| America’s
Initiation; We are now ready, I believe, to
step into greater maturity as a country. And as we vote for Kerry
and pray for grace, let us also treat those who sleep lovingly, shaking
them slowly from their slumbers. We want a better country for them as
well, so we should treat them graciously, even in victory.
by Stephen Dinan
OpEdNews.com
There are moments when we are called to our greatness as a country. Tomorrow
is one of those moments. Will we turn from our downward trajectory
towards a brighter tomorrow? Or do we need a still more jarring
wake-up call?
There’s an odd way that the Bush regime has been necessary for America.
America resembles a teenager in a growth spurt – stumbling over
itself in clumsy ways, flexing its muscles awkwardly, seeking approval and
then showing off, acting impetuously, and often deceptively. With
more than a dose of braggadocio, we have managed to gain more power in the
world than we have learned to wield with wisdom, like a boy suddenly
arriving into manly power. Raw power does not grant maturity and
these last years have demonstrated that we are not a mature nation yet.
The Bush administration has illuminated the many ways that we still need
to grow. For that, we should be grateful. We have needed George W.
Bush and his administration to develop an intimate relationship with the
shadow side of American power. This relationship is itself an
initiation into something greater. Initiations in traditional
cultures were often death-defying and terrifying, involving bodily danger
and intense emotion. The psyche does not release its grip on
yesterday’s roles easily – a shock is often required. An
initiation, properly guided, is like a miniature death, as the old
patterns give way to a new identity.
America has needed an initiation and Bush and Cheney have provided the
opportunity.
Personally, I had always turned away from the political process, hoping
like a child that closing my eyes would banish what I feared. For
most of my adult life, I hoped that politics would rectify itself somehow,
without my needing to spend time, money, and heart on trying to change it.
I was wrong. Many of us were wrong.
Bush has been our initiation into political maturity, forcing us to
recognize that we have a moral and spiritual obligation to steward our
country wisely, not just for ourselves but for the sake of billions who
are affected by our policies and our actions but cannot vote. If we
do not engage politically, we are complicit in exploitation, war,
environmental destruction and misdeeds. We betray our brethren
abroad and we prevent our maturation as a country. We are also pulling the
trigger.
As I think about voting tomorrow and the long trail of activities that
preceded it, I find myself grateful for the awakening the Bush
administration has provided for me, an intense training in how power
corrupts and how fear paralyzes wisdom. Entering tomorrow, I feel less naïve
and more open-eyed, having faced the shadow so fiercely for so many
months. Oddly, I feel much more hopeful as the little awakenings
that I have witnessed in myself and those around me ripple across this
nation. The flame of understanding, once lit, is not easily blown
out.
We are now ready, I believe, to step into greater maturity as a country.
And as we vote for Kerry and pray for grace, let us also treat those
who sleep lovingly, shaking them slowly from their slumbers. We want a
better country for them as well, so we should treat them graciously, even
in victory.
As I write this, my final political article of the season, I feel a
satisfying fatigue in my fingers and, more significantly, a pleasant
tiredness in my soul. I have done what I was capable of doing to
contribute to America’s political awakening. And while I may never
know the impact that I personally have had in this race, what I do know is
that I have gone through my political initiation and will never be the
same.
Beginnings and endings invite poetry, especially as we stand on the cusp
of the unknown. So I will close with a poem:
A gentle wind rustles the leaves
Of autumn
Whispering its secret:
Change cannot be
Avoided.
The flush of summer
Has prepared us for the
Sobriety of
Winter’s chill.
As we enter
The world
Between seasons
May we drop our leaves
Gracefully
Letting our naked branches,
Stripped of cheery
Greenery
Welcome the
Blossoms of an as-yet
Unseen year,
May we sense how
Our branches link
To one set of Roots,
And are kissed
By the same Sun
The wind caressing
Tired leaves
Into a tender
Abyss.
Permanent link: http://www.stephendinan.com/2004/11/americas-initiation.html
Stephen
Dinan stephen@radicalspirit.org is
author of Radical Spirit (New World Library, 2002), and founder of TCN,
Inc. Stephen directed and helped to create the Esalen Institute's Center
for Theory & Research, a think tank for leading scholars, researchers,
and teachers to explore human potential frontiers. Currently, he is a
marketing consultant and runs workshops through the Radical Spirit
Community. For a full archive of his articles, visit www.stephendinan.com
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