For too many years, I’ve been part of what Amy Goodman calls the “silenced majority.” Fearing rejection or retaliation, I’ve kept my ideas on global sense to myself. Whenever I’ve wanted to speak out, my insecurity and shame has arisen to muffle my voice.
Authoritarian governments are forever fighting enemies, real or imagined, foreign or domestic. Such regimes disdain dissent. Leaders use all their strength to keep dissent as silent or invisible as possible. Any act of defiance provokes retribution. Voltaire accurately advised, “It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.”
Compliance with any form of tyranny is equally dangerous. Even in republics, if we accept the reactionary security laws as moral, if we agree not to protest, what stops leaders from tapping our telephones, planting spies in our community meetings, staging midnight raids to arrest peaceful dissenters, planning assassinations, or using any natural disaster as a pretext for declaring martial law?
We cannot let our fear cost us our freedom. As Ben Franklin said in varying words, “They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
Henry David Thoreau said that most people “lead lives of quiet desperation.” We go along to get along, hating ourselves for living a lie. We’re so strained and stained by inner conflicts, hidden by split perceptions, that we never stand up for ourselves.
We need dissent, I contend, but only nonviolent dissent will do. Violence by anyone harms everyone. Spilling even one drop of blood is too high a price if the karma injures our souls.
Despising politics or criticizing the abuses of politicians is not helpful. Look at all the criticism of U.S. presidents that did nothing to change their policies. I favor instead developing a vibrant vision of a better world that inspires us to take effective action.
Awakening to a global sense of our universal unity in a diverse community is our best and most practical strategy for promoting a civil society, human rights, genuine democracy, world peace, and a healthy planet. Our spirituality can transform politics.
When we see ourselves as part of a holographic “multiverse” in which everything is interconnected to everything else, we realize that injustice anywhere harms everyone everywhere, so we must face our dependence on alpha leaders and change our ways.
Our split perceptions let us deny our natural global oneness. We feel isolated and powerless. We deny our true selves. When we let our fears squelch our conscience and our intuitive guidance to make a difference in the world, we invite fresh fears into our lives.
For too many years, I’ve been part of what Amy Goodman calls the “silenced majority.” Fearing rejection or retaliation, I’ve kept my ideas on global sense to myself. Whenever I’ve wanted to speak out, my insecurity and shame has arisen to muffle my voice.
Given all the dangers facing our world today, I no longer can stay silent and stay true to my soul. I cannot keep giving away my power to my inner addict and avoid practicing self rule. Can you?
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This essay by Judah Freed is an excerpt from his book, GLOBAL SENSE: The 2012 Edition: A spiritual handbook on the nature of society and how to change the world by changing ourselves.
Visit: GlobalSense.com