Since I started with transcendental meditation a few months ago, I've been attending the Friday study group at the Saint Paul TM center. They usually begin with 20 minutes of meditation, then have some really interesting topics associated with meditation and spiritual growth. This study in particular was most interesting in that it dealt with the idea of transcendence in our society, in our politics, economics, etc. In an election year such as this, the topic seems even more germane.
The speaker (can't remember her name, but she's a professor at Maharishi Uiversity in Fairfield, IA), talked about the idea of transcendence (a step toward enlightenment) gradually taking hold in the west. Going back to the mid 1800s, with Emerson, Thoreau, Whitman, etc., the idea of a society founded upon enlightened principles - and beyond that, to unity, itself - took hold.
Emerson spoke of the USA one day advancing from a purely political democracy to become a spiritual democracy. What would such a society entail? What would be the hallmarks of such a society? Are we moving in that direction at all? As I look at the political ads a few months before Election Day, I seriously wonder.
I imagine a time when we begin to see ourselves as citizens of Earth, as well as of the USA. Like being citizens of the particular city and state, then the nation, ultimately will we see ourselves as citizens of Earth? Will we begin to see the interconnection of all things? The unity of all things created by God?
Will we see a more civil politics? Will we see less greed in the financial world? Or will something completely different happen?
In other posts and articles, I have talked about the rise of the Indigo and Crystal children, of changes as they come into positions of leadership. Will this have any effect on the national politics? etc... Only time will tell. And then, if the new age pundits are right, we'll see whether transcendence and democracy mix.
