{"id":17947,"date":"2024-11-14T05:36:34","date_gmt":"2024-11-14T05:36:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shop-cili.com\/?p=17947"},"modified":"2024-11-14T05:36:34","modified_gmt":"2024-11-14T05:36:34","slug":"can-it-overpower-political-discord","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shop-cili.com\/?p=17947","title":{"rendered":"Can It Overpower Political Discord?"},"content":{"rendered":"


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With the U.S. presidential election now past us, this much is still clear: Politics, as currently constructed, is intended to divide us through fear. The recent election was a dramatic example of that. <\/p>\n

If you tuned in to liberal news outlets, you may have come away feeling extremely frightened, believing that the U.S. population just re-elected a fascist dictator, and that American democracy is now doomed. And if you tuned in to the conservative news during the election, you may have felt frightened as well, believing that Kamala Harris was a closet communist who was determined to do away with traditional American values.<\/p>\n

The severe paranoia that was expressed during this election is a testament to the fact that far too many Americans are consumed by fear. And sadly, this darkness of fear is the direct consequence of a people who have been subtly programmed to forget our most natural of identities.<\/p>\n

Natural identity defined<\/h2>\n
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By the phrase \u201cnatural identity,\u201d I don\u2019t mean anything that has to do with our external features, such as our race, ethnicity or gender. Rather, \u201cnatural identity,\u201d to me, points to something that is altogether deeper and much more profound: that divine essence or spark of awareness that lives within us all. <\/p>\n

As we grow to identify with this indwelling spiritual essence or self, we\u2019ll come to know that who and what we truly are is THAT, the All in One. We are oneness. We are harmony. We are unity. We are, in the words of the late Ram Dass (one of America\u2019s greatest spiritual teachers) nothing more than \u201cloving awareness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Loving awareness isn\u2019t afraid because it doesn\u2019t get lost in the fear that breeds separateness. It recognizes that the prince of peace and the prince of darkness are just two sides of the same coin. Knowing ourselves as this, as seeds of love, how can we ever turn away from the light of truth and embrace the darkness of fear? <\/p>\n

We can\u2019t. For as long as we remain eternally identified with and rooted in our natural identities, our purest essence, we can\u2019t harm ourselves or any other beings.<\/p>\n

The programming of fear through duality<\/h2>\n
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In Western culture, we\u2019re all programmed to embrace duality. Duality, roughly defined, refers to the opposition or contrast between two concepts or two aspects of something. Another way to describe duality is polarization, or a division into two sharply distinct opposites. <\/p>\n

For too long, duality has assumed centre stage in our politics. And the destructive real-world consequences of its presence upon the moral fabric of the United States should be obvious to us all. How can we create a harmonious nation if two sides are always locked in opposition?<\/p>\n

Beyond just pitting Americans against one another, duality in our politics has even spurred threats and actual acts of violence against those we perceive as foes. We\u2019ve all become so accustomed to dualism in our politics that many of us barely blink an eye when the now twice-elected president of the \u201cland of the free\u201d casually describes his political opponents as \u201cenemies from within\u201d and vows to carry out retribution against them. And hardly anyone acts surprised when certain sick individuals attempt to assassinate that same leader (with one of those attempts very nearly succeeding).<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s remember what unites us<\/h2>\n
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