We have no choice but to expand our circle of belonging. The divisive nature of small belonging is currently threatening our very existence and collaborative efforts are mandatory for our survival. Einstein once said the key question to successful living is, “Do you feel safe?” As mutant religious cells inflict terror, as we push to weaponize our homes and nations, as climate change produces radical weather events, as rogue nations vie for power over their neighbor and beyond, and as the wealth gap grows past the obscene, our only real choice for survival is collaboration, dialogue and understanding. We have no choice but to meet one another in our suffering. The illusion that we can somehow avoid the pain of others has been completely smashed with the advent of nuclear weapons, modern technological developments in communications, climate change, and the redistribution of global populations through immigration and refugees. In the face of rapidly accelerating diversity we have no choice but to embrace collaboration, seek understanding, and compassionately work to alleviate one another’s suffering in the truth that “we are each other”. This notion has been validated through quantum physics and denial of our connections to one another is another denial of science and spirituality at its core.
This very concept is contrary to the typical “conservative” response. Rather than embracing collaborative efforts as mindful stewardship for survival, the right wing element of politics embraces an ideology centered on a strong military, tough law enforcement, resistance to immigration, widespread availability of guns, and general fear of change and diversity. It would seem well tailored for an underlying, threat-oriented biology.
A number of scientists who’ve examined this speculate that this ultimately reflects an evolutionary imperative. “One possibility is that a strong negativity bias was extremely useful in the Pleistocene when it would have been super-helpful in preventing you from getting killed.” (The Pleistocene epoch lasted from roughly 2.5 million years ago until 12,000 years ago.) John Hibbing (The Biology of Ideology) has written about these ideas in depth and it seems quite clear that conservatism is “positively associated with heightened epistemic concerns for order, structure, closure, certainty, consistency, simplicity, and familiarity, as well as existential concerns such as perceptions of danger, sensitivity to threat, and death anxiety.” This speaks to the popularity of Putin, Trump and most of the current Republican presidential candidates. This element of our population that’s wired to resist change embraces the confidence these men have in holding order. Any notion of collaboration is judged by them as “soft” or weak. They gain the confidence of their followers with never ending statements of holding back change, whether through military excess, building walls, or ignoring climate change. This same authority is invoked by religious ideologues claiming they know exactly what happens when we die. They gain the confidence (con men) in their followers by claiming they have the answers to life’s great mysteries. Yet, as change has it’s way with us we can see the devastating results from their efforts to stop the acceleration of change in our lifetime. In effect, they elaborate on a thought, feed it to a frenzy, and eventually move to willingness to war from their attachment to “being right”.
The spiritual call is for us to smash our illusions of separateness. The poisons of fear, greed and our denial of interconnection have us at the brink of planetary destruction. This issue can no longer be put on the back burner and the voice of serious theologians from all faiths has to be explored in dialogue and collaboration. Yes, keep religion (your belief that you’re right) separate from state matters. But the spirituality of this nation has always been about embracing diversity and meeting one another’s suffering in compassion for our healing. In previous ages, we could do this with just our family, community, state or nation. Today’s world commands us to expand this circle across boarders. Holding the political conservative view today is no longer an option and the wisdom of Pope Francis and the Dali Lama illustrate the need to move from love rather than fear. They will be the first to speak to the vast mystery of the Divine. Without faith we’ll continue to invest in military solutions over collaborative solutions which come from dialogue and understanding. This is what faithful reliance upon Divine Providence is all about, what our forefathers ended the Declaration of Independence with.
When we expand our circles past our small knowledge, when we surrender our “I know that” attitude, when we move from fear to hope and possibility, we can touch the safety Einstein spoke of. Accelerating change is upon us. Our rock is not to be found in growing our fighting force, accumulating massive amounts of material goods, and building higher walls. The Divine is challenging us to get bigger than that. The recent collaborative efforts to act on climate change and to tackle the mutant ISIS cells is evidence to our need to move past small minded nationalistic thinking. The calls from the Pope, the Dali Lama, the Interfaith Alliance, and the United Religions Initiative is further evidence that we need to move beyond religion to face the bigger issues of the day.
