toxic environment. I have been attempting to understand how I am able to apply my mindfulness practice to relate to and neutralize this toxicity. 

The question is, are we simply at the mercy of those who are delusional, dishonest and disregarding of the feelings and needs of our fellow members of our American family? Or is there a way that our practice can express itself to correct the ugliness of what has been going on in our political world for the past seven years? Many have written that this negative course of behaviour, if unchecked, will lead to the destruction of our political institutions and constitutional rights as American citizens. 

I have found Adyashanti’s writings to be of great help in this discovery process that I have been following. Adyashanti writes [emphasis added]:

Awareness is that part of us that perceives, observes and witnesses our thoughts, feelings, behaviours and bodily sensations. It can be quite transformative to realize that you are not what you thought you were, that you are not your feelings, that you are not your beliefs, that you are not your personality, that you are not your ego. You are something other than that, something that resides on the inside, at the innermost core of your being. For the moment we are calling that something awareness itself.

The present moment

When our Awareness is in the present moment, we are in touch with who we really are, with our very essence. When we respond from that place, our decisions will not only be expressions of our awareness, but they will also be expressions of our empathy and compassion for ourselves and others.

America’s recent election demonstrated how it is that our practice can reveal and express itself in such circumstances. It was a matter of who we are, at our core essence as human beings, that spoke out. In the face of all the dishonesty, conspiracy theories, hostility, delusional behaviour and words, and all of the dire prognostications of how this election cycle was going to be a disaster, something took place that was truly transformative.

Instead of members of the American family buying into a continuation of what has been going on in our political life, people began to realize that what was happening was poisoning the well. Our awareness has become an active part of our experience of who we are, where we are and what we need.  

Consequently, there were many who voted for facilitating our ability to grow, heal and assist one another, in spite of others whose long-held beliefs would only add to our darkened political night. Instead of losing both the Senate and House (as had been predicted by many), the conscious, caring Democrat voters won the Senate and are close to nearly tying the House results. 

It is quite amazing to realize that the 8 million votes that separated Biden from Trump in 2020 amounted to the nearly 8 million votes that changed a Democratic disaster from happening in 2022. When we, as individuals, are able to bring our awareness to the forefront of our life circumstances, we are able to live in the now and relate to the now; we are able to see the light and follow it.

Our practice needs to be seen and trusted as an integral aspect of who we are. We are awareness, empathy and compassion. We need only to remember and internalize that and move ahead in life with that assurance. We are our essence and need to embrace that truth in each moment of our lives.

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image 1 Gerd Altmann from Pixabay 2 image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay 

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