The Supreme Court decision on January 21, 2010, was, as Franklin Roosevelt said of that other invasion and act of war, "A date which will live in infamy;" the United States was deliberately attacked by the forces of corporatist oligarchs, which managed a 'take-over' our legal system. Our Democracy is now FOR SALE at an unprecendented level: even to foreign interests and governments as well as those who put corporate profit above common good.
We must undo this damage. We must recruit and support patriotic representatives determined to undo this damage. We must demand a commitment from all our representatives that their vote and their person is "NOT FOR SALE"!
On our part, we must support these representatives in the battle for our collective lives. We are used to pleas for financial, activist (phone calling, letter-writing, etc.) support. And that must continue. But I suggest we add another dimension to our support.
I suggest that we add a spiritual dimension of support as well.
What I am suggesting is that we daily access our spiritual energy and "send it to our representatives." All people can do this regardless of their religious or spiritual affiliation or lack thereof: all Judaeo-Chistian believers; Muslims, Buddhists, agnostics, athiests, Wiccans, etc. etc., can do this.
I am suggesting this, because I believe that there is a tremendous amount of spiritual/moral/philosophical energy available to us all and that it is a resource we don't usually speak about, certainly not on this site. We need to utilize ALL our resources in this fight for our collective lives. And I believe that this is a powerful resource.
For many, a daily routine of calming prayer will be the choice. In that Daily Prayer, according to one's tradition, one can pray for help to calm down and be strong. Then the same can be prayed for for our patriotic leaders (by name) so that they can have the moral and intellectual strength to fight to restore our Democracy.
For others a daily meditation will serve this purpose. To do this, meditate and focus on calming and strengthening one's mind and spirit. At the end of our meditation, we can turn our thoughts to those in our lives whom we love and surround them with quiet, healing, strengthening energy. From that position, we can then daily "send" our moral and spiritual energies to surround and protect and strengthen our representatives, by name. The main point is to find that calm within ourselves. Some suggestions on how to meditate here and here and here.
Another way to work with this spiritual energy, is to utilize "positive visualization." Imagine yourself seeing a small movie in your head with you being calm and rested and centered. Then send this same energy to your selected representative. This is a well-documented technique that decreases stress, cultivates positive energy in our body that impacts our hormones for the better and helps one in creative problem solving by re-inforcing the 'mind-body' connection. Some resources to learn 'positive visualization' are hereand here.
We need to be centered, so that we can present our arguments rationally and learn from those who disagree with us and not just "cut off" the dialogue with hysteria and name-calling. We need to work on ourselves, so that we can be a useful support system to our representatives and when we act, which we also must do, we can then act effectively. And then we need to be as centered as possible, so that we can "send" this energy to our representatives "by name."
The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are.
- Marcus Aurelius
All other battles, whether about health insurance, the President's current proposal of spending freeze, pale in comparison to the bald-faced attack on our Democracy and way of life by the Supreme Court Decision. Without a serious 'battle' against this attempted 'coup' of our democratic way of life, all other issues will be moot. Without an effective counter-offensive, we will be frothing at the mouth in 2012 on this site about the likes of a Republican president, such as a President Palin.
We must learn to keep focus. This is going to be a long-haul battle. We must learn to center ourselves, and release stress so that we can be fit to keep our heads and not 'burn out' and last the duration of the battle. And we must support our patriotic representatives to do the same.
Cultivating our spiritual energies is a vast resource of positive support that we can activate and rely on. In so doing we will be creating and utilizing and releasing the enormous strength of this positive energy into our lives and the lives of others.
This will enable us to face down with real courage whatever this battle will demand:
The great virtue in life is real courage that knows how to face facts and live beyond them.
- D. H. Lawrence