Post Election Reflection

I want to thank you all for the beauty of the work you are collectively doing around this election. There have been torrents of words already, and I am loath to contribute to the stream, particularly so many of you have spoken so eloquently and succinctly about it. Honestly, I think Bob Sabath pretty much nails it in his short reflection: that combination of courage, openness, forgiveness, renewed commitment, and compassion that will be required of each of us as we pick up the pieces and move ahead.

Bob Sabath MemeI am so grateful to be working with you all in this bandwidth, with the tools and perspectives we have been gradually developing in our wisdom work over the past years. From Teilhard we have the reassurance that evolutionary change flows over deep time. Events which, viewed at the wrong scale (i.e., too close up), look like devastating upheavals actually turn out to be relatively minor systemic adjustments. Beneath the surface ripples and rapids, the river itself is still flowing smoothly in its channel. Hope does not divert course.

trinity_symbolFrom Gurdjieff we have the Law of Three and a powerful set of tools for processing and applying ( a.k.a., invoking, channeling, mediating, etc.) third force. Many of you are already doing this. It seems clear (to me anyway) that by election night the Trump candidacy carried the affirming force (i.e., pushing, initiating); the liberal progressive establishment carried the denying (i.e., resisting, holding back, status quo). From a Work perspective (i.e, through identifying lines of action), my initial take is that Donald Trump carried third force, breaking up the political logjam and achieving forward movement again. It seems that he also did this in a classic way: by reversing the lines of action. What had heretofore been the “conservative” or “denying” force was suddenly catalyzed as the affirming in a paradigmatic Law of Three upset (and remember, these forces are lines of action, in and of themselves morally neutral. That’s where we come in.)

As of November 9, we are all in a new ball field. Now that the shake-up has occurred, it is our Wisdom calling to use our heads and hearts in a broader, Teilhardian sort of way, to look at what is needed now and how we might collaborate with it. american-flag-heart

The vision of a single, unified humanity burns as strongly as ever as these tectonic plates of consciousness and culture grind up against each other. I sense very clearly that my own work calls me strongly to continue to work in this task of strengthening and deepening the international and interspiritual aspects of my teaching work. It was very meaningful to be in the UK on election night, to meditate with a group of nearly 300 seekers in Bristol, and to reaffirm palpably the power and presence that quietly unstoppable Christ-Omega drawing us along to that fullness of love that has been the trajectory, the sole trajectory throughout these 14 billion years. That is the corner of this vineyard in which I feel personally the most impelled to work.

Back in our home turf, am I totally off base in my intuition that the missing, underlying third force has something to do with SAFETY? Remember the example I give in The Holy Trinity and The Law of Three of my friend Jane before the grant adjudication board recognizing clearly that the scarcity base had to be transformed into an abundance base before anything could shift? Viewed from a slightly longer range and slightly out-of-left field perspective, I keep seeing that this election of Donald Trump in a way completes an octave that began on September 11, 2001. For more than fifteen years now—the whole lifetime of three of my four grandchildren—the country has struggled under a pervasive sense of vulnerability, impotence, helplessness, of having been subjected to a collective rape which still paralyzes the resolve, the “gout de vivre,” as Teilhard calls it. It expresses itself across the board: in the obsession with guns and gun violence, in the addictive power of reality tv, and, in the more privileged classes, with the neurotic hysteria around food, security, and child safety. I really believe that at a subliminal level, Trump’s “Make America great again” speaks to that sense of releasing the paralyzed, hang-dog fear which is the only America we have come to fear. It’s not really about economics. It’s about something way deeper…

At least a basis on which to begin… If we could quit calling each other idiots and “deplorables” and begin to deal with the deep terror, the desperation and helplessness which is felt across the board, we might begin to sense the ways to draw together….

What will be required of us all working in this particular wisdom bandwidth, I believe, is that old quality metis, which Peter Kingsley described so well in his book REALITY. It really means an alert, supple shrewdness—like Jesus, when cornered by the question, “Must we pay taxes to Caesar?” It’s an ability to be present in our bodies and in our hearts, to live beyond fear and judgment, and because of this non-identification, to be able to use the materials immediately at hand in the moment to see what must be done—again, immediately in the moment.

If anything has been the victim of this election, it’s pluralistic consciousness: the “mean green” sense of sanctimony, moral rectitude, urgency, and judgmentalism that has infected so much of the liberal progressive culture where so many of us have tried, with the very best of intentions, to do our work. Weighed in the balance, alas, and found wanting. We have to learn to work from a more skillful place, reading the signs of the times, trusting love, finding our voices once again to “speak truth to power.”

