How Can We Heal Our Political and Cultural Divide?

In a few days, a new U.S. President will be sworn in.  For some, it is a very happy prospect.  For others, it is heartbreaking.  We are in a very important time in the unfolding of our country, and it is evident that we are divided.  To recognize this, all you need to do is notice the fear, hatred, judgement and grief that have been generated during the election and that continues to this day.

Around 240 years ago, an amazing thing showed up on the North American continent, something that had rarely been seen before. It’s called a representative democracy, the kind of government where the citizens have a voice. As it has been evolving, it has gone through many shifts.  At the beginning, only male landholders had a voice in the government, but over those 240 years, the vote has been extended to include all men, all races and women. To recognize how revolutionary this is, simply think of all the dictators, despots and kings throughout history that have used their power to suppress the voice of the people.

Our representative democracy is still young, and what is being presented to us is the opportunity for another major shift – to move beyond the tribal mentality that has been around for hundreds of thousands of years. We are being asked to become one tribe, no matter what our race, our religion, our gender, or even our political beliefs.

The question I invite you to live in today is, “How can we heal our political and cultural divide?  How can we mature into the truth proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence that all people are created equal? In other words, how can we live the truth that every single person is an important thread in the tapestry of our world, even if their beliefs are different than ours.

To address this question, it is helpful to see that life is a constantly changing process. For most of the time humanity has been around it was okay to own other people. Even though that is still happening in some pockets of the world, most of us would agree that it is not ethical. The belief that the color of a person’s skin affects their status in society has also been supported historically and even though there is still chaos around this issue, we are slowly heading in the right direction.  And there has been a lot of movement around the idea that women were ‘less than’ and should be kept powerless  As we are maturing, we are recognizing that each person carries a part of our wholeness. Although we have come a long way, we still have a long way to go in becoming wise, compassionate, inclusive human beings.

In our maturation, more and more people are beginning to see that, even though we may have different beliefs, opinions, genders, skin colors, religions, and sexual orientations, there is so much more we have in common than not. We all have hearts that beat. We all have people we love, we all care for our children and all of us have known heartbreak, loss, fear, anger, and even grief. We are all in this together, living on a tiny, blue-green jewel of a planet that is dancing through vast oceans of space.

The Dalia Lama speaks beautifully to this when he says, “I believe that all human beings are of the same nature. At the mental and emotional levels, we are the same.” He also has said many times and in many ways that our natural state is basic goodness, a sense of caring and commitment to others.  We can clearly see the heart of humanity after major disasters, whether a shooting rampage, a tsunami or an earthquake.  When push comes to shove, we truly care for one another.

The first step in living from our basic goodness is to recognize that whenever there is a major shift –  whether it’s inside of us or in the world – there is always chaos and resistance, and we are now in the midst of a major shift. The second step is to see that if we meet the challenges of life with resistance and judgment, we create more chaos. This can be seen so clearly in our relationships, both personal and global.  If somebody is acting in a way that we don’t like, we oftentimes try to change them.  When that doesn’t work, we attack, and when they attack back we defend.

Rather than reacting, we are being asked to go beyond the illusion of separation. There is no ‘them and us’.  We are all simply people doing the best that we know how with the conditioning we have been given. Instead of being divisive, whether it is around politics, our mate or our boss, we are being asked to be inclusive by honoring our differences.

This means that when you see a politician on the screen whom you react to, you notice your reaction and recognize that he/she is a thread in the tapestry of life.  Their opinion may not be your opinion, but to go to war with them, causes you to take a step away from your basic goodness. You don’t have to befriend a politician that you disagree with. But you are being invited not to put them out of your heart, for your heart is where lasting healing happens.

Paulo Coelho, author of the Alchemist said, “The world is changed by your example, not by your opinion.”  You are the place where democracy and flourish. It is not politicians that will heal this divide.  This healing needs you and it happens in small moments in your everyday life. You are the place that can meet the fears, judgments, and the griefs of humanity that reside inside of you with the wisdom of your heart. When you can unhook from your reactive and judgmental mind, then it becomes possible for you to include every single person in this country in the healing of your heart, no matter what their beliefs are. For Love heals whatever it touches.

It may be hard to believe that moments in your daily life of responding rather than reacting can heal the world.  But when you recognize that the oceans are made of drops of water, then you see that moments where you are inclusive rather than exclusive add to the ocean of compassion that we are ready for.  And this is what will heal the divide.