Within and Without

Sometimes the battle within mirrors the battle without.  And it doesn't have to be a battle, but sometimes it is.  Right now our nation is in a  battle: a war of ideas, a war on our capacity to make sense, to know what is true and who is who.With so much at stake, it sounds hyperbolic but the mundane truth is that we have to choose what we stand for and who will lead us.  But deeper, we must decide who we are as a nation, at a core level.  Everything else radiates from this place.As I look at one of our candidates I realize he epitomizes the act of using.  He uses women.  He uses workers.  He uses his followers.  He uses the system to self-deal.  He uses media and the economy.  He is the ultimate taker of things.  And we as a nation must be careful not only to stop him, but to not become him, even in seemingly small ways. Trumpism is anti-life and anti-love.  Anti-freedom and anti-truth.  And yet it's so alluring to so many.  If he is not the anti-Christ, there is no such thing.  And yet the ultimate cartoon foil of our ego and our shadow can and must serve a purpose.   The purpose, on a political level may be to show us the weaknesses and fault lines in our founding documents and our legal system.The purpose on a soul level is for us to take a long, hard look at ourselves, to not flinch when we see little selfish baby Trumps in our own psyche.  To accept that when we hate him, we are usually projecting some amount of self-hatred: hatred about parts of us that we cannot accept or admit.  This is projection.But we must see the ways in which we fall short and begin to love those parts.  We must unmask these shadows and hold them to account as we hold Him to account in our courts of law and at the ballot box.Simply put, we must choose who we are and who we will be.  That reckoning can be daunting in the short run.  But we will come to realize that we are not a collection of our worst moments and lowest urges.  We are the stuff that's underneath that.  Just waiting to be unearthed and dusted off.I wish everyone happy excavating.  Do so with kindness and a sober eye.  And yet we must firmly choose not to tolerate any unconscious malevolence, from within or without.  We must connect the dots.It's easy for me to condemn Donald Trump as a user.  He is the most blatant and disgusting user there could be. But why does that irk me so?  Who have I used?  How have I used a system for my benefit?  Unpleasant questions to be sure.  I guess it's better than the self-congratulatory sleep that so many seek.And if we come to the conclusion that we have fallen short, we're still here.  We still have time to stop bad behaviors and make better choices and tip the scales in the other direction.  Transformation is a process, not an incident.  Do we have the willingness to see?  If a situation is demanding courage, it's probably the right path. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit greenmang.substack.com/subscribe