Yes, a lot of precious sacred cows are about to be slaughtered, I fear. We will see social and environmental benchmarks we have worked for decades summarily undone. (I don’t need to enumerate; WAY too depressing.) We must understand this in advance and not let every defeat become an armageddon, a reason for falling on our swords. The earth herself has a will, and the one body of humanity has coalesced too far to be deconstructed. They will be our partners. They have intelligence and resilience we can draw on, if we can only not lose the way in fear and despair.

And so, Wisdom crew, “Allons!” Let us go forward. There is work to be done; prayer, joy, courage, and strength are deeply needed. And we DO know the way there. This is Wisdom’s hour.
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15 thoughts on “Post Election Reflection

  1. Thank you, Cynthia, for seeing beyond the fear. Your words inspire hope and freedom from a paralysis which has been gripping me. You’ve shown me a way to trust and live.

  2. These are scary times indeed! But it is good to know we are not alone. Your words of encouragement, Bob, are hanging on my wall. My Brothers and Sisters, this is our clarion call to step outside our comfort zones, lay down our egos and let the Spirit within each one of us rise up from our God-center and into this troubled world which so deeply needs our love, patience and understanding. I’ve sensed for some time the outcome of this election, yet hoped desperately it would not come to pass, for I did not know how I would cope. I kept telling myself “I’m not yet ready for this.” But then of course, if not now, when, and if not me, who? Wisdom demands not just contemplation and meditation, but our active love flowing into our world, engaging our neighbors, listening, sharing, and showing them by the example of our own lives that Love is alive and well and is indeed the only force that can transform us and bring us together without destroying us. This is my hope. This is my prayer.

  3. Such wonderful thoughts….. Along with many others, I have felt a sense of fear and dread. Giving myself a couple of days to just ‘be with’ and feel the emotions in my body has been helpful. Slowly the energy is shifting and is giving way to some serious hope and trust. I know God has often used some strange characters throughout history to actually be a positive – perhaps Donald will be one of those., perhaps not, but I do have a deep faith that as Hildegard said, “all will be well, in all manner of things, all will be well.”

  4. Thanks so much Cynthia – a very reassuring affirmation of what my heart is telling me about all this. And a challenge too – to step up a gear in my own game, in my little patch of the vineyard. I’ve just read a fantastic article by Charles Eisenstein who is saying very much the same thing, from a somewhat different perspective. Instead of voting for a wolf in sheep’s clothing, what the American Trump voters have done is voted for a wolf in wolf’s clothing. Which is a kind of progress, a kind of breakthrough – the beginning of the end perhaps? http://charleseisenstein.net/hategriefandanewstory/

  5. Thank you Cynthia,
    We DO know the way. You have reminded us to trust Love, speak truth to power. It feels like a dance and in the dance our bodies and our hearts know when and how to move and when to let go. I’ve observed these lines of action in my own experience, though it will be helpful to more skillfully identify and work with them sooner. Thank you for speaking to the larger view, the deeper fear. And thank you reminding us; we DO know the way.

  6. I am called to remember that St. John of the Cross said if you are to go to a place that you know not… you must go by a way you know not… Just when we think we “see” the way we are really being fooled. As so beautifully noted by Cynthia, we are called to sense the presence of a New Arising and let go of that which we thought to be the “preferred” route we were to travel.

  7. Thank you Cynthia, for expressing what I know in my heart, and for your rallying call. ‘This is wisdom’s hour’. I will hold your words close.

    Sarah (Brighton UK)

  8. Thank you for this thoughtful essay, Cynthia. I know a non-dual OS would tell me to look beyond trepidation. I have, and I feel a thrilling hope. This shock will bring a new OS online for our country. I have deep faith in the goodness of people. Cooperation is our natural instinct. We are all being called to be more creative. Surprises, while stunning, can also be exciting because they show us the unexpected can happen. I’m betting on unexpected healing for our nation.

  9. Wisdom work is transforming how I can be with a very troubling election. I have been so much more able to be truly present to my sadness, anger and disappointment and then to release them, not in a gesture of despair but of deep hope and trust. I can relax more without knowing how this will turn out and can be of greater service to others. The wisdom community is making much difference for me. Very grateful!

  10. Thank you SO much, Cynthia! This is SO needed! Wish we could ALL be together in this work, though I know spiritually we are.
    Love and blessings,

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