The
one point I want to make before we're at the end of this show, and I want to
thank you for your generosity of time, is that my own spiritual explorations of
not just my existence, but the world, and the world that I move in, and the
people I deal with - I think that we are at the threshold of an era, if we can
break through the thinking that basically encapsulates our world right
now. We're at the threshold of an era
where people all over are going to come together, where the impulse toward
human unity will actually be realized.
The technological infrastructure is already there: The internet is
there, the ability to travel anywhere, the cellular technology (pick up the
phone and call anywhere in the world).
We have the technical infrastructure for unity, but we haven't really
seen our political systems develop in that direction, our policies develop in
that direction.
But
it really starts, not from the government, it starts from our own hearts. And I see the willingness of people to try to
grow past the partisanship and the ideological differences to try to find those
things that unite us, and emphasize that, not just as a nation, but as the
human race. So I'm very hopeful that,
with our continued efforts, that we can chart a course toward a more peaceful
world. But the only way that we can do
that, I believe, is to understand the inner equality of all people; to
understand that we in fact are all one; that the world is interdependent, and
it is interconnected with a latticework that is so fine, that events that
happen anywhere in the globe can be felt all over the globe. And because of that, it's time for us to
summon the power of our own hearts to continue to try to create love in the world,
and to try to replace the hatred that's out there with sentiments of love for
our fellow human beings.
This
goes way beyond politics. It goes way
beyond positionality, to contemplating the power of the human spirit to be able
to create new conditions, to be able to evolve, to go beyond where we are in
terms of this particular experience in this time and space in the United States
of America.
Rob Kall: Beautiful!
You know, I call my show the Bottom Up Radio Show because I really
believe we're in a transition from a top down world that started with the
creation of cities and civilization, to a time when we go back to many of the
bottom up principles that people lived with for hundreds of thousand of years
in tribes. It sounds like what you're
describing is a way of reconnecting.
Dennis Kucinich: There is, Rob. And it starts with ourselves, and our homes,
and our families: those things and people that we hold dear. The thing about being involved in politics
everyday (and I'm not now, because I'm out of Congress; I care about what happens,
but I'm in a different world for myself) is that because I'm not there, I'm not
getting pulled into every single dispute everywhere, so I get a chance to kind
of step back. There's a Yiddish proverb that says "To a worm in horseradish,
the whole world is horseradish." And if
you're focused on turmoil and violence all the time, you may think that's the
way the whole world exists, but it doesn't exist that way!
There
are people who are trying their best to live out life with a quiet
simplicity. But, it's true, the world
will intrude. It will intrude in the
violence that's in our streets, it will intrude in the violence that's
conducted in nation against nation, which is one of the reasons why I brought
forth a proposal to create a cabinet level Department of Peace, now Barbara
Lee's bill carrying it forward with peace building. Because we need to build more peaceful
communities, more peaceful neighborhoods, more peaceful homes, and we have the
capacity to do that.
I'm
gifted now with an opportunity to be able to look at the same things that I've
worked on over the years with a slightly different perspective; from being an
outsider looking in, to being an insider looking out. And I'll tell you (laughs), it's OK to take a
break from holding elective office; because it gives me a chance to have a
renewed perspective, a sharper perspective, to get in tune with those slower
rhythm of life that actually do more to inform about the way the real world is,
than the rapid-fire accelerated pace that happens inside the Beltway.
Rob Kall: Can you talk about that, those "Slower
rhythms that inform you?"
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